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GREEN BAY Clay Matthews Jersey , Wis. — The Green Bay Packers’ head-coaching vacancy should be appealing for one big reason.Packers CoverageBucks’ Wes Matthews loves Wisconsin, is a Vikings fanPreview: Packers look to slow Vikings’ revitalized run gameTop Tweets: Yelich thanks fans for support after season-ending injuryAmos sparks rebuilt Packers defense in debutPackers to be tested again by familiar foe in Zimmer, VikingsPackers’ new-look defense carries offense in season openerPackers Snap Counts: New coach LaFleur gets TEs involvedUpon Further Review: Packers at BearsPHOTOS: Packers at BearsDefense leads the way as Packers top Bears in openerHe plays quarterback and signed a four-year, $134 million contract extension this year.Two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, though, will not be involved in the process of selecting Mike McCarthy’s successor, but is free to provide input, team president Mark Murphy said on Monday.And that seems fine with Rodgers, who said he was focused on the Packers’ final four games under interim coach Joe Philbin.“I think there’s an interest in who the next guy will be, but (Murphy and general manager Brian Gutekunst) and I have always had good lines of communication, their offices, like they say, are always open,” Rodgers said. “I’m not needing to be involved in that process.”Murphy said Rodgers was also not part of the decision to fire McCarthy following the stunning 20-17 loss to the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday that dropped Green Bay to 4-7-1. Chances of making the playoffs are slim.It appeared that most players had already left Lambeau Field by that point, with many Packers saying they had learned of the firing on social media or through text messages.“Found out probably the same way you did at the same time you did,” receiver Davante Adams said on Monday. “I was definitely surprised. But, it’s a business and business is business, and that’s what it is.”Rodgers was already home to celebrate his 35th birthday when he found out.“I’m sure I found out the same way that most of you found out,” Rodgers said, “and was just as shocked as many of you were.”He planned to reach out to McCarthy later Monday.“I think him and I, like any relationship, we have our amazing times Blake Martinez Color Rush Jersey , we have our times where we butt heads,” Rodgers said. “But the basis, like I said, was built on mutual respect and communication. … We spent time together and growing our friendship and we accomplished a lot together.”From Adams to Rodgers, nearly every player in the locker room spoke highly of McCarthy, who overall had a successful tenure of 12-plus seasons highlighted by a Super Bowl win in the 2010 season. The 55-year-old McCarthy led the Packers to nine playoff appearances and four trips to the NFC title game overall.But offensive struggles this year followed a 2017 season in which Rodgers broke his right collarbone and the team missed the postseason. In 2016, the Packers started 4-6 before winning eight straight to get to the conference championship game.Murphy said it was time to make a change after the embarrassing loss to Arizona.“I don’t want to get into the details, but he was very professional,” Murphy said when asked how McCarthy reacted to his dismissal. “He’s a first-class person … and made a comment that, ‘It’s the coaching profession. I know what I got into when I became a coach.'”Gutekunst will be heavily involved, along with a committee, in hiring the next coach, though the decision will belong to Murphy, the highest-ranking executive in the NFL’s only publicly owned franchise. He adjusted the Packers’ organizational structure in January, when Gutekunst was promoted to replace Ted Thompson as GM, to have McCarthy report directly to the team president.“The structure, again, you’re focused on the structure,” Murphy said in response to one of several questions about how the Packers’ organizational flow chart could be perceived by potential coaching candidates. “The most important thing is the people and the relationships.“Brian and I have a great relationship,” Murphy said. “I think we’ll be in good shape, and I’m confident we’ll be able to hire an excellent coach.”Murphy has more football experience than the average team president, having played safety under Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs for the Washington Redskins. Also a lawyer https://www.thepackersfanshop.com/Dave-Robinson-Jersey , Murphy had extensive experience in sports administration before becoming Packers president/CEO in 2007. He was athletic director at Northwestern, where he hired coach Pat Fitzgerald, before coming to Green Bay.Murphy also views Philbin as a candidate. He would like to evaluate the veteran assistant and former Dolphins head coach over the next four weeks.Off the field, the move to dismiss McCarthy gave the Packers an early start on the coaching search. Murphy and Gutekunst offered few specifics when asked what they were looking for in the next coach, other than that would the team would wait until after the season to make a hire.