Green Bay Packers Coach Mike McCarthy

After a terrible NFL season in 2008, the Green Bay Packers let a lot of their staff go. The head coach for the Green Bay Packers is Mike McCarthy. After this season, he released six of the football assistants, including five on defense. The defensive positions let go are: Sanders, defensive ends coach Carl Hairston, defensive tackles coach Robert Nunn, secondary coach Kurt Schottenheimer and nickel package/cornerbacks coach Lionel Washington.

Also let go was their strength and conditioning coordinator Rock Gullickson.

Defensive coordinator Bob Sanders was one of the first to be fored due to so many 4th quarter leads that were lost because of shoddy defensive action. The Packers allowed 135 points in the fourth quarter in 2008, second-worst in the league behind Houston.

The only major defensive coach to keep his job was the linebackers coach, Winston Moss who is a likely candidate to take Sanders' place on the coaching staff. The Packers' next step might be to promote Moss to the position but with so many experienced coaches out there, McCarthy has a tough choice to make.

Sanders took responsibility for the craapy performance of his defensive players. He said this in a statement to the media:

"I take responsibility for everything," Sanders said on the Monday after the Packers' season finale. "It's my responsibility. Certainly, I try to get our guys in the best position I can to be successful, and when it doesn't happen, certainly I understand that. There were a lot of good plays. The scheme has brought a lot of good plays and a lot of good wins. Certainly I know what this scheme can do. At times, I didn't get the job done. I understand that."