SB Nation Reacts, Week 9 Results: Joe Barry’s out by 2023

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Green Bay Packers fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate.

Our polls this week focused on the future of the Packers, including the man sitting in the hottest seat in Green Bay: defensive coordinator Joe Barry. Despite spending the second-most cash of any NFL team on defense this year and adding two first-round picks, Barry’s defense has played average this season overall and well below average in the ground game. Will he stick around? Check out what our readers think his fate is.

National Results

Nationally, more than half of responders believed that the Packers were the biggest loser at the trade deadline. Green Bay fans wanted someone to come in to save the season, but the truth is that there may not have been a legitimate option worth the compensation it took to land a receiver this week. We covered that on this week’s Intercepted. That won’t stop opposing fans and the national media from pointing at the Packers and laughing, though.

Despite four straight losses, the public generally still believes that the Packers are going to beat the Detroit Lions on Sunday. For what it’s worth, Green Bay is a 3.5-point road favorite on DraftKings.

Acme Packing Company results

Technically, confidence in the Packers’ direction as an organization is up from last week, when only eight percent of fans said they were on the right path. This still ranks 31st in the league, though, the same as in Week 8. Instead of the Denver Broncos, Green Bay now only ranks ahead of the Arizona Cardinals.

Earlier this week, head coach Matt LaFleur laughed off a question about making a change at defensive coordinator. Packers fans are taking the question a lot more seriously based on these results. Only about a fifth of fans think that Joe Barry will be back as the team’s defensive coordinator next season. Barry is LaFleur’s second defensive coordinator after the team originally kept Mike Pettine, who was hired by the previous administration.

There’s no way around it: Safety Darnell Savage has had a tough stretch as an open-field tackler in recent weeks. Over three-quarters of fans want to see a switch that puts special teams ace and dimeback Rudy Ford on the field as the team’s starting safety. For what it’s worth, Barry said this week that Savage had great practices on Wednesday and Thursday, which both featured a series of tackling drills.

Green Bay’s offense looked like it could run at will against a great Buffalo Bills front on Sunday Night Football last week. One big difference in that game compared to the rest of the season was the usage of off-ball tight end Josiah Deguara, who also contributes as a fullback in the backfield. Deguara played 30 snaps of offense against the Bills, which is double his involvement in any previous game in 2022. Four-fifths of fans think the team needs to lean into playing him moving forward.