Is Mike McCarthy Underrated?

When it comes down to offensive minds currently in the NFL, Andy Reid & Sean Payton names are always the first to come out. McCarthy always seems to be an after thought but his resume is really impressive if you look at it.

McCarthy helped turn Rich Gannon into a solid quarterback while he was the quarterback coach in Kansas City. Gannon took what he learned under McCarthy to Oakland & helped them to a Super Bowl. During that Super Bowl season, Gannon finished the regular season with highest completion percentage for a quarterback at that time.

In McCarthy's first stint with the Packers in 1999 as quarterbacks coach, he helped coach Brett Favre to one of his best seasons. In 2007, Favre big numbers with McCarthy as head coach & offensive coordinator.

During his time as the Packers QB coach, he also coached two younger QB's in Aaron Brooks & Matt Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck ended up in Seattle & helped lead them to a Super Bowl. After taking the offensive coordinator's job with the Saints, McCarthy convinced the Saints to trade for Brooks. Under McCarthy, Brooks had two really solid seasons & helped the Saints win their first ever playoff game. The backup quarterback at this time is Jake Delhomme who later goes to Carolina to help lead the Panthers to a Super Bowl appearance.

After Jim Haslett & his staff is fired in New Orleans, Mike McCarthy spends one season in San Francisco before becoming the Head Coach of the Packers. There he gets to groom a young Aaron Rodgers for a season while an all time great helps lead them to a NFCCG appearance. In his third season as a starter, Rodgers lead the Packers to a title all while making a name for himself as one of the top QB's in the league.

Now it appears McCarthy has groomed another outstanding young QB in Matt Flynn. We'll get to find out how really good Flynn is next season once he is leading another team.

It seems that McCarthy gets no credit for his offensive scheme nor does he get credit for his ability to develop young QB's but his resume says otherwise. Imo, McCarthy doesn't get the enough credit for his track record. The media tends to give Favre more credit for Rodgers development then McCarthy when that just isn't the case at all.