GREEN BAY, Wis. – After the Green Bay Packers lost to the Carolina Panthers, coach Matt LaFleur was asked about his job security. It wasn’t an unfair question after a team that entered the season with Super Bowl expectations had just lost back-to-back games by scoring a total of 20 points.
Like clockwork, the Packers took off from there, with Sunday’s victory over the Chicago Bears giving them a fourth consecutive win.
After some midseason adversity, the Packers are in the hunt.
As usual.
“My No. 1 concern and, whether it’s the beginning of the season, the end of the season, we’ve just got to continue to fight and try to find ways to get better,” LaFleur said on Monday, one day after a 28-21 victory over the Bears put his team in position for its first NFC North championship since 2021.
“Sometimes you’ve got to overcome some obstacles, like injuries and whatnot. There’s sometimes some learning curve in terms of, OK, how do we fill that void that that player left there? But that’s the challenge of every team in the league. It’s not like we’re unique from everybody else. We’re all dealing with this stuff.”
LaFleur is a master of dealing with stuff – aka adversity. He has said numerous times over the years that adversity can make a team stronger.
“If you handle it the right way,” LaFleur interjected after Sunday’s game. You have to handle it the right way. And you’ve got to just try to keep your head down and keep swinging and fighting and just going to work, you know?
“And I think teams that are able to overcome adversity by doing that and sticking to your process, I think they’re usually better for it in the long run, because there’s a lot of confidence that comes with going through some struggle — whether it’s football or life or whatever — and being able to just overcome it and come out the other side.
“And so, I personally think that resiliency is the key to life, and you just got to keep battling. And we’ve got a bunch of guys in there that that are willing to do that. They’re going to fight through the tough stuff and just continue to battle.”
With Christmas coming, tis the season for the Packers to win.
Tale of Two Seasons Under Matt LaFleur
Here’s a look at the Packers’ success since LaFleur became head coach in 2019.
From Game 1 through Game 10: 44-25-1. .636 winning percentage. Fifth-most wins, eighth-best point differential.
From Game 11 through Game 17: 32-11. .744 winning percentage. Third-most wins, third-best point differential.
Here’s the breakdown since Jordan Love became quarterback in 2023.
From Game 1 through Game 10: 17-12-1. .583 winning percentage. 14th-most wins, 12th-best point differential.
From Game 11 through Game 17: 12-5. .706 winning percentage. Third-most wins (one behind Bills and Rams), second-best point differential.
What Jordan Love’s Toyotathon Legend Really Means
Jordan Love’s success during Toyotathon is legendary. Of course, his late-season play has nothing at all to do with a car sale and everything to do with how he’s consistently played his best football down the stretch.
From Game 11 through Game 17 as a starter, he’s thrown 32 touchdowns and two interceptions. He’s had a passer rating of more than 105 in 12 of 17 games, including on Sunday, when he shook off an early interception to throw three touchdown passes.
After the game, he deflected the credit to his teammates.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) throws a pass during the first quarter of their game against the Chicago Bears. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
“It’s just everybody. I think these are the most important games of the season. A lot of things come down to the playoff seeding and the division race, so this is the important football,” he said.
“I think it’s everybody. We keep stacking and keep getting better and better, I feel like, throughout the season and learn from the mistakes we make and overcome some of the obstacles. We just keep stacking and trying to finding ways to get better every day is something that’s helping us.”
Love’s predecessors, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, won Super Bowls as sixth-year pros. He’s playing like a quarterback capable of matching their history.
Looking For More
The Packers reached the playoffs in five of LaFleur’s first six seasons and are on their way to making it six in seven years. However, since losing at home during the COVID-season NFC Championship Game in 2020, they have won only one playoff game.
Regular-season wins are nice. Playoff berths are good. But everyone knows that good isn’t good enough.
“It means nothing right now,” LaFleur said of being in first place.
“Obviously, we’ve still got a couple weeks left here but it’s all about finishing,” Love said. “We’re here, we’ve been here before, but we’ve got to finish it.”
Yes, they do. The Packers haven’t won the Super Bowl since 2010. Everyone knew the goal when they showed up for offseason workouts, tied their shoes for the first day of training camp and kicked off the season. The expectations were ratcheted up with the trade for Micah Parsons.
“It feels good but, ultimately, that’s not our goal,” running back Josh Jacobs said of being in first place. “It’s just a step to where we want to go and where we want to be. It definitely feels good. A lot of the guys have been putting in a lot of work around here. It always feels good to reap the benefits from it, but it’s still a long season. We’ve still got a lot to go.”
The quarterback knows it. The veterans know it. The coach knows it.
LaFleur is on quite a trajectory. He ranks 11th in NFL history in winning percentage, sandwiched between Hall of Famers George Halas and Don Shula. His 76 regular-season wins are tied with another Hall of Famer, Paul Brown, for No. 2 in NFL history by a coach in his first seven seasons.
In Green Bay, Super Bowl-winning coaches get streets named after them. Legacies, however, were probably the last thing on his mind when he showed up at Lambeau Field on Tuesday morning to get to work on the latest showdown on the schedule, Sunday’s game at the powerhouse Broncos.
This is the time of year when LaFleur’s teams have shined. Now, it’s time to turn December success into January magic and February history. There’s no dominant team in the NFL this season. So, after falling just short at San Francisco in the 2023 playoffs and losing meekly at Philadelphia in the 2024 playoffs, why not the Packers? Why not a team with a winning coach, ascending quarterback and superstar defensive end?
“There’s a lot of ball in front of us,” LaFleur said, “and you just can’t take it for granted. And you have to put the work in to put yourself in a position to go out there and have success. And, man, this league is just so competitive. The balance in our league is crazy, and you just can’t take it for granted.
“No matter who you’re playing, where you’re playing, when you’re playing, you better bring your A-game, and if you don’t, you’re going to get beat. And so I think we’ve all learned that and felt that.”
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