Packers' Mike McCarthy on job security: 'We set a standard here...It's our responsibility to play to that standard'

The Green Bay Packers couldn’t hold their first-quarter lead against the Seattle Seahawks on Thursday night, and fell to 4-5-1 with a 27-24 loss.

The Packers are in third place in the NFC North and while they aren’t completely out of the wildcard picture, they’re facing an uphill battle. If they miss the playoffs, it would be the second straight year they didn’t advance.

And there are calls for the team to part with longtime head coach Mike McCarthy.

McCarthy on his job security

On Friday, McCarthy was asked about his job security. This is his 13th season as head coach in Green Bay, and the team has nine playoff appearances and one Super Bowl win in his tenure. The Packers were 7-9 last year, but Aaron Rodgers missed half of the season due to a broken collarbone.

“That’s the job,” McCarthy said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN. “That’s the way this business has gone. I’m not going to get into comparables, but at the end of the day that’s part of the job responsibility of the head coach.

“We set a standard here the past 12 years and it’s our responsibility to play to that standard. That’s the way we approach it, but that’s a blanket, general evaluation. There’s obviously more that goes into that. But at the end of the day, there’s so much that goes into each and every game throughout a seven-day period — obviously we’re on a 10-day stretch here [until they’re next game] — and that’s really where the energy has to focus.”

‘I don’t think you can tune it out’

Because they played on Thursday night, the Packers have a couple of extra days to rest, review and prepare before their next game, in Minnesota on November 25 for “Sunday Night Football.” They’ve lost three of their last four games.

McCarthy didn’t hide from reality when asked if questions about his job will impact the locker room.

“I don’t think you can tune it out. That’s the old days. That’s when you had newspapers. But I think today’s world, everything is accessible, everything is instant. I’m sure they’re all aware,” he said. “I think the bigger challenge is when you’re having a lot of success. I think negativity is an unfortunate part of this business driven by the externals, but that’s the business we’re in.”

The Packers and McCarthy agreed to a one-year contract extension last season; he is only signed through 2019.

McCarthy defends decision to punt late

The biggest criticism of McCarthy after Thursday’s loss was his decision to punt on fourth-and-2 from the Packers’ 33 with 4:20 left in the game and down by three points.

But he said the coaching staff’s calculations led to the decision to punt.

“We have a network and the numbers were being calculated. Three-and-out there [by Seattle], I think, puts us right about the 2-minute [mark],” he said. “I have great confidence in our 2-minute offense, especially with Aaron. That’s the decision we made. It’s a solid decision.

“Being an offensive coach, particularly early in my career, I had to develop a sense of operating more on the team mode, because my natural reaction, especially earlier, was always just to go for it. That’s the inside look at exactly what went on there. You could see at one point I started to walk to the referee because I was going to call the timeout and just make sure we were set, because I already had the play that I wanted. But we talked it over game management-wise and that’s the decision I made.”

The Seahawks picked up two first downs, the Packers burned their final timeout, and Russell Wilson was able to kneel out the game.

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