“I think this decision was about changing our course more than anything,” Gutekunst said. “We just felt like it was a time to change the course.” There’s little argument that Aaron Rodgers‘ talent is such that his Green Bay Packers probably should have won more than one Super Bowl by now.For quite some time, there have been those who blamed coach Mike McCarthy for the lack of titles more than credited him for steering the team to that title.Now the world will find out just what Rodgers and the Packers are capable of without McCarthy, who was fired after a 20-17 loss at home to the lowly Arizona Cardinals on Sunday that dropped Green Bay to 4-7-1, its worst start since 2006. It was an abrupt end for McCarthy — who did win a championship, after all — and rare upheaval for a model franchise that last changed coaches during a season 65 years ago.It’s likely other coaches who are in trouble around the league will get a chance to ride things out through Week 17, but Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis, Jacksonville’s Doug Marrone, the Jets’ Todd Bowles and Carolina’s Ron Rivera all should be wary. When Rivera was asked whether he’s concerned about his job security after a 24-17 defeat at Tampa Bay dropped the Panthers to 6-6, this was the reply: “I’m not going to address that question. Do not ask that question again, please.”Alrighty, then.Rodgers is a two-time NFL MVP, and he was the Super Bowl MVP when the Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in the big game in 2011, all under McCarthy.Year after year more recently, though, Green Bay would reach the postseason only to wind up with so-close-but-so-far exits.“We’re just not executing well,” Rodgers said, “and it’s the same things over and over.”Not long after those words were spoken Aaron Jones Jersey , team president Mark Murphy released a statement announcing that McCarthy was gone. Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin will fill in.This season is essentially over; the Packers are a half-game out of last place in the NFC North. Now they can start pondering their future — as can McCarthy.He likely will get another chance elsewhere. Presumably, Rodgers will be given some input on Green Bay’s choice of a new coach. He turned 35 on Sunday, and the opportunities to win a second Lombardi Trophy are fading.In case you missed it, here are other top topics after the NFL season’s 13th Sunday:HUNT NOT QUESTIONEDThe league’s handling of Kareem Hunt’s role in an assault of a woman at a hotel in February is under scrutiny after the reigning rushing champion said he was never interviewed by anyone conducting the NFL investigation of the matter. After the Ray Rice case, in which he punched his then-girlfriend (and now wife), the league hired additional staff to handle such inquiries — but all these months later, Hunt was still playing until TMZ Sports posted video from a hotel security camera. And he told ESPN on Sunday that the league hadn’t spoken to him about what happened. Hunt also acknowledged lying about it to the Kansas City Chiefs, who released him.BIG MAN TD TIMES TWO!It was a good day to be a big man in the NFL (as long as winning isn’t the most important thing, that is). Two, um, larger guys got into the end zone: Bears defensive lineman Akiem Hicks, listed at more than 330 pounds, plunged in from the 1 for a score that brought back memories of Chicago’s William “The Refrigerator” Perry; Lions offensive lineman Taylor Decker, who goes 6-foot-7 and about 310 pounds, caught an 11-yard TD pass. Hicks became the third NFL player since 1982 with a sack and rushing TD in the same game (“Fridge” was one of the others); Chicago also got halfback Tarik Cohen’s 1-yard, tying touchdown pass off a lateral on the final play of regulation, but ended up losing to the New York Giants 30-27 in OT. Decker’s moment of personal glory also did little for Detroit in what became a 30-16 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, who clinched the NFC West.THIRD TIME’S A CHARMWacky ending to the night game: There were three offsides calls in a row as Chargers kicker Michael Badgley got three tries to make a game-winning field goal — pushing his initial attempt from 39 yards wide left, then getting blocked from 34, before finally succeeding from 29 (so the last flag for a too-early jump was declined) in a 33-30 victory over the Steelers. The Chargers (9-3) erased a 16-point halftime hole; Keenan Allen caught 14 passes for 148 yards and a TD.