The Packers need a new defensive coordinator.
Mike Pettine’s contract is expiring and he will not return to Green Bay in 2021, according to Tom Pelissero of NFL Network.
That’s not a big surprise, given that the Packers’ defense had some letdowns in their NFC Championship Game loss to the Buccaneers, most notably giving up a long touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Scotty Miller just before halftime. A lapse like that wouldn’t cost a coach his job if everything else were going swimmingly, but there were plenty of times during the 2020 season that the Packers’ defense didn’t look particularly well-coached, and head coach Matt LaFleur hinted after the loss to the Buccaneers that he wasn’t happy with Pettine.
Now Pettine, the former Browns head coach who has also been a defensive coordinator with the Jets and Bills, will try to find a new job. And the Packers will try to find a coordinator who can get their defense playing at a Super Bowl level after a year in which they fell just short.