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Multiple sources are reporting today that Green Bay Packers head coach, Mike McCarthy, is going to relinquish the play calling duties to his offensive coordinator, Tom Clements. McCarthy took some heat for his play calling the NFC title game loss to the Seattle Seahawks. However, it should be pointed out that the Packers were first in scoring last season, and that quarterback Aaron Rodgers was voted the NFL MVP.
This is the sign of a good leader. One can assume that McCarthy knows there are some things that he is not able to be on top of during a game while he is calling the plays. He gives up the actual play call, but you can bet that he will still have input to what is called at various points in a game.
Ken Whisenhunt should be paying attention to what is going on in Green Bay. Whisenhunt, who also calls the plays as the head coach, definitely did not lead his team to points scored crown. In fact, his team was 30th in the league in scoring.
Now, I would be remiss to not point out that Whiz doesn't have Rodgers playing quarterback for him, but that doesn't change the fact that Whisenhunt's play calling leaves a lot to be desired. He also isn't a very good in-game strategist. I don't know if he would be better if he weren't calling the plays, but it would help.
Being able to step back and self-evaluate is what makes the difference between a good NFL coach and a bad one. McCarthy could have very easily said that his play calling led the Packers to being the top scoring team in the league...or something like "It worked once, so it will work again." (Sound familiar?) But that is not what McCarthy did. He identified a problem and came up with a solution.
