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Former Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy started the 2018 season knowing that a second straight year without qualifying for the playoffs could affect his future.
But he never thought it would end before he had the chance to bring it to fruition.
In his first interview since he was fired four days out of his 13th season as a Packers coach, McCarthy told Rob Demovsky of ESPN that he was not there. had not seen it coming when team chairman Mark Murphy called him in his office after the December 2 defeat. to the Cardinals of Arizona.
"Frankly, no, I did not do it," McCarthy said. "As a head coach, I've always tried to stay immune to all the outside noises – that's what has always been my main goal with my players." It was always to protect them as much as possible from the drama, I think it's important, and I stayed true to that until the last day, and if we missed the series, I was waiting for some changes occur, but the timing has surprised me.In fact, it has amazed me.But the time is conducive to reflection and clarity, and it is there that I Am now, and it's clear to me now that both sides need a change. "
Still, it was the first time the Packers had made a coaching change during the season for more than 60 years. And they did it to a coach who ranked 25th in the history of the NFL with 135 wins (in the playoffs included) and which led the Packers to nine appearances in playoffs and in a Super Bowl title. This led some to say that McCarthy deserved a better ending.
"Obviously," McCarthy said when asked if he was in agreement.
"It could not have been worse.Every time you lose a tight match, it's a hard time emotionally, but when you lose a home game at Lambeau Field in December, that's really hard, and that did not happen very often I came out of my press conference, and I thought about the game, I thought our playoff shot was now minimal. When I was told that Mark Murphy wanted to see me – and the messenger was cold and the energy was bad – Mark said that it was an ugly loss and that it was It was time to change things, he said something about the offensive and the special teams and he did not think it was going to improve, it was difficult, "he said.
"Every time I release a person, you understand well, it has a personal component, you know that he has a family, he is a family, he did not have any. The way people leave this building was very important to me, it's part of the business, "said McCarthy." Let's hope it gets better for guys like Clay. [Matthews] and Randall [Cobb] and Nick Perry and Jordy Nelson and T.J. Lang, it is important that they leave the right path. This is the standard Green Bay Packers I have tried to meet every day. "
McCarthy said the release "was really stuck with me for a while".
"It was hard to swallow," he said. "The emotional challenge of moving from humiliation to reflection was a very important step in the search for clarity so that I could personally benefit from the experience of my entire career in Green Bay Packer;
"But, hey, I'll never forget the answer after, because I've tidied up my phone [that night]. I woke up and I could not believe my phone. When we won the Super Bowl, I received over 200 texts. That week, I had more than 500. I received more than twice as many dismissal messages as when I won the cursed Super Bowl. This is remarkable. These were current and former players, competitors, owners of other NFL teams, politicians, members of the media, guys with whom I had competed and with whom I could not compete. I had never spoken. I was blown away by that and I still am. "
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