NEW YORK _ Mike McCarthy had outlasted his usefulness for the Packers and was summarily dismissed after a humiliating 20-17 loss to the woeful Cardinals at Lambeau Field. After dropping to 4-7-1 and sensing that McCarthy's relationship with quarterback Aaron Rodgers had steadily decayed, team president Mark Murphy severed the relationship and named offensive coordinator Joe Philbin the interim coach.
But McCarthy shouldn't be out of work for long. In fact, he ought to be high on the list of potential coaches for the Jets. With Todd Bowles expected to be dismissed after a third straight season with double-digit losses, McCarthy might be the most attractive candidate of all.
It has been more than 20 years since the Jets last hired someone with previous head coaching experience, and they would do well to make McCarthy the first since Bill Parcells in 1997 to take over. The Jets have been through five head coaches since Parcells stepped down after the 1999 season, and only Rex Ryan got as far as the AFC Championship Game (twice).
Green Bay will play out the rest of the season without hope of reaching the playoffs, as the Packers conclude their season with Sunday's game at the Jets and next week's finale against the Lions at Lambeau. McCarthy therefore won't get a firsthand look at the quarterback he'd inherit if the Jets hired him, but the 55-year-old coach surely knows plenty about Sam Darnold.
The Jets' 21-year-old first-round pick has produced a solid rookie season, albeit filled with the usual assortment of rookie mistakes. But there is plenty to work with for a talented quarterback guru like McCarthy, who helped shape Rodgers into arguably the NFL's best quarterback. While an early-season knee injury has slowed Rodgers this year, there is no denying McCarthy's influence on the 35-year-old quarterback's growth.
They won a championship together after the 2010 season, as Rodgers was the Super Bowl MVP in a 31-25 win over the Steelers in Dallas. And McCarthy's Packers reached the playoffs nine times, and he finished with a 10-8 playoff record. He fashioned a 125-77-2 regular season record, He's one of only 25 coaches to win a combined 135 games, and he's one of only 12 coaches in that group to have a career winning percentage over .600 (.613).
He's not a Hall of Fame coach, at least not yet. But there are plenty of examples of coaches who have succeeded on their second NFL job, and McCarthy should be viewed through that prism. Consider:
_ Bill Belichick's career didn't flourish until he got to the Patriots after a challenging run as the Browns' coach.
_ Andy Reid has been terrific with the Chiefs after being fired following a 4-12 season in 2012.
_ Tom Coughlin won two Super Bowls with the Giants after being fired in Jacksonville.
_ Mike Holmgren got the Seahawks to a Super Bowl after leaving the Packers following a run in which he got to two Super Bowls, winning the first title for Green Bay since the days of Vince Lombardi.
While it's still very early in the process for the Jets, it feels as if it's a foregone conclusion that CEO Christopher Johnson will move on from Bowles. The fate of general manager Mike Maccagnan seems less certain, and I lean toward him staying at this point. His moves to climb up the draft board to eventually draft Darnold, his drafting of Jamal Adams, and the drafting of solid young players including wide receiver Robbie Anderson, defensive lineman Henry Anderson, tight end Chris Herndon and linebacker Jordan Jenkins argue in his favor. But with first-round disappointments like Darron Lee and Leonard Williams and some other draft-day misses, it's no lock he stays.
If Maccagnan does survive, then he and Johnson need to put McCarthy at or near the top of the list as the next head coach. The lure of hiring someone with previous head coaching experience, plus McCarthy's expertise on offense and with developing quarterbacks, make him one of the most attractive candidates.
There'd be no adjustment period in terms of knowing the ropes of head coaching responsibilities, and while New York would be an exponentially larger stage than Green Bay, McCarthy's straightforward approach would work well here.
What's left after McCarthy? Several promising would-be head coaches, but none with previous NFL head coaching experience. Lincoln Riley of Oklahoma, Kliff Kingsbury, now the USC offensive coordinator after his firing at Texas A & M, Chiefs special teams coordinator Dave Toub and former Vikings offensive coordinator John DeFilippo are some hot names. But none has the resume of a McCarthy.
And it's McCarthy who stands alone when it comes to checking the boxes of what you're looking for in a head coach who's uniquely suited for the Jets.
