Fire Dom Capers

[adambr2]

It's incredible to realize that this is now the 7th consecutive year of MM tolerating mediocre to bad defensive play with the same man in charge. It's been a revolving door of personnel, while we continue to watch guys from our defense leave and flourish in other systems (Hayward, Hyde). The excuses should be long since over. It's been a (relatively) healthy year for the defense in comparison to league average injuries. Pro Football Focus ranks 8 out of our 11 starters individually as anywhere between "average" (Perry, House, Clinton-Dix), to "above average" (Matthews, Martinez) to "high quality" (Clark, Burnett, Daniels).

 

So the excuses are gone. They haven't been scraping by with 3rd stringers. They have some high quality talent. Every year, we pump numerous draft picks into the draft at the expense of our offense, throwing Aaron a bone every few years with a tackle or WR early, but other than that just focusing on defensive drafts and telling Aaron to do his thing.

 

And yet, here we are. With yet another poor defense. Failed adjustments. Watching our defense repeatedly get gashed up and down the field as our DB's stick to their assignments of a soft vanilla zone and give 8-10 yards off the line of scrimmage, predictably resulting in failures to get off the field on 3rd and 4th down time and time again.

 

Dom Capers is the Jeff Fisher of defensive coordinators. A holdover from the "good ol' boy" days, stuck in an era of football that he doesn't fully understand and that he hasn't been able to adjust to. He's been a deer in the headlights ever since Kaepernick gashed his defense for almost 200 yards rushing in the 12-13 playoff matchup. Modern offensive coordinators are running circles around him. A single successful Super Bowl defense has bought Capers 9 years of goodwill, despite the fact that his poor regular season defenses are further exasperated by historically bad defensive games in the playoffs (51-45!), (45-31!) (44-21!) (37-20), not to mention when the defense finally put together a great playoff game in Seattle, it was completely imploded in mere minutes by a stunning collapse in the final minutes.

 

Until we fire this man, more of the same is inevitable.

[pacopete4]

Yeah I used to make excuses for him but those days are over for me. I’m afraid McCarthy is too loyal and going to sink his own ship with keeping Capers. Thank the man for his service and find the next great defensive coach out there.

[PeaveyFury]

Agreed 100%. One of McCarthy's major flaws is that he's far too loyal with 'his guys', and that probably leads to a lack of new ideas/innovation. What we're doing on defense isn't working, time to see if someone else has something else to try.

[FVBrewerFan]

Add McCarthy and Thompson to the list. Capers is a convenient target, and yea he's part of the problem. But talent is lacking, that's on TT. MM time has come and gone. Same stuff, bad defense, bad ST, bad at managing time outs, replays, etc.

 

Hey, he's a good coach. But in sports, sometimes the message gets old, the routine gets old, the scheme gets old.

 

This should have all been torn down 3 or 4 years ago.

[adambr2]

Add McCarthy and Thompson to the list. Capers is a convenient target, and yea he's part of the problem. But talent is lacking, that's on TT. MM time has come and gone. Same stuff, bad defense, bad ST, bad at managing time outs, replays, etc.

 

Hey, he's a good coach. But in sports, sometimes the message gets old, the routine gets old, the scheme gets old.

 

This should have all been torn down 3 or 4 years ago.

 

MM does a lot of things that drive me nuts. I hate how cavalier he is about his timeout usage, as you mentioned, and it often seems to come back and bite us. And as Peavy mentioned, the loyalty to Capers; it's just gone too far.

 

But aside from that, I think he runs a good offense and has the pulse and respect of his team, which are the two main things I'm looking for out of him. I'm not calling for his head -- yet. But if he insists on continuing to stand by Capers, he had better be prepared to go down with that ship.

 

I go back and forth on TT. I think he's drafted more talent on defense than he gets credit for. I think this is a pretty talented defense with a coordinator that doesn't have a clue how to properly use them.

[PeaveyFury]

Hey, he's a good coach. But in sports, sometimes the message gets old, the routine gets old, the scheme gets old.

 

This should have all been torn down 3 or 4 years ago.

 

That's the type of move that often fails. Different doesn't equal better in many, many cases. There are probably 25-27 teams in the league that would trade their coach for McCarthy straight up, as he's a top 5 guy in the league. Yeah, you could try something different and hope for an upgrade. Or it could end up way, way worse as it happens all the time. In the end, though, it IS all about winning, and if they don't make another run to a title, it will bring about the end of his tenure eventually.

 

And honestly, for those still wanting Thompson gone, the guy is about to be 65 years old. The Packers clearly made both Wolf and Gutekunst some sort of promises to keep them around last year. It doesn't seem like a huge stretch to think that there's already a transition plan in place, with successors named behind closed doors. I would expect that to be announced and made formal soon.

