The contract of Matt LaFleur, the head coach of the Packers, is terminated.
Mike Holmgren was the head coach of Green Bay for seven years. During that time, Holmgren did not fire any assistant coaches.
After twelve and a half seasons as the Packers’ leader, Mike McCarthy was fired with four games left in the 2018 campaign. In his tenure, McCarthy fired five coordinators.
Matthew Patrick LaFleur has been a coach in Green Bay for just five seasons. And in that time, LaFleur—whose face resembles a choir boy—has already fired four coordinators and performed multiple Grim Reaper roles.
LaFleur gave the pink slips to defensive coordinators Mike Pettine and Joe Barry, special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga, and special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton.
LaFleur has achieved a tremendous degree of success in his role as head coach of Green Bay. Acquiring capable coordinators has not shown to be beneficial.
LaFleur is searching for a defensive coordinator once more after firing Barry the previous week. In addition, LaFleur under pressure to select the correct candidate if the Packers, who advanced to the NFC Divisional Playoffs this season, want to make a deep run in 2024.
We’re going to be here. Elgton Jenkins, a right guard for Green Bay, said, “We’re coming with a mission.”
We want to succeed in every aspect. Though I’m optimistic about next year, I believe we could have been successful this year.
The boys are within the structure. Everything we need to complete it is right here. We just need to go ahead and do it. This year we set a good foundation. We just need to go out and win.
To do that, LaFleur must leave a lasting impression on his new defensive coordinator.
LaFleur’s persistent inability to secure coordinators ought to give Packer Nation nightmares.
LaFleur retained Pettine in his final crew despite their lack of prior relationship with McCarthy. Even if the results were fair, this partnership was only able to survive for two seasons.
Under Pettine, Green Bay’s defense was ninth in terms of points allowed and 18th overall in yards this season. In 2020, the Packers finished ninth in overall defense and 13th in points scored.
But in the 2020 campaign, there seemed to be a divide between Pettine and LaFleur. The final straw was when, with one safety remaining in the first half of the NFC Championship Game, cornerback Kevin King of the Packers allowed Tampa Bay’s Scotty Miller to score a 39-yard touchdown.
The Buccaneers triumphed 31–26 to win the Super Bowl two weeks later.
LaFleur said, “Definitely not the appropriate call given the situation,” after that game. “You can’t expect to defeat a formidable football team by playing that way.
That was the football match’s primary difference. You just cannot accomplish that. I take it personally as coaches that we put our guys in that situation.
That is not appropriate. That was not intended to happen. As such, we must investigate it, reflect on it, and seek to determine what steps might be taken to avoid it in the future.
Pettine was no longer in use five days later. Following interviews with nine candidates, LaFleur chose to take a chance on hiring Barry, a longtime friend from his days as a player for the Los Angeles Rams.
In actuality, Green Bay’s defense got worse over Barry’s three years on the team.
The Packers ended the season ranked 17th overall in defense, with an average position of 14th under Barry. Green Bay’s average score defense ranking was 14th throughout the Barry era as well.
In the divisional playoff game against San Francisco, with the season on the line, Barry’s defense let up again.
Green Bay was up 21–17 with just over five minutes left, and they only needed one stop to go to the NFC Championship Game.
Instead, San Francisco drove 69 yards in 12 plays, taking the lead on a score from Christian McCaffrey at the 6-yard line.
The defensive end of the ball has produced twelve of the past thirteen picks made by the Packers, including their last four.
Eight defensive players from Green Bay were chosen in the first round this year, and the organization believed that bunch should have been among the best.
Barry’s firing was the final consequence of it not being.
For LaFleur, the hunt for a special teams coordinator hasn’t gone any better.
