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Packers need a new defensive coordinator.
Mike Pettine’s contract is expiring and he will not return to Green Bay in 2021, according to Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network.
This is not a big surprise, given that the Packers defense had some disappointments in their defeat in the NFC Championship Game to the Buccaneers, most notably giving up a long touchdown pass from Tom Brady to Scotty Miller just before the break. Such a lapse would not cost a coach his job if everything was going well, but there were many times during the 2020 season when the Packers’ defense didn’t seem particularly well-trained, and coach Matt LaFleur then hinted at the loss to the Buccaneers for not being happy with Pettine.
Now Pettine, the former Browns coach who was also a defensive coordinator for Jets and Bills, will try to find a new job. And the Packers will try to find a coordinator who can put up their defense by playing at the Super Bowl level after a year when they fell short.