Mike McCarthy’s seat as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers had been gradually getting hotter as the season progressed before it finally reached its highest temperature on Sunday, when the team finally decided to pull the trigger and hand him his walking papers following an embarrassing home loss to the Arizona Cardinals, 20-17.
McCarthy’s sudden exit, though not entirely unexpected, exit as the Packers’ sideline boss also earned him an ignominious distinction by becoming just the second head coach in NFL history to fail in seeing the end of the season as mentor of the team he started, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Mike McCarthy becomes only the 2nd coach with a Super Bowl win to not finish a season he started, joining Don McCafferty of the 1972 Colts.
Covering the void left by McCarthy in Green Bay is Joe Philbin, who is now the team’s interim head coach.
McCarthy concludes his coaching career in Green Bay with a 125-77-2 record. He steered the Packers to nine appearances in the playoffs and collected a 10-8 slate in 18 games coached beyond Week 17 of the season. He was the brain behind Green Bay’s Super Bowl XLV win back in 2011, when they beat the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium to give Green Bay its second Vince Lombardy Trophy.