Mike Vandermause pointed out that Mike McCarthy bashers are silent after the hot 2-0 start. I haven't done any Mike McCarthy bashing myself since the end of last season. I bashed the original hiring since he was a guy that had been fired by the Packers a few years earlier and prior to his hiring he had coordinated one of the worst offenses of all time in San Francisco. I bashed at the end of last season because McCarthy calls a lot more passing plays than running plays, and if WR Donald Driver wasn't getting open then the offense was going nowhere. To aggravate the problem, he had the offense play an awful lot with TE Bubba Franks and FB Brandon Miree in the game and neither player was a receiving threat. It was a pass offense that depended heavily on its wide receivers, more often than not they played with only two at a time, and one of them, WR Greg Jennings, was horrible after he returned from his midseason injury. The Packers won their final four games of last season, but the defense carried the offense.
The defense is built on the foundation that former defense coordinator Jim Bates brought to Green Bay in 2005. Current defensive coordinator Bob Sanders came with Bates from Miami in 2005, and stayed on after Bates was asked to stay, but decided he wanted to move on after being passed over for the head coaching job. The defense is the best part of the current team, and it wasn't something McCarthy brought to Green Bay.
For the late week 1 game on Monday Night Football between San Francisco and Arizona, ESPN had Mike Ditka provide commentary for it. He made a comment that head coaching isn't about the Xs and Os, and it has more to do about how you work with people. Although this would be a good place for a joke about how Ditka has never been confused for a great strategist, he does have a point about people skills. A head coach does have to juggle his relationship with his general manager, his coaches, the media, and his players' egos. As far as I can tell, McCarthy is someone who is trusted by his players and is on everyones' good side.
But as an offensive coordinator, he never led anything better than an average offense in New Orleans and his time in San Francisco is best forgotten. With the Packers, the offense has not yet been above average, although he does deserve a break since he has had so many rookies to work with. However the offense is supposed to be his forte and he still has not turned the Packers into a good or great offensive team, so there is still some reason to give McCarthy the occasional bashing.