GREEN BAY, Wis. – Bob Slowik didn’t have much time to chat this week. The 70-year-old former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator was doing what he always did.
“I coach the Calgary linebackers in the CFL,” he said via text message. “I’m on my way to Hamilton, Ontario. I have trips and meetings.”
There would be no stories about his son, young Bobby, as a child at Green Bay Southwest High School in the early 2000s; or current Bobby, the 37-year-old offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans during the week he returns to Lambeau Field to face the Packers on Sunday (1 p.m. ET, CBS).
“I’m sure Bobby will enjoy seeing and traveling to a very familiar place that he really cherishes with all the good memories from his childhood,” said Bob, who coached the Packers defensive backs from 2000 to 2003 and was the defensive coordinator for the 2004 season only. being fired after one season in this role.
Slowik completed high school in Green Bay, graduating in 2005 and played Division II football at nearby Michigan Tech University.
“I have nothing but good memories of Green Bay,” Slowik said Thursday during his weekly session with reporters in Houston.
Except this time…
“I was in the stands at a game, I think I was in eighth grade or something, and the Packers were down 21 points early,” Slowik recalled. “And I remember the fans next to me were so… I just couldn’t take the negativity anymore. I left the stadium on foot, I walked a mile and a half home. “
None of that will matter in Sunday’s game between two of the NFL’s best teams, the 5-1 Texans and the 4-2 Packers, but there are things in Slowik’s past that might. TO DO.
He has more than just the youthful connection to the Packers. He was on the same coaching staff as Packers coach Matt LaFleur in Washington from 2010 to 2013, when Slowik was actually on the defensive side of the ball as an assistant. This staff in Washington under head coach Mike Shanahan included future NFL head coaches Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Mike McDaniel, Raheem Morris and LaFleur.
Slowik could be the next to join this list. He interviewed for five head coaching positions this past offseason following his first year as the Texans’ offensive coordinator.
“It’s been cool to see his transformation,” LaFleur said this week. “He was actually more involved in our video the first time around. [came in Washington]. So that shows you how much work he put into it. Certainly his father being D coordinator in this league and his brother coaching for a long time in this league as well. But that’s to his credit.
“I always knew he was a smart guy, and it’s no surprise to me that he was able to have the success he did. He learned from some really good people, but he took advantage of the opportunity.”
There is another connection that could have a more direct impact on Sunday’s game. Slowik calls plays for Texans defensive coach Demeco Ryans (who, incidentally, was a player in Houston when LaFleur was on the Texans staff in 2008 and 2009), meaning he will coach directly against first-year Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who overlapped two seasons with Slowik on the San Francisco 49ers staff under Kyle Shanahan. In 2017 and 2018, Slowik was defensive quality control coach and Hafley coached defensive backs.
It wasn’t until after the 2018 season, when Hafley left as Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator, that Slowik moved to the other side of the ball as an offensive assistant. In his first season as the Texans’ offensive coordinator last season, Houston finished in the top 10 in yards per game and passing yards per game, while quarterback CJ Stroud was named the team’s offensive rookie. the year.
“He could probably just as easily be a defensive coordinator,” Hafley said of Slowik. “It’s no surprise to me that Kyle said, ‘You know what? This guy is really smart.’
“I left and went to Ohio State and then [Slowik] calls me and says Kyle is [moving me to] offense. So Kyle stole him on offense and taught him for a few years. Slowik has excellent experience on defense and is now the offensive coordinator. »
ESPN Texans reporter DJ Bien-Aime contributed to this report.
