Acme Packing Company
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!
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.
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...
