Green Bay Packers: Early coach interviews show a trend

The Green Bay Packers haven’t hired a new head coach in 12 years. This coming offseason will be the first since Mike McCarthy arrived in 2006.

Up to this point, the franchise has had a string of good fortune in this regard. It started with Mike Holmgren in 1992. Then after he left they quickly ended a one-year experiment with Ray Rhodes by bringing back Mike Sherman who’d gone with Holmgren to Seattle. He kept the team successful in the early 2000s before seeing his run peter out by 2005. Then came the golden age of McCarthy. Does the team have the capacity to continue that trend of success?

They certainly hope so. If they get it wrong they’ll have wasted the last few precious years of Aaron Rodgers‘ prime, something that many would consider unforgivable given they have just one Lombardi trophy to show for his career thus far. So what approach might they take? Given the landscape, as it’s currently viewed, they seem to have a good idea of what they want to do according to Pro Football Talk and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Per multiple sources, former Colts and Lions coach Jim Caldwell has interviewed for the coaching vacancy in Green Bay.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) December 26, 2018

The #Packers have interviewed another former #Colts head coach, Chuck Pagano, two sources said. He coached the Colts from 2012-'17. He also worked with Mike Pettine in Baltimore and hired Joe Philbin in Indianapolis.
— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) December 27, 2018

Green Bay Packers aiming for experience over upside

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One of the concerns that many have about the collection of head coaching candidates in 2019 is the lack of young up-and-comers. There are few clearcut guys coordinators on offense or defense who stand out save for Josh McDaniels who already hurt his own stock by getting cold feet in Indianapolis. Outside of him most of the young names involved are considered inexperienced. Hence why so many college coaches like Lincoln Riley are brought up.

Instead the Packers may prefer to go with a more experienced and proven commodity. Jim Caldwell is known for being a quarterback guru who took both the Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions to the playoffs. He also got a Super Bowl MVP out of Joe Flacco as an offensive coordinator. So that’s something.

As for Chuck Pagano, many feel he was wrongly done in Indianapolis. He got three playoff runs out of a roster that was badly mismanaged by previous GM Ryan Grigson and took the fall when he finally had a losing record in 2017. His first losing record as a head coach. The guy has proven he can get the most out of roster most people considered less than optimal.

Will either end up being the guy? Probably not but it does establish an interesting trend.

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