The Mike McCarthy era is over for the Green Bay Packers.
In a tweet posted around 6 p.m. Sunday, the Packers announcing they have parted ways with head coach Mike McCarthy, and announced offensive coordinator Joe Philbin will serve as interim coach for the rest of the season.
The Green Bay Packers have parted ways with Head Coach Mike McCarthy & named Joe Philbin interim head coach: https://t.co/90ShlzFW4o pic.twitter.com/APewWgRYoX
— Green Bay Packers (@packers) December 3, 2018
More coverage:
– Kuhn: “Major source of dysfunction somewhere” within Packers
– Chmura: McCarthy’s Packers “quit” and Rodgers “got a coach fired”
– Crabtree: Surprised Packers fired McCarthy “right away,” but idea of Rodgers pushing firing “unfair”
– Analysis: McCarthy was mixed bag of consistent winning, some failures and one Super run
The statement from Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy reads as follows:
“The 2018 season has not lived up to the expectations and standards of the Green Bay Packers. As a result, I made the difficult decision to relieve Mike McCarthy of his role as head coach, effective immediately. Mike has been a terrific head coach and leader of the Packers for 13 seasons, during which time we experienced a great deal of success on and off the field. We want to thank Mike, his wife, Jessica, and the rest of the McCarthy family for all that they have done for the Packers and the Green Bay and Wisconsin communities. We will immediately begin the process of selecting the next head coach of the Green Bay Packers.”
Michael Cohen of the Athletic and other reports came out saying that general manager Brian Gutekunst was consulted.
#Packers president Mark Murphy consulted with GM Brian Gutekunst before firing Mike McCarthy. Gutekunst was on board with Murphy’s decision to part ways with McCarthy and begin the coaching search sooner than later.
— Michael Cohen (@Michael_Cohen13) December 3, 2018
McCarthy finishes his tenure with a record of 135-85-2 in 12-plus seasons with the Packers. It includes nine playoff appearances and an NFL Championship in Super Bowl XLV.
The firing comes after the team lost to the Cardinals 20-17 this afternoon, dropping the Packers to a record of 4-7-1 and all but mathematically eliminating the team from the playoffs this season.
