Brady Quinn: Packers’ firing of Mike McCarthy ‘maybe biggest surprise of 2018’

To say Brady Quinn didn’t see it coming would be an understatement.

The former NFL quarterback and SiriusXM NFL Radio co-host said Monday the Green Bay Packers’ decision to fire coach Mike McCarthy after Sunday’s loss against the Arizona Cardinals was something he never would have anticipated. Quinn saw too many reasons that should have allowed McCarthy to hang onto his job rather than being unable to finish out his 13^th season.

‘The tough thing is, look at the success that Mike McCarthy had’

“Given how many games they have left, given the success of Mike McCarthy, that was the biggest surprise by far to me,” Quinn told Bruce Murray on the SiriusXM Blitz. “If you would have told me this was going to happen at the beginning of the season, maybe it’s the biggest surprise of 2018. The tough thing is, look at the success that Mike McCarthy had. Nine of his 13 seasons. they go to the playoffs. In eight of his 13, they win 10 games. They won a Super Bowl.

“When you when you look at Mike McCarthy through the course of his career there, it’s pretty remarkable and maybe they’re trending in the wrong direction the past two years. But to me some of that has to do with injury, to me some of that has to do this year with the changes that they made on both sides of the ball, their staff. Even though the defense is playing better, offensively they’re young. Randall Cobb has been banged up, they’ve got a bunch of rookie wide receivers in and out those guys. They’ve dropped some balls. I don’t think the protection has been quite as good.

‘You would have thought maybe he would have gotten the benefit of the doubt’

“It’s pretty crazy and that’s when you talk about what he’ll be doing next year, he’s going to be coaching. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was the Browns’ next head coach.”

“So, with all the changes that they’ve kind of gone through, you would have thought maybe he would have gotten the benefit of the doubt for another season. I mean, this was going to probably be probably going to be his third season that Mike McCarthy was a part of a losing record since he took over in 2006. It’s pretty crazy and that’s why when you talk about what he’ll be doing next year, he’s going to be coaching. I wouldn’t be shocked if he was the Browns’ next head coach.”

Quinn thinks quarterback Aaron Rodgers bears some responsibility for the Packers’ struggles. He also thinks McCarthy might have paid a price from a lack of aggressiveness by the Packers’ front office.

‘We haven’t seen them be very active in trying to trade and trying to load up their team every single year for a run like we see with the L.A. Rams’

“Up until year, this year where you see (General Manager) Brian Gutekunst take over and make a splash and bring in (tight end) Jimmy Graham in free agency, we haven’t seen them been very active in free agency,” Quinn said. “We haven’t seen them be very active in trying to trade and trying to load up their team every single year for a run like we see with the L.A. Rams and the way they work their cap and whether or not you feel like, well, that’s not the way they do business or that’s not how they do it, maybe it needs to be or maybe it needs to be right now. And that ultimately doesn’t fall, at least in my mind, on Mike McCarthy. I think that was more Ted Thompson. And maybe that’s why you see a change there.”

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