[PeaveyFury]

The other major point I'd make is that the difference between them and Capers is that the team HAS had success based on the job the other two have done. We've made two NFC Championships in the past 3 seasons, and they've made the playoffs every year since lord knows when. The problem with Capers is that the team's success has been IN SPITE of his defense, rather than because of it. The defenses have consistently been somewhere along a scale of terrible to really terrible. If the defenses the past 3-5 seasons had only been slightly above average, we'd have won a lot more.

[adambr2]

Yeah I used to make excuses for him but those days are over for me. I’m afraid McCarthy is too loyal and going to sink his own ship with keeping Capers. Thank the man for his service and find the next great defensive coach out there.

 

Yep, there are plenty of young, bright assistants out there that understand the modern NFL and who are going to get a shot at something more at some point. Why not be the first to get there?

 

I find it head-scratching that some people still use the argument "He's not the one missing tackles or blowing assignments", which could literally be applied to every DC in NFL history and adds nothing to an argument. It's crazy to think that good coaches and coordinators can't make a significant difference. Look at the remarkable job that Sean McVay is doing for the Rams this year. It's revolutionary. There can't be anyone outside the Jeff Fisher family that thinks that things would be going exactly the same for them this year if Jeff Fisher was still in charge.

 

On that note, it blows my mind that there is an NFL head coach that was born in 1986.

[FVBrewerFan]

Hey, he's a good coach. But in sports, sometimes the message gets old, the routine gets old, the scheme gets old.

 

This should have all been torn down 3 or 4 years ago.

 

That's the type of move that often fails. Different doesn't equal better in many, many cases. There are probably 25-27 teams in the league that would trade their coach for McCarthy straight up, as he's a top 5 guy in the league. Yeah, you could try something different and hope for an upgrade. Or it could end up way, way worse as it happens all the time. In the end, though, it IS all about winning, and if they don't make another run to a title, it will bring about the end of his tenure eventually.

 

And honestly, for those still wanting Thompson gone, the guy is about to be 65 years old. The Packers clearly made both Wolf and Gutekunst some sort of promises to keep them around last year. It doesn't seem like a huge stretch to think that there's already a transition plan in place, with successors named behind closed doors. I would expect that to be announced and made formal soon.

 

Sure, most of the time coaching changes don't work, or GM changes. See the Cleveland Browns.

 

I've been ready to take that chance for a long time. Ray Rhodes could take them to the playoffs with Rodgers. I doubt MM is top 5, maybe he is. But maybe this team needs the 16 best if, just to change things up.

 

Other than Belichek, the exception to everything, I think generally an NFL coach has a shelf life of 5-7 years if they're good.

[nodakfan17]

I’m a long time TT/MM apologist.

 

Either TT can’t draft defense or MM/DC can’t coach defense. Which is it?

 

The defense has been broken since Nick Collins was injured. 7 years without improvement is an organizational failure and I’d argue that even Mark Murphy should be held accountable.

[FVBrewerFan]

I’m a long time TT/MM apologist.

 

Either TT can’t draft defense or MM/DC can’t coach defense. Which is it?

 

The defense has been broken since Nick Collins was injured. 7 years without improvement is an organizational failure and I’d argue that even Mark Murphy should be held accountable.

 

Mark Murphy is living off Rodgers too. Good enough to make the playoffs, sell hats and jerseys, develop land, everything but winning a sb.

[Baldkin]

The fact that Dom wasn't fired after the 15-1 season was a complete joke. They gave up the most points, most yards, and finished 24th in DVOA in the league that season.

[FVBrewerFan]

I say this with all sincerity, being involved with us football, most hs teams disguise a blitz better than the Packers.

[MrTPlush]

Seriously just fire him at this point. The defense this year talent wise actually seems pretty decent. Yet still lacking results. The thing with him is the fact it continues to be bad and it literally can’t get much worse.

[young guns]

Ive been pretty meh on the whole capers thing, basically i feel theres been enough blame to go around combined with the thought that just making a change doesn't mean things will get better, but tonight changed my mind. For a team that has struggled so much in the red zone and against the blitz to just shred us in both situations is just telling to me.

[pacopete4]

30 points given up when you needed a good performance for your backup QB. Lions never punted. First time since 1971. Not sure how anyone can make excuses anymore. Hand Clay Matthews a pink slip as well. He could get around an orange cone these days.

[Brewer Fever]

It is possible to have a group of very talented players perform poorly because of scheme. In the postgame Stafford alluded to knowing exactly what Dom was throwing at him after so many years going against this scheme. I think it's pretty clear that the Packers are fooling no one in the entire league.

 

It's beyond time to move on

[jerichoholicninja]

It is possible to have a group of very talented players perform poorly because of scheme. In the postgame Stafford alluded to knowing exactly what Dom was throwing at him after so many years going against this scheme. I think it's pretty clear that the Packers are fooling no one in the entire league.

