McCarthy, staff will coach the Pro Bowl

Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy and his coaching staff are heading back to Hawaii.

As the highest NFC seed (No. 5) to lose in the divisional round, the Packers will be one of the two coaching staffs to coach in the Pro Bowl, according to a league source. The game will take place on Jan. 31 at Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii.

The NFL hasn’t officially announced the staffs, but it likely will be Andy Reid and Kansas City’s staff representing the AFC in coaching the other team. The Chiefs, who finished 12-6, were the fifth seed in the AFC playoffs.

This will be the fourth time McCarthy and his coaching staff have coached the Pro Bowl. He previously coached the NFC in 2013 (62-35 win), 2012 (59-41 loss) and 2008 (42-30 win).

The selection of coaching staff was different the first time McCarthy coached in the game. Then, the Pro Bowl was played a week after the Super Bowl with the NFC and AFC coached by the staffs that lost in their respective conference championship games.

The NFL scrapped the traditional NFC-AFC matchups in 2014 with captains selecting the teams and coaches in a fantasy draft format. This year, those responsibilities will go to Pro Football Hall of Fame receivers Jerry Rice and Michael Irvin.

Four Packers — quarterback Aaron Rodgers, guard Josh Sitton, linebacker Clay Matthews and fullback John Kuhn — already have been selected to play in the game. The team also had seven other players voted as alternates, who could be added due to either injury or the Super Bowl.

whodkiew@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @WesHod