Joe Barry entered from a hallway on the seventh floor of Lambeau Field and walked slowly to the elevator that would take him down to the mezzanine level, where a golf cart awaited him and two other Green Bay Packers staff members.
Barry’s face was filled with agony during that slow walk and again when I spotted him riding shotgun while being chauffeured. What was going through his head exactly? That remains to be seen, but Barry was dejected after his defense was gashed repeatedly in a 34-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday afternoon.
It appears the writing is on the wall for what’s been an underwhelming 48-game run for Barry in Titletown. It’s become a matter of when — not if — Barry will be fired.
Matt LaFleur sounded like a man who was at least contemplating that move after watching the Packers give up 452 total yards to Baker Mayfield and the Bucs.
LaFleur was asked if he’d consider an in-season change at coordinator: “Now’s not the time for that, to be honest with you,” he said.
Umm, ok. Why not?
“Because now’s not the time,” LaFleur said. “I’m trying to find solutions, and I’ve got to go back and take a look at the film.”
LaFleur planned to do that immediately in his office — like, right after his news conference ended — and the viewing was bound to be just as disturbing the second time around.
The carnage:
Mayfield went 22 of 28 for 381 yards with four touchdown passes, becoming the first visiting quarterback to produce a perfect passer rating (158.3) at Lambeau Field. The first overall pick in the 2018 draft, now on his fourth team in the NFL, looked like he was at Oklahoma picking apart a secondary from Kansas or Texas Tech.
His favorite target Sunday, Chris Godwin, worked his way into soft spots in the Packers’ zone, and Mayfield found him over and over. Ten times for 155 yards, to be exact.
Green Bay defenders look confused way too often, either because they don’t know what their assignment is or because they don’t trust teammates to be doing their jobs. It all added up to Tampa Bay going 7 of 13 on third down and producing seven passing plays
of 20 yards or longer.
The Bucs scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the second half. It would have been 4-for-4 if they’d actually tried to score points on their final series, but running back Rachaad White chose to give himself up at the 11-yard line.
It was mercy for a defense that didn’t deserve it.
Barry was the wrong hire from the start, but LaFleur has been too stubborn to admit that.
Will he now, with three games left in the season and the Packers possibly needing to win all three of them to make the playoffs?
It’s not so simple. Barry no longer deserves to be the defensive coordinator of this proud organization because he’s failed at his job, but firing him at this point — in mid-December — might not accomplish anything other than quenching a disgruntled fan base’s thirst for blood.
The Philadelphia Eagles are 10-3 and have legitimate hopes to win a Super Bowl. So it was noteworthy when reports emerged Sunday
