We don’t always agree with his play calling (heck HE doesn’t always agree with his play calling), but there’s one thing you cannot deny…
The Packers have one of the best head coaches in the business.
Since his arrival at Green Bay, McCarthy has made his mark on history. While it’s true he inherited a talented team, he’s been the mastermind who has taken that team to great heights.
Four times in a row the Packers have won their division. That’s a franchise record that even Lombardi never accomplished. Five times McCarthy has led the team to 11+ wins. That’s pretty exciting when 11 wins is generally enough to earn the division title and a trip to the playoffs.
He is the fastest active coach to make it to 100 wins.
McCarthy is one of only two coaches to have taken a number 6 seeded team to three road wins and a Super Bowl victory.
Coach McCarthy ranks 2nd in overall career win percentage.
And, he is currently the second winningest coach in franchise history (which is saying a lot). He now has 101 wins. While he has a long way to go to catch Lambeau, give him time. He’ll make it there and pick up several more Super Bowl trophies on his way.
We’ve repeatedly discussed how fortunate the Packers were to have a player the caliber of Aaron Rodgers step onto the scene after many seasons with Brett Favre. We should also remember that we’re also fortunate to have the man who puts all the chess pieces in the best place to win the game…
Mike McCarthy.
J.R., I agree with most of this. However the comparisons to Lambeau and Lombardi are seriously flawed. McCarthy is a great coach and Lambeau was a great coach. Lombardi is arguably the greatest coach of all time.
Yes, McCarthy inherited a decent team, and Lombardi inherited a 1-10-1 team. Lombardi never had a losing or tied season, McCarthy has had 1 losing season and 1 tied.
It was much tougher to win the division in Lombardi’s years. 5 of his Divisional Championships were actually Western Conference Championships where he had to beat 6 other Western Conference opponents to get to the Championship Games (his 6th and final year of ’67 being the only exception), and there were no wild card playoff berths. On the other hand, McCarthy has enjoyed only 3 divisional opponents every year, and could make the playoffs as a wild card.
NFL talent was spread across 14 teams for Lombardi, and spread across 32 teams for McCarthy (which translates into the fact that the Lombardi Packers may have had more talent across the board, but so did their opponents). Players may be bigger, stronger and faster now, but the top talent is diluted over many more teams.
Even with the easier division and wild card, McCarthy has a winning percentage of .656 compared to Lombardi’s .753. McCarthy is 7-6 in playoff games vs Lombardi’s 9-1.
Had Lombardi stayed in GB and not become ill, he would have easily been the first to win 100 games (by total games, not years). He had won 96 games in 10 years with 12 and 14 game season schedules and a single playoff game. McCarthy took 9 years with 16 game schedules and 3-4 playoff games schedules.
We’re lucky to have Mike McCarthy, but he’s not favorably comparable to Vince Lombardi. Go Pack go!