Abruptly fired after Sunday’s loss to the Cardinals, former Packers coach Mike McCarthy didn’t get a chance to tell his players farewell. On Wednesday, he did.
According to Packers.com, McCarthy addressed the team on Wednesday.
“He did a fantastic job talking to the team not just about football and winning football games,” interim coach Joe Philbin told reporters on Thursday. “His passion for the team and his love for the players was clearly evident. I’m sure it was emotional for him and everyone in the room. I thought he did a great job.”
The move provided closure both to McCarthy and his team.
“I think that’s the Green Bay Packer way,” Philbin said. “This is a first-class organization all the way around. It’s been like that for 100 seasons, I would guess. I’m not that old, but I’m guessing it’s been that for a long time. We do things the right way around here. Mark [Murphy], Russ [Ball] and Brian [Gutekunst] were all totally supportive. They think that was the right thing to do as did I. Hopefully, it’ll help.”
It surely will help McCarthy. It may or may not help the Packers, who will play on Sunday their first game since the end of the 2005 season without McCarthy as the head coach. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the only connection to the last team that played for anyone other than McCarthy.