Packers Fire Defensive Coordinator Joe Barry
GREEN BAY, Wis. – A late-season revival saved Joe Barry’s job as Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator in 2022. It wasn’t enough in 2023.
As first reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero and confirmed by Packer Central, Barry is out as Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator.
Barry was Green Bay’s defensive coordinator for three seasons. His units finished 13th in points and ninth in yards in 2021, 17th in points and 17th in yards in 2022, and 10th in points and 17th in yards in 2023.
The top-10 finish in scoring was just the team’s second since winning the Super Bowl in 2010. However, his frequently conservative unit continually underperformed relative to the talent provided by general manager Brian Gutekunst via multiple first-round draft picks.
The decision was not a surprise, and the relative speed of it will put Packers coach Matt LaFleur in position to dive into most of the top candidates. Given how the team finished the season, it should be a coveted opening so long as the financial resources are in place.
A day after the 2022 season ended, LaFleur said Barry would return in 2023. Two days after the 2023 season ended, on the other hand, LaFleur was noncommittal. While he praised the “culture” developed on special teams by coordinator Rich Bisaccia and said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich was capable of replacing him as play-caller, LaFleur had no such praise for Barry’s defense.
Asked if the team’s strong finish was because of schematic or philosophical changes made by Barry or simply improved play by the players, LaFleur said: “I think it was all the above. That’s going to be part of the conversation.”
After that conversation, LaFleur opted to make the change that he elected not to make last offseason.
In 2022, the Packers were embarrassed on national television by the Philadelphia Eagles. In a 40-33 loss, Green Bay allowed 363 rushing yards – one of the worst marks in NFL history. LaFleur stuck with Barry, anyway, and the defense turned on the jets for the stretch run. Over the final five games, the Packers finished 10th in points allowed and never yielded more than 20.
That success, however, was fueled by a red-hot run of turnovers – a key to winning games, obviously, but not necessarily a sustainable way of doing business. During the four-game winning streak that brought the Packers back from the abyss, they forced 12. LaFleur, perhaps duped by how Barry’s unit kicked it into high gear, decided to bring him back for 2023.
Green Bay’s defense was fine for most of this season – rarely great, rarely bad and frequently saved by strong play in the red zone.
However, in what seemed like a must-win home game against Tampa Bay, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield had a perfect passer rating and almost as many touchdowns (four) as incompletions (six) in a 34-20 loss.
A week later, the Packers survived 33-30 at Carolina but Bryce Young threw for 312 yards and the Panthers had almost 250 yards after halftime. Incredibly, Carolina’s offense scored 15 points in the two games before facing Green Bay and zero points in the two games after facing Green Bay. The Panthers scored four touchdowns against the Packers but zero in those other four games.
LaFleur stuck with Barry, anyway, and it turned out to be the right decision after the Packers allowed 10 points against Minnesota and nine points against Chicago to get to the playoffs, then dominated the first half of a wild-card win at Dallas.
“I couldn’t be happier,” LaFleur said a day after the defense scored one touchdown and set up another to help the Packers lead 27-7 at halftime against the Cowboys. “I know what Joe Barry is all about in terms of the resiliency. There’s tough moments, and there’s tough moments in every season. I felt like I know what we have in him, and was confident that if anybody could kind of right the ship, so to speak, it was him.”
Even last week at San Francisco, the defense played well enough to win their divisional-round playoff matchup but allowed the deciding touchdown in the final moments. With a trip to the NFC Championship Game at stake, the defense was picked apart by Brock Purdy.
Barry, a good man despite his dubious track record in Washington and Detroit, never took a victory lap for the late-season resurgence.
“This is a show-me league. It’s a show-me business,” he said before the San Francisco game. “It’s a production-based business and it’s brutal and harsh at times. I don’t care if you’re a coach, a player, whatever, when you’re in this, it’s about winning and it’s about playing good and it’s about production.
“That’s what makes this league so great and so incredibly competitive. I told the guys a month ago when we were still playing relevant football in December. Nothing’s better now. We’re one of eight teams right now and now we’re playing relevant football in January, so it’s exciting.”
During Monday’s final locker room session, safety Jonathan Owens said Barry “of course” was the right guy for the job.
“He’s a smart guy. He’s been in the NFL a long time,” he said. “He has the scheme it’s just all about everybody doing their job.”
Added defensive tackle Kenny Clark: “I let them handle all that stuff. Love Joe B, love the work that we’ve put in. We’ve been through a lot this year as a team, as a defense, whatever you may call it. Got nothing but respect for how we all just handled it and stuck it out and pulled it all together.”
In one more noteworthy move:
