GREEN BAY \u2014 Matt LaFleur didn\u2019t know as of Sunday afternoon if he\u2019d continue to be the Green Bay Packers head coach next season. He also doesn\u2019t know under what contract parameters he\u2019ll do so if team president Ed Policy decides he wants to keep LaFleur in charge.<\/p>\n
In fact, as he addressed reporters during a nearly half-hour Q&A session at Lambeau Field less than 24 hours after the team\u2019s 31-27 season-ending, gut-wrenching NFC wild card playoff loss to the rival Chicago Bears, LaFleur was sure of only two things:<\/p>\n
That he and Policy, with whom LaFleur said he\u2019d \u201ctalked briefly\u201d on the team\u2019s flight back from Chicago, were scheduled to meet on Sunday night or sometime Monday, and that he very much wants to continue as the Packers head coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course. I mean, this [job] is one of one. I love this place,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cI love the people. As much as you guys [in the media] drive me nuts sometimes, I love you guys. I love our players, the locker room, everybody in our organization. I mean, this is a unique place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe community has been outstanding. I grew up in the Midwest, and it’s got the same type of vibe that I grew up with in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The people, unless you’re from here, you don’t understand how friendly everybody is. No matter who you are, you’re walking down the street and people say hello to one another. And I’ve lived other places.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a unique place, and it’s a special place. My kids love it here, my family loves it here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked to describe his relationship with Policy, who took over as president last summer after Mark Murphy, his predecessor and the man who hired LaFleur in 2019, reached the Packers\u2019 mandatory retirement age of 70, LaFleur replied, \u201cIt feels like since the day I got here and he’s been great. He’s been super supportive and I can’t say enough great things about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
But just as he had in the immediate aftermath of Saturday night\u2019s loss to the Bears, LaFleur sidestepped questions about his future, including whether he expects to be back next season, which would be the last year of his existing contract; whether he\u2019d be willing to coach next season without an extension and become a coaching free-agent in 2027; or why he believes he\u2019s the right person for the job that he\u2019s held for the last seven years, amassing a 76-40-1 regular-season record (a .654 winning percentage) but a 3-6 postseason record (.333).<\/p>\n
\u201cYou’re always trying to evaluate and making sure that you’re putting your players in position to make plays. And ultimately it’s going to come down to that,\u201d LaFleur replied when asked what it will take to win more consistently in the postseason. \u201cAnd these games are tight; the margins are small. And when you have those opportunities, you\u2019ve got to take advantage of them. Unfortunately for us, you always look and see when it gets tight, if a guy makes a mistake, why are we making a mistake? And so those are constantly at the forefront of our mind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Including Saturday night\u2019s loss to the Bears, the Packers closed the season on a five-game losing streak. They lost star tight end Tucker Kraft to a torn ACL in his right knee during a Nov. 2 loss to the Carolina Panthers, and they lost first-team All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons, acquired from the Dallas Cowboys in an Aug. 28 trade with the Dallas Cowboys, to a torn ACL in his left knee in a Dec. 14 loss at Denver.<\/p>\n
Speaking in mid-June with a small group of reporters who cover the team on a daily basis, Policy discussed a myriad of topics, but chief among them during the 45-minute conversation inside the alumni suite at Lambeau Field, was the futures of LaFleur, general manager Brian Gutekunst and executive vice president\/director of football operations Russ Ball.<\/p>\n
With LaFleur and Gutekunst both under contract through the end of the 2026 season, Policy made it clear that he would not extend either of their contracts before the 2025 season began.<\/p>\n
But he also said he didn\u2019t want either man to be working the 2026 season without being under contract beyond that, meaning he\u2019d need to either sign them to extensions or move on from one or both of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m generally opposed \u2014 I’d never say never \u2014 [but] I’m generally opposed to a coach or GM going into the last year of their contract,\u201d Policy explained. \u201cThat creates a lot of issues. I think normally you have a pretty good idea of where that relationship is going when you have two years left \u2014 not always, but normally.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think generally speaking, I would avoid \u2018lame-duck\u2019 status. It’s oftentimes difficult on everybody involved. But there are certain situations that probably call for it, so I would not say never.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the same conversation, Policy called LaFleur, Gutekunst and Ball \u201cexceptional people\u201d and said he felt \u201cvery good about all three of those individuals. I love them. I trust them. I respect them.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, I will do what\u2019s best for the Packers, and I expect the exact same from them. But right now what\u2019s best for the Packers, I think, is having those three in their current roles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soon, Policy will have to decide whether keeping LaFleur is best for the Packers, although it\u2019s possible he\u2019s already made up his mind on that. Until that decision comes or comes to light, LaFleur\u2019s status will remain unclear, at least publicly.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, we all know what type of business this is,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cThe focus for me was, at least today, to take a look at the tape [of the loss to the Bears] and try to figure out why and what went wrong. So that’s where all my focus has [been].<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, in that process, you start thinking about, all right, what are the things that we need to do to get better? So that’s just where I’ve put all my mental energy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GREEN BAY \u2014 Matt LaFleur didn\u2019t know as of Sunday afternoon if he\u2019d continue to be the Green…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672440,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[97912,24503,7,41,345,2514,2513,97915,3031,6,84,428,97914,97913],"class_list":["post-672439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-green-bay-packers","tag-coaching-contract","tag-ed-policy","tag-football","tag-green-bay","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-greenbay","tag-greenbaypackers","tag-injury-impact","tag-matt-lafleur","tag-nfl","tag-nfl-playoffs","tag-packers","tag-postseason-performance","tag-team-president"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115884401142875864","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}