Packers: Three characteristics the next head coach must have

The Green Bay Packers have gotten a head start to their search for a new head coach, but at this point it is difficult to pinpoint who all of the potential candidates may be. However, there are specific qualities that the new head coach must have.

In their press conference this past Monday, president Mark Murphy and GM Brian Gutekunst mentioned that they would not be hiring the next Green Bay Packers head coach until after the season.

As a Packers fan this should be a positive. Murphy and Gutekunst are showing that they are going to vet all potential options and since it’s so early in the process, they may not have their complete list of candidates put together.

This will be a franchise altering decision and regardless of who the new head coach is, there are three characteristics in particular they will have to have if the Green Bay Packers hope to get back on track.

Offensive-minded

The first and most obvious quality is that the coach needs to be offensive-minded rather than defensive.

Some of today’s top NFL teams such as the Saints, Chiefs and Rams are all incredibly explosive on offense. As the game continues to evolve, it would appear that the increase in offensive production that we have seen is here to stay.

Also, Aaron Rodgers is the Packers’ best player and someone who can make the biggest impact on any game; the next head coach needs to get the most out of what is left in Rodgers’ career and a defensive-minded coach most likely won’t be able to do that.

Creative and able to adjust

What has been perhaps the biggest knock on Mike McCarthy this season has been his lack of creativity, which realistically has been an issue for a few years now.

In a short amount of time this NFL game has changed drastically and McCarthy appeared to be stuck in his old ways. This is a huge factor that may have impacted his relationship with Rodgers.

The new head coach is going to need to bring an innovative and modern offense that will help this Packers team create mismatches, which has been an issue in 2018.

He will also need to be willing to take chances. There are a couple Packers games that come to mind where the team became passive and ended up losing.

In addition, whether it’s week-to-week or quarter-to-quarter, adjustments have to be made. This was something that McCarthy did quite well early on but has failed to do so recently. Each week every game looked similar to the previous one as if nothing had changed.

Being able to add wrinkles to the offense will help Rodgers exploit the defense even more effectively and it will continue to challenge him mentally, a key factor as well in all of this.

Managing Aaron Rodgers

Even at their worst, I believe that Rodgers always respected McCarthy. But this was earned over time. More recently, however, Rodgers lost his trust in Mike’s ability to make play calls and his ability to put together an effective game plan.

This lack of trust has significantly hurt the Green Bay Packers offense this season.

It will be crucial to the success of this team that the head coach builds trust with Rodgers. This could be accomplished fairly early on in the relationship by hiring someone with a strong coaching background, such as Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels who has worked with Tom Brady since 2012.

Trust will also be built by going over game plans with Rodgers, taking his input, and explaining why they’ll be running certain plays rather than just telling him.

Yet, just as Rodgers will need to be included, the new coach will have to manage Rodgers and be able to reel him back in when he begins to stray. Specifically I’m referring to when Rodgers has poor body language, is going off script too often, or is holding the ball too long.

This early in the process it is tough to know who the next head coach of the Green Bay Packers will be. This organization has shown in the past that they may choose an under-the-radar candidate.

Nonetheless as we hear new names pop up in connection with the Packers, these are three characteristics that they will ideally have.