{"id":689800,"date":"2026-01-19T23:14:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:14:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/689800\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T23:14:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T23:14:13","slug":"buffalo-firing-mcdermott-highlights-that-ed-policy-played-it-safe-with-the-matt-lafleur-extension","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/689800\/","title":{"rendered":"Buffalo Firing McDermott Highlights That Ed Policy Played It Safe With the Matt LaFleur Extension"},"content":{"rendered":"

After seven years with not a sniff of the Super Bowl in the Matt LaFleur era, Green Bay Packers president and CEO Ed Policy was tasked with his first big decision<\/a> this offseason. Ultimately, he and the Packers opted to extend<\/a> LaFleur\u2019s contract. They took the safe route.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a high floor with LaFleur in place as the head coach. The Packers have made the playoffs in six of his seven seasons at the helm. After agreeing to an extension on Saturday, Green Bay has the comfort of knowing that much should stay intact. The odds of things completely bottoming out are unlikely, especially with how players spoke of<\/a> LaFleur at the end of the season in lobbying for his return.<\/p>\n

Plenty of franchises would gleefully sign up for that. Constant playoff appearances? A shot at the division every year (despite the fact that every team in the NFC North has claimed the crown since Green Bay last did)? It doesn\u2019t sound so bad.<\/p>\n

The issues stem from LaFleur\u2019s tendency to crumble in big spots. Often, clock management and game management play a big part in that. Policy\u2019s first big move could\u2019ve been a seismic shift; instead, he took the conservative route.<\/p>\n

For those already reaching for a keyboard to pound out, Who\u2019s available that you\u2019d rather have!?, consider that the Buffalo Bills could\u2019ve taken that same approach after the Denver Broncos eliminated them, but instead parted ways<\/a> with head coach Sean McDermott<\/a> on Monday.<\/p>\n

The Bills have an MVP quarterback in Josh Allen<\/a> and an organization that has consistently made the playoffs since McDermott took over in 2017. After a devastating overtime loss to Denver, it would\u2019ve been easy to stick to the status quo. Instead, the Bills didn\u2019t panic, wondering who was available. The powers that be recognized that they needed to make a change, and now Buffalo will have a new head coach entering 2026.<\/p>\n

Matt LaFleur could get Green Bay back to the Super Bowl. Still, if you\u2019re looking for historical precedent to support that theory, there isn\u2019t much of it. You could argue that Policy is settling for good rather than great, which shouldn\u2019t be the goal.<\/p>\n

ESPN\u2019s Rob Demovsky reported<\/a> that LaFleur\u2019s extension is not a prove-it deal but a real commitment. That could be hard to stomach for fans focused on the fact that the Packers lost five consecutive games to end the season, including multiple collapses<\/a> against Denver and the Chicago Bears.<\/p>\n

Those who support the decision will focus on LaFleur\u2019s overall record rather than his 38-33-1 performance, including the postseason, over the last four years. They\u2019ll highlight that injuries are costing the Packers more in 2025 than any in-game decisions made by LaFleur. All of which is true. However, if Green Bay hasn\u2019t even gotten to the Super Bowl in seven years, why should anyone be optimistic that it will finally click in Year 8 or 9?<\/p>\n

Policy perhaps looked at the broader picture and realized if the Packers dumped LaFleur and the next hire didn\u2019t work out, it\u2019d be an early blemish \u2014 and a big one \u2014 on his r\u00e9sum\u00e9. Factoring such things into the equation shouldn\u2019t be part of it. But come on, he\u2019s human.<\/p>\n

Former Packers offensive lineman and current co-host of Wilde and Tausch<\/a>, Mark Tauscher<\/a>, put it best on Monday.<\/p>\n

I really believe it\u2019s, okay, let\u2019s see. What are they gonna do different? How is it gonna change? \u2026 My question has always been, what is gonna change? How\u2019s it gonna end different? \u2026 Alright, great, have a great regular season. What are you gonna do in the postseason?<\/p>\n

This Matt LaFleur era is now basically evolved into, alright, regular season you\u2019re gonna be fine, hopefully better than what you\u2019ve been. But you\u2019re gonna get in the dance and then it\u2019s gonna be, can you do it when the money is on the table?<\/p>\n

That last part is critical. Can you do it when the money is on the table? For seven years, the answer has been no. Many of Green Bay\u2019s playoff losses have involved either blowing a lead or getting in its own way. How does that change?<\/p>\n

Bringing Matt LaFleur back is not a terrible decision. He\u2019s a good coach. Some would say he\u2019s a damn good coach. But when the lights are the brightest, LaFleur\u2019s teams have often fallen apart.<\/p>\n

The floor is high. The playoffs should be a lock, and it\u2019s important not take that for granted. Many fanbases would sign up for that every day of the week and twice on Sunday.<\/p>\n

LaFleur\u2019s extension gives him financial flexibility and more job security. The pressure will only ramp up, though. No longer is sneaking in as the last team in, like the Packers have been three years in a row, going to get a thumbs-up from Policy and the rest of the brain trust. They need a bigger bite of the apple. Bringing back LaFleur was the safest choice, and that\u2019s what Policy rolled with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After seven years with not a sniff of the Super Bowl in the Matt LaFleur era, Green Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2072],"tags":[24503,7,41,345,2514,2513,3031,6,428],"class_list":["post-689800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-green-bay-packers","tag-ed-policy","tag-football","tag-green-bay","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-greenbay","tag-greenbaypackers","tag-matt-lafleur","tag-nfl","tag-packers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115924308247666674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689800","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=689800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}