Mike McCarthy’s firing in Green Bay immediately raises the question of whether the Cleveland Browns would be interested in hiring him.

They would not have to wait to interview -- or hire -- him.

If the Browns desire and if they comply with the Rooney Rule, their head-coaching search could end in December, giving McCarthy the same advantage general manager John Dorsey had one year ago. Dorsey’s December hire gave him one month to observe and scout his team in preparation for his offseason retooling.

McCarthy’s 12-plus seasons with the Packers included a Super Bowl title, four NFC Championship Games and nine playoff appearances. His 125-77-2 record speaks loudly, as did his work with both Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. Mike McCarthy Way runs right by Lambeau Field in Green Bay.

“I think that there are not many franchises that would trade what he has done or pass that up,” said Browns center JC Tretter, who played for McCarthy in Green Bay before he joined the Browns as a free agent. “I think that he is a great man too. I really enjoyed working with him. I really do not have a bad thing to say about Mike McCarthy. He was really an awesome leader and an awesome coach.”

The only perceived bit of the bloom that has come off McCarthy’s rose over the past two years happened as his relationship with Rodgers frayed a bit. Some say things just got stale between the two; others say that Rodgers' sniping toward McCarthy indicated a bigger issue. Tretter said he thought “the whole storyline gets a little overblown.”

Here’s a look at the positives and negatives of hiring McCarthy.

Why he'd be a good fit

• Experience. The Browns have tried all shapes, sizes and levels of coaches in their hirings since 1999. The one type of coach they have never hired is one with a high level of NFL experience. The only coach they hired with any head-coaching experience was Hue Jackson, and he had one year with the Oakland Raiders and Eric Mangini (three with the Jets). Neither had McCarthy's resume. Every other coach was a former coordinator ascending to the top job. That path has worked for some teams; it hasn’t for the Browns -- and not always because of the coach. McCarthy brings more than a dozen years of head-coaching experience on his résumé. He would bring plans, approach, philosophy and a system. He wouldn’t be learning on the job. That can’t be underestimated.

• Familiarity. Dorsey knows McCarthy well. The rest of the front office personnel -- especially Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith -- also have worked with McCarthy, as recently as a year ago. They know his strengths; they know his foibles. There would be no adjustment. McCarthy would walk in the door knowing the guys finding his players, and he would understand his role and place in the hierarchy. It would be turnkey hire.

• He won a Super Bowl. The ultimate in NFL experience. McCarthy has won 62 percent of the games he has coached. He knows how to win. Those who criticize him for not winning more miss the point: He has as many Super Bowl championships as Mike Holmgren, Bill Cowher and Jon Gruden. The credibility level on his résumé is high.

• Quarterback success. McCarthy started coaching Favre and went to a championship game with him. When he saw Favre’s time was running out, he pushed for a clean break to move to Rodgers. Under his coaching, Rodgers has become an all-time great. In the aggregate, McCarthy knows how to handle quarterbacks; and in Cleveland, he would be taking over a team with a promising young quarterback in Baker Mayfield.

• He has an offensive mind. This seems a prerequisite in this age of passing and spread formations. McCarthy has a system, can devise a game plan and call plays. The biggest question he would have to address is whether his system can adapt to the evolving offensive game, which is bringing elements of the college game into the NFL. The Browns would have to be assured that will happen before they hire him.

• No raging ego. McCarthy at heart is a Pittsburgh guy. That might be a negative to some in Cleveland, but Pittsburgh guys are down to earth. McCarthy would be a confident hire. But he would not run rampant with his ego.

Why he wouldn't fit

• Stale in Green Bay. No coach lasts forever. All the great ones see their time run out, either because the message is no longer getting across or it’s no longer working. Something happened during these past two years with the Packers. Any team that hires McCarthy would need to understand what that was.

• He is not thought of as cutting edge with the new-style offense. McCarthy’s system has been successful, but it’s the old-style system that includes seven-step drops and deep routes. It’s tough to say how much of his system includes the vertical-horizontal and mismatch principles that Kansas City, New Orleans and a couple of other teams run -- and that Mayfield knows and likes. The Browns' new coach has to be tailored to Mayfield to maximize his abilities.

• Backfield issues. McCarthy has been criticized for not making best use of his running backs. That was a common theme in Green Bay in recent years. How much that matters in today’s NFL is up for debate, but with the Browns, Nick Chubb and Duke Johnson Jr. are key parts of the offense.

• Retread. McCarthy’s experience means he is not a new face and is not cutting edge. He’s not old school, but he also is not Sean McVay/Matt Nagy new school -- at least that’s not the perception. Whether McVay or Nagy are really that new school is a subject for debate; even players such as Mayfield say football is football and the plays are all basically the same. Regardless, if the Browns’ priority is a fresh start with a fresh name, McCarthy does not fit the job description.