While a Divisional Round loss by the foot of one of the league's worst kickers and a Favre-esque interception still stings for Green Bay Packers fans, there was a bit of good news to ease that pain. On Wednesday morning, the Packers announced they fired defensive coordinator Joe Barry.
Any kind of change within the Packers organization should be celebrated, as they are historically slow to action in nearly every regard. That is why many were worried that a relatively strong end of the season would result in head coach Matt LaFleur keeping around his friend for another year. However, with the writing on the wall that keeping Barry could end up being LaFleur's demise in Green Bay, he and the Packers organization have decided to part ways (pop the champagne).
Green Bay Packers Fire Joe Barry
It has been three long years with Joe Barry as the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers. This is the longest defensive coordinator job he has held, after he had two failed attempts of two years each with the Detroit Lions and the then-Washington Redskins. However, this stop didn't last longer due to success. Again, it was due to Green Bay's inability to enact change and Matt LaFleur's inability to address conflict.
In the three years with Barry leading the Packer defense, 10th, 16th and 13th in scoring defense. They ranked 28th, 28th and 24th in yards per rushing attempt. The defense also ranked 24th, 7th and 28th in allowed third down conversion rate. For a defensive unit that has so much invested into it, this isn't good enough.
Of course, saying a defense has "X number of first-round picks" is an ignorant and lazy take, since there are such things as bad draft picks, which the Packers have plenty of. Regardless, there is talent on the defensive side of the football, but there isn't much discipline or results to show for it. That is the reason why many Packers fans are celebrating this move of naming a new Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator.
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