Calls for Packers to Fire Joe Barry Grow Deafening After GB Gives Up 30 to CAR
The Green Bay Packers have to fire defensive coordinator Joe Barry, and they have to do it as soon as possible.
Pressure on head coach Matt LaFleur to make the call and cut Barry loose has ballooned to untenable proportions after the defense blew a 14-point, fourth-quarter lead to the one-win Carolina Panthers on Sunday afternoon, December 24.
The Packers escaped by the skin of their collective teeth, winning 33-30 on the strength of a late-game field goal. However, if Carolina had just one or two more seconds on the clock, the outcome could have been very different and ended Green Bay’s playoff hopes in the process.
“Packers win because the Panthers ran out of time to keep embarrassing the Packers defense,” Andy Herman of Packer Report posted to X. “Green Bay wins. Matt LaFleur needs to do the thing. There’s absolutely zero excuse at this point.”
Herman was not the only media member who said the time for LaFleur to act is now.
The most points scored by the Panthers this season,” Peter Bukowski of The Leap wrote on social media. “Joe Barry cannot be the #Packers defensive coordinator by Christmas Day. Just can’t do it.”
Others, like Aaron Nagler of CheeseheadTV, were too exasperated with the performance of the Packers defense to continue repeating arguments they’ve been making for weeks.
Just reuse my rant about the defense from last week,” Nagler wrote on X. “I’m too tired.”
Matt LaFleur May Have to Walk Back Comments on Joe Barry After Just 1 Week
GettyGreen Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur (left) and defensive coordinator Joe Barry (right).
LaFleur stood by Barry after last week’s effort against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in which Baker Mayfield threw for 381 yards, 4 touchdowns and became the first visiting quarterback to earn a perfect rating of 158.3 in the history of Lambeau Field.
