The Green Bay Packers have fired Special Teams Coordinator Sean Mennenga after two seasons with Head Coach Matt LaFleur.
The special teams were beset by a myriad of issues throughout the 2020 season. Although he inherited a unit that ranked dead last in Rick Gosselin’s annual NFL rankings under former coordinator Ron Zook in 2018, Mennenga was only able to improve that ranking to 26th in his first year in 2019. This past season, the special teams dropped to 29th overall.
They ranked dead last in punt coverage, giving up 17.1 yards per punt return including a 73 yard touchdown against Philadelphia and a 91 yard punt return score against Carolina two weeks later, an indication the coverage concepts couldn’t get fixed. Green Bay’s return game never materialized, ranking last in kickoff return average at 18.9 yards a return, they finished 30th in punt return average at 4.8 yards. J.K Scott had a punt blocked and a Mason Crosby blocked field goal was wiped out by penalty. Tavon Austin and Malik Taylor both lost fumbles on returns this year. Hunter Bradley’s errant snap on an extra point came in the playoff game against the Rams. Crosby uncharacteristically missed four extra points this year although he was a perfect 16 for 16 on field goals. The only other redeeming statistic from the special teams was they were among the least penalized unit in the league.
Mennenga was hired from Vanderbilt University by LaFleur when he put his first staff together, Mennenga had been an assistant special teams coach with the Cleveland Browns for 7 seasons before that.
If LaFleur looks to hire a replacement from within, Maurice Drayton served as the Packers assistant special teams coach.
As for Defensive Coordinator Mike Pettine, it was revealed by ESPN.com reporter Rob Demovsky that Pettine did not sign the usual one year contract extension prior to the 2020 season. Most assistant coaches work on two year contracts, rolling the second year over at the end of each season but Pettine declined which leaves him with an expiring deal. He was brought to Green Bay by former Head Coach Mike McCarthy for the 2018 season in which McCarthy did not survive, getting fired with four weeks to play. Pettine returned and welcome three key free agents to his unit in LaFleur’s first year with Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith and Adrian Amos. This past season, the defense finished 9th overall in yards per game, the first top ten ranking in a decade. However there were perceived issues with run defense and critical breakdowns in the NFC Championship Game loss to Tampa Bay that could lead LaFleur to consider a philosophical change but as of Wednesday evening, no decision has apparently been reached.
There is a former NFL coordinator already on staff with secondary coach Jerry Gray who finished his first season with the Packers after having coordinated defenses in both Buffalo and Tennessee before a six year run on Mike Zimmer’s staff with the Minnesota Vikings.
