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downs and allowed for a better situational pass rush, andthe defense climbed to 12th overall by season’s end.The strong defensive play and Favre’s veteran leadershipfueled a season-ending, four-game winning streak,the final three wins coming over NFC North opponents. A26-7 win at Chicago in the season finale over the eventualNFC champion Bears put the Packers at 5-1 in the divisionand barely out of the playoffs, losing a tiebreaker with theGiants, who also finished 8-8.That impressive early showing within the division wasa sign of things to come for McCarthy, who is now 17-7in four seasons against NFC North foes, which is tied forthe best division record among NFC teams over that span(Arizona is also 17-7). McCarthy’s mark includes a 13-3record against Minnesota and Detroit, two teams that alsohired new coaches in 2006.THE RIGHT FITWith a personality to match his blue-collar hometown,McCarthy landed his first NFL head-coaching job in hiskind of place.A Pittsburgh native, Mc-Carthy was named the 14thHead Coach of the GreenBay Packers on Jan. 12,2006, the only step left totake after 13 years as anNFL assistant.But while he previouslyhad traveled through NFLcities such as Kansas City,New Orleans and San Francisco,it may be Green Baythat most resembles hisnative Pittsburgh. And ifthere was one word usedto describe McCarthy’s hiringin his first days with thePackers, it was that he wasthe right “fit”, both for atown and a team looking toturn around a disappointing4-12 season in 2005.The way McCarthy fitsGreen Bay, however, goes beyond the toughness in hispersonality, down-to-earth demeanor, and pride in hisupbringing.He not only spent one of those 13 previous years in theNFL with Green Bay, but he took over the Packers already wellversed in the West Coast offense with a reputation for developingoffensive talent, particularly at the quarterback position.McCarthy is known for taking a hands-on teaching approachwith young players and has been well respectedaround the league, in part because he had called plays forsix seasons as an offensive coordinator before becominga head coach. Plus, he has tutored an impressive roster ofNFL quarterbacks.While two of the biggest names he has worked with,Favre in Green Bay and Joe Montana in Kansas City, wereat or beyond their peak years at the time, McCarthy hasplayed at least a part in the development of signal callersAaron Brooks, Jake Delhomme, Matt Hasselbeck, MarcBulger, Rich Gannon and Elvis Grbac.The entire stable of quarterbacks that McCarthy hasworked with, which also includes Jeff Blake, Steve Bono, andDave Krieg, has combined for 36 career Pro Bowl selections,nine Super Bowl starts, and six Most Valuable Player awards.McCarthy’s newest protégé to rise to a starting role isRodgers, who was drafted in the first round in 2005. GeneralManager Ted Thompson heavily weighed McCarthy’s trackrecord with quarterbacks when he hired him the followingyear, knowing that since the post-Favre era was inevitable,the right tutelage at the game’s most important positionwould be key to a smooth and successful transition.COACHING STAFF / MIKE McCARTHYPAYING HIS DUESMuch like those players he worked with who rose toprominence, McCarthy paid plenty of dues along the wayto his first head-coaching job.He learned a disciplined and no-nonsense approach tolife at an early age. His father, Joe, was a longtime firefighterand police officer who also owned a bar near aPittsburgh steel mill. McCarthy worked odd jobs at the baras a teen. It was interacting with the hard-working tavernclientele while also watching a father in uniform dedicatedto public service that helped make McCarthy proud ofwhere he came from.After his playing career as a tight end at Baker University(Kan.) ended, his 23-year coaching career began as alinebackers coach at Fort Hays State (Kan.) in 1987. Hecracked the Division I ranks two years later as a volunteerassistant at the University of Pittsburgh.It was there he displayed the will and determination tomake it in the coaching profession, working for free on thefootball field by day and collecting tolls along the Pennsylvaniaturnpike during the graveyard shift to make endsmeet.He soon moved intoa paid position at Pitt assistingwith the quarterbacks,and then coachingthe wide receivers, beforePanthers head coach PaulHackett recommendedhim to the Kansas CityChiefs when they hiredHackett as offensive coordinatorin 1993. McCarthyjoined Hackett on theChiefs’ staff as a qualitycontrolassistant.McCarthy considersHackett the biggest influencein his coachingcareer, having learned theWest Coast offense fromhim and then installing ithimself as offensive coordinatorin New Orleans.It was under Hackett’s wing that McCarthy developedthe attention to detail, scouting and game-planning skillsthat would help him move up the NFL ranks.OPPORTUNITY KNOCKSThe third-youngest head coach in the NFL when he washired at age 42 (the Saints’ Sean Payton was seven weeksyounger and the Jets’ Eric Mangini was 35), McCarthy tookover a team coming off its first losing season since 1991,before Favre arrived as quarterback.Thompson made it clear when he hired McCarthy hewasn’t looking for just an X’s and O’s guy. He was lookingfor someone who would impress him with a variety ofqualities, including leadership ability, toughness, footballknowledge, and an awareness of the Green Bay organizationand the team’s unique place within the NFL and thelocal community.McCarthy, who had interviewed for the ClevelandBrowns head coaching job five years earlier but admits hewasn’t necessarily ready then, fit the bill. In his introductorynews conference, he spoke of how taking over thePackers was like buying his “dream house,” with the foundation,tradition and resources to help him make the teama championship contender once again.McCarthy emphasized he didn’t feel the Packers werein a rebuilding mode at all, but there was work to be doneright away.He wasted no time constructing the environment hewanted for his team, implementing free weights as thefoundation for the players’ strength and conditioning.DRAFT &COMMUNITY COACHES VETERANS FREE AGENTS2009 REVIEW HISTORYRECORDS &LAMBEAUFIELDMISC.31