 

It's beyond time to move on

 

Jon Gruden said as much last night. He said it looked like the Lions offense knew exactly what the Packers defense was running and called the right plays to beat it.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I think as a whole, the Packers defensive coaching staff is atrocious - plus I think their base scheme is incredibly outdated. They may have a ton of defensive sub packages with cute names, but it seems like opponents know the 2-3 defensive calls for just about every sub package. Even an average QB can make adjustments at the line of scrimmage to end up creating a perfect matchup or audible for what the Packers defense is trying to do. The Packers always seem to have a defender playing out of position or matched up against someone they have no business covering, and teams consistently take advantage.

 

The one thing that could make this defense average is three or four guys who can flat-out pass rush and win 1 on 1 blocking battles with an O-lineman. They simply don't have that, forcing the team to blitz more than it should. More than ever, today's NFL requires star-caliber players on defense to make a difference by consistently dominating their individual matchups/assignments. GB's defense is a combination of guys who "push" their matchups, nobody who dominates, and a few positions that consistently get dominated.

 

I feel like now more than ever, the defensive coaching staff needs to be completely gone and fresh blood from outside the Packer organization needs to put their own stamp on things. McCarthy has basically ceded control of the defensive side of the ball to Capers, so it should be pretty easy to cut ties with all of it. If not, then McCarthy needs to be scrutinized even more.

[JohnBriggs12]

Add McCarthy and Thompson to the list. Capers is a convenient target, and yea he's part of the problem. But talent is lacking, that's on TT. MM time has come and gone. Same stuff, bad defense, bad ST, bad at managing time outs, replays, etc.

 

Hey, he's a good coach. But in sports, sometimes the message gets old, the routine gets old, the scheme gets old.

 

This should have all been torn down 3 or 4 years ago.

 

Thompson should be fired on bypassing TJ Watt for Kevin King alone. Capers has to go, but the talent needs to be upgraded too. Thompson has been taking defensive players in the early rounds the last several years. None have been difference makers. Some have been complete busts. A quality defense can win some games with very mediocre play at QB as long as the offense takes care of the ball like they did last night, but the offense can't score when the defense can't get off the field.

[JohnBriggs12]

Now Stafford had a very good game. Can't deny that. He was accurate and on time with his throws. But at that level, a lot has to do with confidence that comes with knowing play after play what the defense is doing. Maybe next week against a rookie, Capers schemes might confuse him into some mistakes, but against the savvy veterans they played the last two games, Brees and Stafford, they had zero chance and without Rodgers they can't outscore them.

 

Maybe the Packers need to look down the road at what Jim Leonard is doing in Madison. By all accounts he's got a superior defensive mind and he knows the pro game as well.

[pacopete4]

I don't watch much of the Steelers but what has Watt done that is so special? I know he had a great first game but I haven't heard much about him since.

[FVBrewerFan]

Add McCarthy and Thompson to the list. Capers is a convenient target, and yea he's part of the problem. But talent is lacking, that's on TT. MM time has come and gone. Same stuff, bad defense, bad ST, bad at managing time outs, replays, etc.

 

Hey, he's a good coach. But in sports, sometimes the message gets old, the routine gets old, the scheme gets old.

 

This should have all been torn down 3 or 4 years ago.

 

Thompson should be fired on bypassing TJ Watt for Kevin King alone. Capers has to go, but the talent needs to be upgraded too. Thompson has been taking defensive players in the early rounds the last several years. None have been difference makers. Some have been complete busts. A quality defense can win some games with very mediocre play at QB as long as the offense takes care of the ball like they did last night, but the offense can't score when the defense can't get off the field.

 

I sensed Thompson was losing it when he started drafting 90% of his picks from the West Coast. That's weird to me. He loves drafting tweeners. DBs that can play in/out, Safeties that can also play in the slot or is some crazy package at LB. DEs who are LBs, or LBs converted to DE.

 

As a result, you have a bunch of guys from USC and UCLA who aren't great at anything, other than being versatile (mediocre.)

 

Offensive side of the ball hasn't been much better. O line in worse shape that it's been in a while. Let Cook walk, and bring in two TEs who aren't as good as Cook combined. No difference makers at the WR/RB positions.

 

Tear it down. New GM, let him find a new HC, and go from there. The only good thing about Rodgers injury is just MAYBE there's enough Board members at 1265 to finally realize it's time.

[homer]

Packers have no pass rush. That puts a lot of pressure on the d back and if a QB gets hot like Stafford did last night it can make for an ugly outing. Ted hasn't put together a decent defense since the Super Bowl win. This is on him.

[adambr2]

Packers have no pass rush. That puts a lot of pressure on the d back and if a QB gets hot like Stafford did last night it can make for an ugly outing. Ted hasn't put together a decent defense since the Super Bowl win. This is on him.

 

Capers had 3 years to pair Clay Matthews with one of the best pass rushers of all-time who is still one of the top sack leaders this year back at Carolina in his late 30s. Perry had 11 sacks last year and was kept. Daniels in prior years was one of the better pass rushing 3-4 ends in the league.

 

Regardless of who he's had Capers has still failed time and time again to field a successful defense.