You’ve voted on every position, and now it’s time to pick the team’s best head coach of the last 25 years.
Over the last few weeks, we’ve spent time going over every position on the field as we build the Green Bay Packers All-Quarter Century Team. No team is complete without a head coach, not even the fake ones voted on by readers of a sports blog, so here we are.
The Packers are obviously known for their consistency at the QB position, but one of the other spots in the organization which has been just as consistent for the last 25 years is the head coach. The team has had just three full-time head coaches since 2000, and YOU get to decide which one deserves the spot on our All-Quarter Century Team. Let’s look at the Mikes and the Matts!
Head Coach Nominees
Mike Sherman (2000-2005)
Regular season: 96 games; 57-39 record (.594), 5 winning seasons, 3x division winner, +357 point differential
Postseason: 4 playoff berths, 6 games; 2-4 record (.333), furthest appearance: NFC Divisional Round, -49 point differential
Coach’s challenge: 40 total challenges, 12 won (30% success)
The First Mike™ of the century took over as HC in the year 2000, so we are seeing his entire tenure with the Packers here. He is the only one on this list to also hold GM duties for the team, adding that title to his resume in 2001 until Ted Thompson was hired in 2005.
From 2000 to 2004, Sherman, along with a team helmed by QB Brett Favre, led the Packers to 5 consecutive winning seasons. From 2001 to 2004, the Packers were one of just two teams to make the playoffs for four consecutive years. They were the definition of consistency. In 2005, the Packers would lose multiple playmakers to injuries, including Javon Walker, Ahman Green, and Bubba Franks. The team ended up going 4-12 for their first losing season since 1991, and Sherman was relieved of his duties as HC.
Mike McCarthy (2006-2018)
Super Bowl XLV champion, 2011 Greasy Neale Award winner
Regular season: 204 games; 125-77-2 record (.618), 9 winning seasons, 6x division winner, +856 point differential
Postseason: 9 playoff berths, 18 games; 10-8 record (.556), furthest appearance: Super Bowl, +53 point differential
Coach’s challenge: 93 total challenges, 47 won (50.5% success)
The Second Mike™ first came to Green Bay in 1999 as the team’s quarterbacks coach. He then spent several years as the offensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints, then took on that same role with the San Francisco 49ers in 2005. In 2006, McCarthy was hired by the Packers just days after they fired Sherman. Now, not only was McCarthy coaching Favre again, he was coaching Aaron Rodgers, whom his previous team famously passed on drafting the year prior.
McCarthy and the Packers had to deal with Brett Favre’s “I want to retire…maybe…one day, but not yet…possibly” schtick for a couple of years before the team decided to move on with Rodgers as their starter in 2008. It was a bold move for a team who had just gone 13-3 and lost in the NFC Championship. It’s almost like they were asking to go to the Toilet Bowl. The Packers went 6-10 in Rodgers’ first season, and then, the magic happened. The magic, of course, being 8 straight playoff appearances, 6 NFC North titles, and a Super Bowl win with a 2x MVP QB.
During McCarthy’s tenure, the Packers offense finished top-5 in scoring 7 times, and top-10 9 times. They weren’t just consistent; they were dominant. This, of course, can be attributed to having a HOF QB, sure. But I like when you guys argue in the comments, so go do that! Make my heart happy. McCarthy’s time with the team came to a sad end in 2018, when he was fired midseason with a 4-7-1 record and the team missed the playoffs for the second straight year.
Matt LaFleur (2019-present)
Regular season: 100 games; 67-33 record (.670), 5 winning seasons, 3x division winner, +436 point differential
Postseason: 5 playoff berths, 8 games; 3-5 record (.375), furthest appearance: NFC Championship, -5 point differential
Coach’s challenge: 43 total challenges, 18 won (41.8% success)
After the Packers finished the final four games of the 2018 season with interim HC Joe Philbin, they began interviewing candidates for McCarthy’s replacement. After a few weeks, they landed on Tennessee Titans OC Matt LaFleur, who beat out more established candidates such as Chuck Pagano, Jim Caldwell, and Josh McDaniels.
Right out of the gate, the Packers were invigorated. After McCarthy’s uncharacteristic two-season playoff drought, the LaFleur-led team went 13-3 and saw their best record since 2011. For three straight seasons, the team would go on to win 13 games, and Aaron Rodgers was the league’s first back-to-back MVP winner since the ‘08-’09 seasons (Peyton Manning).
Like his predecessor, LaFleur also helped the team navigate the transition from HOF QB to the next generation, this time from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. In Love’s first year as the long-term starter, he did what no Packers QB before him was able to do in their first year: make the playoffs. In Love’s second season as starting QB, he missed some time with various injuries, and what did Matt LaFleur do? He tailored the gameplan perfectly for backup Malik Willis, and the team didn’t lose a game with Willis as their starter. During LaFleur’s 6 seasons as HC, the team has led the league in scoring once, and finished top-10 three times. We’re still in the thick of his tenure with the Packers, but so far, things have been a-okay.