The Packers could be replacing their Super Bowl winning coach with a coach who has taken a team to a Super Bowl.
According to multiple league sources, former Lions and Colts coach Jim Caldwell has interviewed for the Green Bay opening.
Caldwell coached the Colts from 2009 through 2011, and he then served as head coach of the Lions from 2014 through 2017. In between, he helped the Ravens get to the Super Bowl and win it, after being named offensive coordinator by coach John Harbaugh in December 2012.
Caldwell compiled a 62-50 record as a head coach during the regular season, with a 2-4 postseason record. At the college level, Caldwell coached Wake Forest from 1993 through 2000. He arrived in Indianapolis in 2002 with Tony Dungy, eventually serving as quarterbacks coach and assistant head coach through 2008.
After two seasons in Baltimore, Caldwell took the perpetually mediocre Lions to the playoffs twice in four seasons. He was fired after a 2017 season that ended with a 9-7 record.
The interview comes at a time when the Packers are wrapping up the season with Joe Philbin serving as interim head coach, following the firing of Mike McCarthy in his 13th year on the job. On Sunday, quarterback Aaron Rodgers seemed to express a preference for Philbin to get the full-time job.
But maybe Caldwell would be a perfect coach to work with Rodgers. During Caldwell’s coaching career, he had extensive experience working with Peyton Manning, and then with Matthew Stafford. Under Caldwell’s tutelage in Baltimore, Joe Flacco became the Super Bowl MVP.
By formally considering Caldwell for the job, the Packers have complied with the Rooney Rule, which requires an in-person interview of at least one minority candidate.
