In Week 6, Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets embark on a new chapter in the 2024 NFL season, with interim coach Jeff Ulbrich coaching his first game in the wake of Robert Saleh’s firing.
Before Ulbrich debuts, here’s a look at every head coach Rodgers has played under in his 20-year NFL career.
Mike Sherman | 2005
Rodgers’ rookie season was played under longtime Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Sherman. Sherman went 57-39 (.594) in six seasons as Packers coach from 2000-05 and had a winning record in each of the first five seasons before cratering at 4-12 in 2005.
That one woeful season was enough to cost Sherman his job. Rodgers appeared in only three games as a rookie, all in relief of Brett Favre. Rodgers went 9 of 16 for 65 yards and an interception that season.
Mike McCarthy | 2006-18
The bulk of Rodgers’ career came with Mike McCarthy, who went 125-77-2 (.618) in 13 seasons with Green Bay. McCarthy is the second-winningest head coach in franchise history, behind Curly Lambeau (209 wins).
Rodgers came up under McCarthy, earning the starting job in 2008 and winning a pair of Most Valuable Player awards in 2011 and 2014. He also won his only Super Bowl to date, a 31-25 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV after the 2010 season.
Eight years ago today: @AaronRodgers12 led the @packers to a Super Bowl win with a masterful performance, taking home MVP honors by going 24-of-39 for 304 yards and three TDs. pic.twitter.com/tphMhZRd2L
— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) February 6, 2019
In 10 full seasons with Rodgers as a starter, the McCarthy-Rodgers tandem went 100-59-1, the third-best record from 2008-17 behind the New England Patriots and Steelers. After going 6-10 in Rodgers’ first season as a starter in 2008, the Packers did not have another losing season until 2017, when he missed nine games with a fractured collarbone.
However, the marriage would come to an end following a Week 13 loss at Lambeau Field to Josh Rosen and the Arizona Cardinals, which dropped the Packers to 4-7-1 and ended McCarthy’s tenure.
Joe Philbin | 2018 (Weeks 14-17)
Offensive coordinator Joe Philbin took over for the deposed McCarthy as interim coach for the final four weeks in 2018. Philbin was the Miami Dolphins head coach from 2012-15 and rejoined the Packers as offensive coordinator after previously serving as a Green Bay assistant from 2003-11.
Rodgers played the final four games even with the Packers out of contention, though his season finale in Week 18 vs. the Detroit Lions was cut short after only five passes due to a concussion.
Matt LaFleur | 2019-22
While the marriage with McCarthy lasted longer, the most statistically successful pairing of Rodgers’ career has been with LaFleur. In four seasons, Rodgers won back-to-back MVPs (2020 and 2021) and threw 137 touchdowns to just 25 interceptions. That absurd 5.5 touchdown-to-interception ratio led the NFL over that span.
Rodgers also experienced some milestone moments under LaFleur, most notably on Christmas Day 2021. He threw his 443rd career touchdown against the Cleveland Browns, passing Favre for the Packers’ franchise record.
443.@AaronRodgers12 now holds the record for most TD passes in @packers history! #GoPackGo
📺: #CLEvsGB on NFLN/FOX/PRIME VIDEO
📱: https://t.co/OLd1rKEfqM pic.twitter.com/7tUPGGIKmu— NFL (@NFL) December 25, 2021
The Packers went 47-19 (.712) during the four-year pairing between Rodgers and LaFleur, the third-best record over that span behind the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. Alas, Green Bay repeatedly flamed out in the playoffs, going 2-3 and never reaching a Super Bowl.
Following a Week 18 loss to the Detroit Lions in 2022, which eliminated the Packers from playoff contention, Rodgers faced an uncertain future. After the loss, he gave an emotional press conference, saying, “At some point, the carousel comes to a stop, and it’s time to get off, and I think you kind of know when that is.”
Robert Saleh | 2023-24
After a much-publicized darkness retreat and bizarre passive-aggressive exchanges with Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst, Rodgers was ultimately traded to the Jets on April 24, 2023.
The Jets were entering their third season under Saleh, a former San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator who went 11-23 in his first two seasons behind poor quarterback play from No. 2 overall pick Zach Wilson.
However, the hype around the Rodgers-led Jets never got off the ground after he tore his Achilles on his fourth snap in a Jets uniform in Week 1 vs. the Buffalo Bills.
You can see the pop…Going to need a miracle to not be a torn achilles. pic.twitter.com/6vq1LgdH7F
— ACL Recovery Club (@ACLrecoveryCLUB) September 12, 2023
Rodgers returned this season, but New York’s offense continued to remain stagnant. Through Week 5, the 2-3 Jets ranked 25th in scoring offense and 27th in yards per play, a meager improvement from the cellar-dwelling units led by Wilson.
Ultimately, a 23-17 defeat in London to the Minnesota Vikings proved to be the final straw, with Saleh getting fired by Jets owner Woody Johnson despite New York being just a game out of first place in the AFC East.
Jeff Ulbrich | 2024 (Week 6 On)
Now Rodgers will play for his sixth coach, including interims. Ulbrich joined Saleh’s staff in 2021 and was the Jets’ defensive coordinator for four seasons until his recent promotion.
Ulbrich has been an NFL assistant for 12 seasons, spending 2010-11 with the Seattle Seahawks as an assistant special teams coach and 2015-19 with the Atlanta Falcons as their linebackers coach. In between, he was a linebackers and special teams coach at UCLA, coaching under Jim Mora Jr. from 2012-14.
The 47-year-old also played linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers from 2000-09, appearing in 120 games with 75 starts. Ulbrich never faced Rodgers, as he was on injured reserve for the only possible meeting between the two in 2009.
This is Ulbrich’s first head coaching job at any level. With the Jets still harboring playoff expectations and 12 games still to go, a strong finish could serve as a meaningful audition for Ulbrich to earn the full-time job after the season.