Mike McCarthy’s search to fill his vacant defensive coordinator’s job ended suddenly after nine days when the Green Bay Packers coach chose former Cleveland Browns coach Mike Pettine to succeed Dom Capers.
Pettine, 51, was out of football in 2016 after compiling a 10-22 record in two seasons as coach of the Cleveland Browns and spent this past season as a defensive consultant with the Seattle Seahawks.
McCarthy had interest in Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, but it appears Fangio is going to stick with the Bears. He also asked for permission to speak with Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator Gus Bradley, but never got to interview him. Bradley agreed to return to the Chargers Tuesday night.
Along the way to his head-coaching job, Pettine was part of some of the NFL’s top defenses. From ’09-12, the Jets ranked 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th in overall defense. Ryan received most of the credit for the Jets’ great defenses, but a Cleveland.com story said that Ryan turned over much of the responsibility of the defense to Pettine after the 2009 season.
In 2013, after Pettine went to Buffalo, the Bills ranked 10th in defense.
As the story mentioned, Pettine's defenses in New York and Buffalo all ranked top 10 in yards allowed, though they were 20th in points allowed in three straight seasons (two in New York and one in Buffalo). There may be some growing pains along the way, but this looks like a good hire for Green Bay.
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