{"id":694941,"date":"2026-01-21T23:38:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/694941\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T23:38:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T23:38:14","slug":"theres-more-pressure-on-matt-lafleur-than-brian-gutekunst-next-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/694941\/","title":{"rendered":"There’s More Pressure On Matt LaFleur Than Brian Gutekunst Next Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt LaFleur\u2019s extension is a done deal<\/a>. While nothing has been finalized with general manager Brian Gutekunst, all reports indicate<\/a> the Green Bay Packers are in the process of ironing out his extension.<\/p>\n

A year that started with Super Bowl dreams<\/a> ended in horrific fashion<\/a> at the hands of a division rival. Entering a new season with fresh contracts, there\u2019s more pressure on LaFleur than Gutekunst.<\/p>\n

Some people have criticized<\/a> Gutekunst for Green Bay\u2019s inability to hit home runs on first-round picks during his tenure. Matthew Golden<\/a> may justify<\/a> his draft position; they didn\u2019t use him much<\/a> in his rookie season, so it\u2019s too soon to tell. Jordan Morgan<\/a> may become<\/a> a premier left tackle but, two years in, he couldn\u2019t even beat out now pending free agent Rasheed Walker<\/a> for the gig.<\/p>\n

On the one hand, the constant successes of being a playoff team leave Gutekunst and the Packers typically picking late in Round 1, which lessens the odds of striking gold. However, he can\u2019t be totally exempt from criticism; Lukas Van Ness<\/a> was the No. 13-overall pick in 2023 while Rashan Gary<\/a> was the No. 12-overall pick in 2019. Gary has been good, not great<\/a>, while Van Ness has only shown glimpses<\/a> of excellence in two seasons.<\/p>\n

Gutekunst deserves credit for his knack for finding starters later in the draft \u2014 in some cases, even finding stars.<\/p>\n

Tucker Kraft<\/a> was a third-round pick in 2023 and the seventh tight end off the board. A torn ACL<\/a> abruptly ended his 2025 campaign, but he\u2019s a clear star in the making<\/a>. Evan Williams<\/a> was the second safety Green Bay took in 2024, in Round 4, and he also has all the makings<\/a> of being a star player. There are several other examples, like finding Zach Tom<\/a> and Romeo Doubs<\/a>\u00a0in Round 4 in 2022 or scooping up Rasheed Walker in the seventh round of that same draft class.<\/p>\n

The biggest critique of Gutekunst concerns his hesitancy to take a massive swing. Known by many for being a draft-pick hugger, Gutekunst got comfortable being uncomfortable with the trade for<\/a> Micah Parsons<\/a>. In acquiring the All-World player, Gutekunst had to part ways with two first-round picks, plus veteran Kenny Clark<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It was the type of move many thought Gutekunst would never have the stones to make. Whether you liked the trade or not, Gutekunst strayed from his normal procedure to orchestrate it. The Parsons trade immediately boosted the perception \u2014 and the actual performance \u2014 of Green Bay\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Going into this year with Keisean Nixon<\/a> as the No. 1 cornerback and having the position filled out with two cornerbacks in Kamal Hadden<\/a> and Bo Melton<\/a> who had never taken a regular-season snap at the position was a mistake<\/a>. So was signing<\/a> Aaron Banks<\/a> to take over at left guard, and thus sliding<\/a> Elgton Jenkins<\/a> to center, looked like the wrong move. Nobody is flawless, not even the general manager who landed Parsons in Green Bay.<\/p>\n

Still, Gutekunst gets a little more grace for having landed the franchise-star Parsons and putting together a roster that, if healthy, can win it all.<\/p>\n

On the flip side is LaFleur, who has similarly done a ton of good things in his seven years as the head coach. Six playoff appearances is nothing to scoff at. He\u2019s also rightfully credited with the development<\/a> of quarterback Jordan Love<\/a> and making sure it wasn\u2019t a rebuild<\/a> after the Aaron Rodgers<\/a> exit.<\/p>\n

But, as with Gutekunst, LaFleur has his shortcomings.<\/p>\n

Green Bay has gotten worse at closing games<\/a> in the last couple of seasons, and LaFleur\u2019s long-standing issues with clock management and game management haven\u2019t subsided. After the playoff loss in Chicago, the pressure on him has significantly intensified.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, some fans would prefer to see Gutekunst gone. Every fanbase has dissenters. The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl last year and, a year later, plenty of Philly supporters want Nick Sirianni and Jalen Hurts<\/a> kicked to the curb. When a season ends the way Green Bay\u2019s did, injuries<\/a> be damned, there is going to be anger.<\/p>\n

LaFleur will face more pressure because of the Parsons trade that Gutekunst completed. Not only local writers but also national reporters believe the roster Gutekunst has assembled is Super Bowl-ready<\/a>. That\u2019s largely because of the way Gutekunst has constructed it. It\u2019s LaFleur\u2019s job and his staff\u2019s to properly utilize it in 2026.<\/p>\n

Historical precedent shows that it\u2019s unlikely LaFleur will reach the pinnacle of the sport, as it hasn\u2019t been done in his first seven years. If it\u2019s another early exit in 2026 for the Packers or if they come up short of the playoffs, that seat will get hot for both, but it will be hotter for LaFleur.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matt LaFleur\u2019s extension is a done deal. While nothing has been finalized with general manager Brian Gutekunst, all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":694942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2072],"tags":[2945,7,41,345,2514,2513,1724,3031,491,6,428],"class_list":{"0":"post-694941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-green-bay-packers","8":"tag-brian-gutekunst","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-green-bay","11":"tag-green-bay-packers","12":"tag-greenbay","13":"tag-greenbaypackers","14":"tag-jordan-love","15":"tag-matt-lafleur","16":"tag-micah-parsons","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-packers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115935726977057949","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694941","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=694941"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694941\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}