Matt LaFleur is making sure Packers don’t relax despite winning streak
The Green Bay Packers have won four straight games, but coach Matt LaFleur is making sure his team stays focused.
GREEN BAY – A day after his team beat the Chicago Bears 28-21 for its fourth straight win, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur met with local media. Here are some quick highlights.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur undaunted despite quick rematch with Bears
The Packers are going to need to play their best to leave Denver with a win this week. So while an even bigger game looms a week later in their trip to Chicago for a quick rematch, LaFleur said there’s no holding anything back against the Broncos.
“It is what it is,” LaFleur said. “You’re going to throw your best stuff each and every week. I do think what you put on tape certainly impacts some direction that you go because you know what teams are studying and what they’re preparing for. So it’s kind of like a setup, I would say. And then there are some core things that teams know you’re going to do each and every week that are just staples of your offense or defense or special teams.”
This deep into the season, it can be harder for teams to fool an opponent with a season’s worth of film to study. But LaFleur said it’s not unprecedented in a copycat league. He, like his counterparts, is continuously searching for new wrinkles to put into his playbook.
“You’re always fine-tuning things,” LaFleur said. “You’re always coming up with gameplan plays. Maybe it’s something you saw on tape from somebody else, and somebody ran a similar concept where you see how people react to different concepts, and you might draw something up off of that. You certainly can get unscouted looks.”
There’s good reason the Packers are focused on preparing for the Broncos. In Sean Payton’s second season as coach, Denver holds the AFC’s top overall seed with an 11-2 record. Their defense ranks top five in most major statistical categories, including points (fourth, 18.1 per game), yards (fourth, 282 per game), rushing (second, 89 per game), opponent passer rating (fifth, 80.1) and sacks (first, 55). They’re on pace to tie the 1984 Bears single-season sack record of 72, set in 16 games.
“We’ve got a hell of a test,” LaFleur said. “This defense, they’re for real. One of the top defenses in the league.”
Dontayvion Wicks has chance to play despite ankle injury
It’s possible Packers receiver Dontayvion Wicks will never be fully healthy this season, but he’s continued to play.
LaFleur described Wicks’ latest ankle injury as “day to day” and added it’s something the receiver has battled through this season. Wicks hasn’t been healthy since injuring his calf in training camp, but he’s become an important piece in the offense.
With Wicks day to day, he should have a chance to test his ankle this week before the team decides whether he can play in Denver.
“We’ll see how he progresses,” LaFleur said, “but certainly we need him out there. He’s a guy who, you can see it early in the routes that he was running, there was one in particular – it might’ve been the first play of the game – where (Bears cornerback) Jaylon Johnson is pressed on him, and his ability to get a guy to move off the spot is pretty impressive.”
Packers’ undefeated record in NFC North a sign of growth
A year ago, the Packers went 1-5 against NFC North competition and vowed their most important priority in 2025 would be flipping that script.
They’re now 4-0 against the NFC North, the lone NFC team undefeated against its division, winning all four games by at least one touchdown. They’ve held double-digit leads in all four games and led almost all from start to finish. They have led at the end of all 16 quarters against NFC North opponents. Their only deficit was 3-0 against the Minnesota Vikings, which they erased with a touchdown drive on the next possession.
There is still work to do with games at Chicago and Minnesota remaining, but it’s clear the script has been flipped.
“I just think we’ve found a way to win a lot of these tight games,” LaFleur said. “A year ago, we didn’t. A lot of times, we were digging ourselves into holes, and we had to come back and just couldn’t quite pull it off. This year, there’s been a lot less of that.”