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Packers’ meltdown may cost special teams coach his job

shawnslocum

Two of the costliest plays in the Packers’ loss to the Seahawks on Sunday came on special teams, as Green Bay gave up a touchdown on a fake field goal and blew an opportunity to recover an onside kick. As a result, the Packers’ special teams coach may soon be looking for work.

Packers special teams coordinator Shawn Slocum has been on the staff since Mike McCarthy became the head coach in 2006, and he and McCarthy are good friends. But Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette thinks McCarthy will make a change.

If Slocum is out of a job, it wouldn’t be solely because of one game: The Packers’ special teams struggled all season, getting a whopping six kicks blocked over the course of the season. Micah Hyde’s emergence as a good punt returner was the only saving grace for the Packers’ special teams.

The Packers brought in Ron Zook, the former Illinois and Florida head coach, as a special teams assistant this year. Sometimes a move like that is a sign that the coordinator’s job is in jeopardy and that the new assistant is the heir apparent, but in Green Bay it seems more likely that McCarthy would decide to clean house entirely on special teams.

If the Packers had stopped the Seahawks’ fake field goal or recovered the Seahawks’ onside kick, they’d be on the way to the Super Bowl right now and everyone on the coaching staff would be safe. But they didn’t. So they’re not.