Packers’ Matt LaFleur lands on a list no NFL head coach wants to be on

As arduous as it might be to consider, Matt LaFleur is about to enter his eighth season with the Green Bay Packers, who employed him away from the Tennessee Titans forward of the 2019 marketing campaign. And the Michigan native rapidly made the group look good for bringing him to Titletown.

For starters, in his regular-season debut, he went on the street and took down the Chicago Bears, who clearly endeared him to Cheeseheads in all places. But past simply that, LaFleur went 13-3 in every of his first three seasons, thus making him the primary head coach in NFL historical past to lead his staff to three straight years of 13 wins or extra, with these 39 victories giving him essentially the most for any head coach of their first three campaigns. He additionally led the Packers to the NFC title sport in his first two years, dropping each, however he hasn’t been again since.

To his credit score, LaFleur transitioned properly from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love, and after lacking the playoffs in Rodgers’ closing season with the membership in 2022, Green Bay has made the playoffs in every of Love’s three seasons because the starter.

But the postseason success simply hasn’t been there currently, and that is one of many large the explanation why LaFleur was certainly one of six head coaches named by PFF as being on the undesirable “hot seat” heading into the upcoming 2026 season.

PFF put Matt LaFleur on the ‘sizzling seat’ for his incapability to shut video games and seasons strongly

Now, we are going to say that PFF took this group of six and broke them up, with the primary 4 seemingly being at risk of dropping their jobs in the course of the season, these being the New York Jets’ Aaron Glenn, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Todd Bowles, the Cincinnati Bengals’ Zac Taylor, and the Indianapolis Colts’ Shane Steichen.

Then, there have been two in what was known as the “Worth Monitoring in January” part, these being the Philadelphia Eagles’ Nick Sirianni and LaFleur. And that is actually the place he belongs.

When it comes to the common season, LaFleur’s 76-40-1 file offers him a strong .654 successful proportion, which is sweet for the Sixteenth-best all-time amongst those that’ve coached at the very least 50 video games. But his 3-6 postseason file actually leaves a bit to be desired.

And that sixth playoff loss was naturally introduced into the dialog by PFF, because the Packers embarrassingly blew a 15-point lead within the fourth quarter this previous January in a 31-27 loss to Chicago within the Wild Card Round. The 4 straight losses to shut out the common season, which included blowing one other sport towards the Bears, actually did not assist both.

We will not provide you with PFF’s full evaluation, however here is the portion that will get the purpose throughout.

“The issue for LaFleur has been closing both games and seasons strongly. After Micah Parsons suffered a torn ACL in Week 15, Green Bay lost five straight matchups, including blowing multiple double-digit leads against Chicago in the fourth quarter. Similarly, not winning a playoff game since 2023 looms large.

“The Packers seem like NFC contenders but once more as they create again a robust group with All-Pro-caliber gamers throughout the sector. The concern might not be reaching the postseason, however what occurs when that arrives. If LaFleur cannot finish his playoff win drought, it would not be spectacular to see the franchise make a transfer — and immediately render LaFleur one of the vital sought-after candidates on the market.”

There were some who thought LaFleur would get the heave-ho after that heartbreaking loss to the Bears back in January, especially since he had just one year remaining on his contract. Instead, however, the Packers gave him a new deal and also extended the contracts of general manager Brian Gutekunst and executive vice president Russ Ball.

It’ll be interesting to see what transpires if the Packers do indeed suffer another first-round loss or fail to make the postseason at all, but LaFleur, every Green Bay player, and every Cheesehead around the world are hoping the organization won’t have that decision to make.