After searching the world over for the most talented man he could find to repair his sinking ship, Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson presented John Doe to Packers Nation on Thursday.

Many were enraged, others instantly swore their allegiance to the Bears but the smart ones inquired about obtaining the rights to the cheer "Who Dat?''

Packers defensive coordinator Jim Bates was the overwhelming People's Choice to step in for the discarded Mike Sherman, but Thompson put his own job on the line when he plucked the unheralded Mike McCarthy from the San Francisco 49ers and gave him the golden whistle.

His contract says he has three years to fix a 4-12 mess, possibly without Brett Favre. The clock is now running.

Now the last time the Packers went West to save their franchise, they stole 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren, a disciple of the great Bill Walsh. Holmgren was a man who helped tutor Joe Montana, and he had a Super Bowl ring.

McCarthy has been a disciple of the, ah, not-so-great Jim Haslett and the unproven Mike Nolan in his six years as an offensive coordinator in New Orleans and San Francisco. A 13-year NFL vet, McCarthy, in his role as quarterbacks coach in Kansas City and Green Bay and as an offensive coordinator, has worked with guys like Joe Montana, Matt Hasselbeck, Jake Delhomme, Marc Bulger, Rich Gannon and Brett Favre. But he has no Super Bowl ring, though claims to have at least seen one.

His year with Favre in 1999 was not a success. While Favre was bothered to some degree by a thumb injury that season, he threw 23 picks compared to 22 touchdowns and finished with a quarterback rating of 74.7, at the time the second-lowest of his career.

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At the end of season, McCarthy, along with the rest of coach Ray Rhodes' staff, was fired after just one year. In San Francisco last season, McCarthy ran a 49ers offense that finished dead last in total offense and could not get overall No. 1 draft pick Alex Smith off the ground, as he finished with 11 interceptions, one touchdown and a QB rating of 40.8.

So, naturally, there is a curiosity how McCarthy even ended up on the list of finalists.

Ted?

"I studied his record,'' began his defense. "I talked to a lot of people. I talked to a lot of head coaches. I talked to a lot of general managers going through this process and Mike's name was one that kept coming up.

"The fact that I knew him from before (Thompson was in the Packers' front office in 1999), I knew his work ethic. Everyone who ever worked with him spoke glowingly of him. I thought I'd bring him in. I'm very glad I did.''

Thompson denied McCarthy's past relationship with Favre, said to be good, had any bearing on his hiring. Yet the Favre issue remains the issue in Green Bay.

McCarthy's presence may be enough to entice Favre to return, yet he may have to commit to more than one year in order for the Packers to accept him back. With only a three-year contract in hand, it would be unhealthy to McCarthy's future for the Packers to commit to Favre for just a year then have to start anew with Aaron Rodgers in year two.

If Favre can't promise he'll hang around for at least two years, McCarthy might as well start with a clean slate now.

But for now, McCarthy is saying all the right things.

"I don't think there's a coach in the National Football League who wouldn't love the opportunity to work with Brett Favre,'' said McCarthy. "We had a very positive working relationship in 1999 and I'm definitely looking forward to working with him again.''

Granted, we'll give you guys like Jon Gruden or Andy Reid weren't household names when they were mined from the Packers staff. But they at least had been a part of success, experienced, had first-hand knowledge how to achieve it.

McCarthy has none of that. He came to Green Bay as a mystery man carrying a mission statement. It talked about his three key components, consisting of getting "Packer people,'' creating a "stable structure'' and concentrating on "character and chemistry.''

That's all nice stuff to hear, but if Mike McCarthy is to ever make a name for himself, there is but one mission: win, and win big.