Joe Barry, the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, must be fired, and they must do so immediately.
The pressure on head coach Matt LaFleur to decide whether to bench Barry has reached unbearable heights after the defense let the one-win Carolina Panthers pull away from a 14-point fourth-quarter lead on Sunday afternoon, December 24.
Thanks to a game-ending field goal, the Packers managed to win 33-30, narrowly escaping defeat. But if Carolina had had an extra second or two to spare, the result might have been drastically different, ending Green Bay’s chances of making the playoffs.
Andy Herman of Packer Report wrote on X, “Packers win because the Panthers ran out of time to keep embarrassing the Packers defense.” “The winner is Green Bay. Matt LaFleur must take action. There is currently no justification of any kind.
Herman wasn’t the only member of the media to say that LaFleur needs to take action right away.
According to Peter Bukowski of The Leap, the Panthers have scored “the most points this season” on social media. By Christmas Day, Joe Barry cannot be the defensive coordinator for the #Packers. simply incapable of doing it.
Others, such as CheeseheadTV’s Aaron Nagler, were too frustrated with the Packers defense’s performance to keep bringing up points they had been making for weeks.
“Just repost my tirade from last week regarding the defense,” No
Following last week’s performance against the Tampa Bay Bucs, in which Baker Mayfield passed for 381 yards and four touchdowns and became the first visiting quarterback to ever receive a perfect rating of 158.3 at Lambeau Field, LaFleur stood by Barry.
The message LaFleur delivered to the media six days prior is called into question because the communication in Carolina didn’t improve on Sunday.
“Matt LaFleur said Monday the plan was to keep Joe Barry for the rest of the season,” Matt Schneidman of The Athletic wrote on X following the game. “The Packers just allowed a season high in points to the NFL’s worst team and might be headed to OT if the clock didn’t run out. Does LaFleur fire his DC after a win?”
Despite poor defensive performances in three straight games, the Packers are currently 7-8 and in the middle of the NFC playoff chase.
Now, on New Year’s Eve, Green Bay will travel to Minneapolis to take on a desperate Minnesota Vikings club. In a game that will basically be an elimination round, the Vikings, who are also 7-8, take on the Packers in an attempt to secure a position in Wildcard Weekend.
If the Packers prevail in that game, they will play another game that is probably a must-win in Week 18 at Lambeau Field against the very dangerous and resurgent Chicago Bears. Without superior defensive performances to what the team has shown in the last month, it is difficult to see Green Bay winning both divisional games, which may be more than sufficient reason to fire Barry right away.
