With the Packers’ season now over, attention will turn to the longer term of their coaching staff. Head coach Matt LaFleur is currently under contract for yet another season, but that might change very soon.
Leading as much as Green Bay’s wild-card game on Saturday, it was reported LaFleur was not coaching for his job and that extension talks would occur after the season ended. To no surprise, then, the seven-year HC said yesterday that he and president Ed Policy spoke briefly with each other after the Packers’ loss to the Bears. He added further talks could be coming shortly, and that’s indeed the case.
Efforts will probably be made to work out a brand new LaFleur contract over the approaching days, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. He adds the edges are expected to succeed in an agreement. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network also anticipates a deal being struck (video link). Policy is understood to prefer coaches and GMs not operating in a lame-duck situation, so the status of general manager Brian Gutekunst – also under contract through 2026 – will probably be price watching. It was reported yesterday that LaFleur and Gutekunst will not be a package deal.
That leaves the door open to various possibilities within the Packers’ case. The team reeled off three straight 13-win campaigns originally of LaFleur’s tenure. That was followed by an 8-9 season and the transition to Jordan Love at quarterback. Green Bay has reached the playoffs in each of Love’s three seasons as QB1; the Packers have only one postseason victory during that span, nevertheless. Overall, LaFleur has a regular-season winning percentage of .654 but a playoff record of 3-6.
“I mean, that is considered one of one,” the 46-year-old said of his desire to stay in Green Bay (via Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette). “I like this place… I like our players, the locker room, everybody in our organization. I mean, this can be a unique place. The community has been outstanding.”
There are currently eight head coaching vacancies across the NFL. LaFleur would join John Harbaugh as considered one of the highest candidates in the marketplace within the event of a firing, and Rapoport confirms teams are monitoring his situation. A dismissal would come as a surprise at this point, nevertheless. Talks producing a brand new agreement appears to be a far likelier end result with negotiations set to happen.