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McCarthy must prove he can lead

In ancient Rome, so the story goes, a victorious general would return home to a raucous parade. Just so he wouldn’t get too cocky, standing behind him in his chariot would be a minion whispering in the conqueror’s ear the warning that all glory is fleeting.

Update this cautionary tale to the NFL and it would be Mike McCarthy riding shotgun in the Escalade belonging to the hot coach du jour—today, Atlanta’s Mike Smith, tomorrow, who knows?—and leaning over to murmur the same humbling advice.

Before the last Super Bowl, McCarthy was the league’s upstart Julius Caesar, winning pretty much everywhere under any conditions. Except for Bill Belichick, no coach was more highly decorated in 2007. That such glory fled with such remarkable speed for McCarthy this season went mostly to a defense that bled out just about every time it mattered.

But we knew that.

Produce a 4,000-yard passer, a 1,200-yard rusher and two 1,000-yard receivers as the Green Bay Packers did on an inequitable return of 6-10, and no corrective measure on that defense was too drastic or severe, even the unprecedented size of the broom that whisked six assistant coaches out Lambeau Field’s backdoor.

Knew that, too.

But what we don’t know in the wake of the blackest of Mondays for the half-dozen aides sacrificed on the green-and-gold altar is how good their ex-boss is at his particular job. Maybe we thought we knew against the glow of 13-3, but it’s easy to be blinded by that ephemeral light in a league that bum-rushes glory like a defensive coordinator through a service exit.

In any event, McCarthy is about to let us know, one way or the other, in a 2009 season that should define his career as a head coach.

If there was dissention among the defensive coaches for most of the year, why didn’t McCarthy get control of the situation before the schism split apart the Packers’ season after the bye week? That goes to leadership, just as it was McCarthy’s responsibility to find a way to win all those games the Packers lost in the closing moments.

Leadership is also the ability to pick the right assistants to fulfill the head coach’s vision. As much as McCarthy talked about the Packers becoming a physical team on both sides of the ball in 2008, they were 180 degrees from toughness. If a coach can’t choose the right people to reflect his personality and convey that philosophy to the players, he either doesn’t know what he wants or lacks the forethought for the position.

McCarthy had no experience as a head coach before Ted Thompson made him the surprise choice three years ago, but that has never been much of an issue in Green Bay. Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren had never been NFL head coaches before being entrusted with the keys to one of the most storied franchises in professional sports. In fact, with the exceptions of Forrest Gregg and Ray Rhodes, being the head coach of the Packers has always been about learning on the job.

The guess here is that McCarthy still has the ability to quickly adapt. The mass firings were a huge admission that he failed the first time in surrounding himself with the right people, a skill inherent in Holmgren. Because of his big contract extension, McCarthy will get a second chance. But because of the way glory can take a hike in such a hurry around here, McCarthy won’t get a third.

Michael Hunt is a sports columnist for The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.