The Green Bay Packers continued to keep pace in the NFC North after picking up a victory on a short week. On Thursday night, the Packers defeated the Carolina Panthers 27-19 to improve to 5-3 on the season.
It was far from a great performance, especially with the Packers' running game being ineffective against the Panthers' bottom-ranked run defense, which gave up 258 yards and three rushing touchdowns the game prior against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. However, the Packers' pass rush attacked the Panthers' weak offensive line, while quarterback Jordan Love torched the secondary.
It's not often in a season that a team can force their opponents to make drastic changes the day after the game, but that's exactly what the Packers did to the Panthers.
On Friday morning, ESPN's Jeremy Fowler reported that the Panthers fired defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and defensive pass game coordinator Jonathan Cooley.
Packers win forces Panthers to fire DC Ejiro Evero
The timing of the firing was a bit odd, considering Carolina's defense didn't play all that terribly. They managed to ensure their weakness at stopping the run didn't result in a loss, as the Packers' rushers only managed to pick up 66 yards on 26 carries. However, the defense has been under fire for a while now this season.
There was Carolina's season-opener against Green Bay's rivals, the Chicago Bears, where the defense gave up 552 yards and 59 points on 70 plays. Then, there was their Week 3 loss to the Cleveland Browns, where they blew an 18-13 lead with under five minutes left in regulation. After that, the aforementioned brutal 43-13 loss to the Buccaneers.
But the loss to the Packers was where the Panthers had enough and opted to overhaul their defensive coaching staff to try to salvage their season. While Carolina held Green Bay to 66 rushing yards, they couldn't stop the passing attack, as Love completed 30 of 41 pass attempts for 288 yards and three touchdowns, all while not getting sacked once.
Add four different pass catchers logging six or more receptions, and that was that for Evero.
Ejiro Evero has ties to Packers before Panthers tenure
Before Evero was the Panthers' defensive coordinator or a prospective head coaching candidate, he was part of the Packers in 2016.
After spending five years with the San Francisco 49ers, Evero was hired to be a defensive quality control coach for Green Bay under head coach Mike McCarthy and defensive coordinator Dom Capers. That was the very season in which Green Bay made it to the playoffs with a 10-6 record and reached the NFC Championship Game, where they lost big time to the Atlanta Falcons.
From there, Evero moved over to the Los Angeles Rams, where he spent five years as a safeties coach, secondary coach, and passing game coordinator. In 2022, the Denver Broncos hired him to be their defensive coordinator under head coach and former Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett.
As the NFL world remembers, Hackett was a disaster as a head coach and was fired before the season even ended. Evero would depart the organization after that season, where he took the Panthers' defensive coordinator role in 2023, up until his firing on Friday.
It will be interesting to see where Evero ends up next. After more than three years on the job, the Panthers decided that the loss to the Packers was the final strike for the longtime defensive coach.
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