Sunday, September 25, 2005

Fire Sherman

The Green Bay Packers laid another turd today, and Coach Sherman laid one of his own in the post game press conference. I think Tim Van Vooren said it best on the Fox 6 post game when he described it as "resignation" (not that resignation, though). It was the most disturbing post game press conference I've ever seen by a Packer coach. Zero emotion. Zero anger. He was quiet. He stuttered through every answer. It seemed like he didn't even want to be there.

Sherman's behavior at this press conference was one of a defeated man. It was as though he has already resigned himself to a terrible year and possibly the loss of his job. He looked like a loser, and that was enough to convince me that he has to go, now. The poor decisions were bad enough, but this team is trying to rebuild on a young core. It doesn't need him infecting it with a loser's attitude.

Additionally, this is going to be Aaron Rogers team in a year or two. It was comforting to know that Mike Holmgren was in charge of Favre's development back in the day because Holmgren chewed his ass when necessary, but always gave him enough rope to learn. Is anyone comfortable with Roger's development being, at least in part, in Sherman's hands? I'm not. He's proven himself incapable of developing young guys. He does okay with veteran teams, but when it comes to developing talent, he's not very good. I can't imagine a successful Rogers era if Sherman is his coach.

Is it time for the Packers to just cut their losses with Sherman? I'm beginning to think that it is, but I have a few concerns. If they were to fire Sherman tomorrow, Jim Bates would likely become the interim coach. That means the defense, which has actually been approaching respectable, will be in someone else's hands, but more importantly, it means that the offense will be completely in Rossley's hands. The only saving grace for that offense is Sherman's involvement. Providing Rossley's health held, this offense would be mired even deeper in quicksand than it already is. And I don't know how wise it is to change offensive coordinator in the middle of the year.

This season is swirling down the drain. Maybe we should just flush some of the turds down with it right now.

(Cross posted at The Wisconsin Sports Bar)

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