The impetus for that decision was two-fold. McCarthy wanted to spend more time focusing on the rest of the team and he wanted his assistants to get recognition — and possibly a shot at their own head coaching job — from the rest of the NFL.
Well, that didn’t work out so great for Clements.
He wasn’t successful as a play caller and McCarthy finally took those duties back last week. In doing so, McCarthy probably also took any shot Clements had of becoming a head coach. Of course, that doesn’t really matter, since no team is going to hire someone to be their head coach who wasn’t successful in a lower position anyway.