GREEN BAY \u2014 As the Arizona Cardinals introduced his kid brother as their new head coach, Matt LaFleur sat in the gallery, beaming. And, truth be told, tearing up a bit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought I was going to get more emotional than he was,\u201d the Green Bay Packers head coach confessed after Mike\u2019s press conference \u2014 \u201cWhich I thought he nailed, by the way,\u201d big bro emphasized \u2014 at the Cardinals\u2019 headquarters. \u201cI\u2019m just really excited for his opportunity. I think he\u2019s earned it, and he\u2019s done it the right way. He\u2019s been himself throughout this whole journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are no shortcuts. You\u2019ve got to put in the work. And I think he\u2019s going to do a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matt traveled from Titletown to the Valley of the Sun \u2014 along with his and Mike\u2019s parents, Denny and Kristi, who live in Green Bay just a short touchdown drive away from their eldest son\u2019s office at Lambeau Field \u2014 he found himself reflecting on his own NFL coaching journey, which began with him as the Houston Texans offensive quality control coach in 2008 and culminated in being named the Packers head coach in 2019.<\/p>\n
He made it clear that Mike has a built-in resource and support system in his older brother, who is 7 1\/2 years older and will be entering his eighth season as the Packers head man in 2026.<\/p>\n
Among Matt\u2019s first pieces of his advice for Mike? Passing along a tidbit his first NFL head coach, Gary Kubiak, told him when he got the Packers job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the number one thing \u2014 and I’ll never forget when I got hired Green Bay Packers \u2014 Gary Kubiak called me, and he said, \u2018Hey, there’s going to be a lot that you need to do. Just prioritize, and it will get done,\u2019\u201d LaFleur recounted. \u201cI know it’s kind of like drinking water out of a fire hose when you get into this position, because there’s so many conversations that need to take place.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, there’s a priority and an urgency to fill out your staff and then developing those relationships with your players, with the other people in the building. Because the one thing I’ve learned about this league is, man, it takes everybody, and you cannot have enough good people around you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mike takes over a Cardinals team that went 3-14 in 2025 under Jonathan Gannon, whom Matt just hired as the Packers\u2019 new defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old younger LaFleur spent the past three seasons as the Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator \u2014 the same job his older brother held in 2017 under head coach Sean McVay \u2014 after stints with the Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons (where he worked with his brother for two seasons), San Francisco 49ers and New York Jets.<\/p>\n
Before that, though, he started his coaching career at his alma mater, Division III Elmhurst in Illinois in 2009, then worked at St. Joseph\u2019s (Indiana) and Davidson before Browns offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan helped him get his foot in the door in Cleveland as an intern. (Former Packers defensive coordinator and new Miami Dolphins head coach Jeff Hafley was on that staff, too.)<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just kind of are where your feet are,\u201d Mike said of his journey to being an NFL head coach. \u201cYou get that first opportunity \u2014 Matt obviously cracked in with the Texans in 2008, and I got my opportunity in Cleveland in 2014. Shoot, it was awesome. But the NFL mystique wore off really quickly. We had a job to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked what he would have said if someone had walked into their house in Mount Pleasant, Michigan when they were kids and Denny was an assistant coach at Central Michigan and told them they\u2019d one day be NFL head coaches, Matt laughed and replied, \u201cI\u2019ve had said you’re full of [expletive].<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is pretty surreal. Just, humble beginnings. My dad at Central Michigan. I walked on at Western Michigan and played at D2 ball. Mike played at Elmhurst College, D3 ball. And I think we have a really great appreciation for guys that are essentially playing for the love of the game. And I think that is kind of in our core and who we are.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a great journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
The LaFleur Bros. become the third set of brothers in the modern NFL era to simultaneously be head coaches and are the second brother act heading into the 2026 season, joining the New York Giants\u2019 John Harbaugh and the Los Angeles Chargers\u2019 Jim Harbaugh. John and Jim faced off earlier in their careers when John was coaching the Baltimore Ravens and Jim coached the San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n
Before the Harbaughs and the LaFleurs, brothers Jon (Oakland\/Las Vegas) and Jay Gruden (Washington) were head coaches in 2018 and 2019.<\/p>\n
Although their teams have faced each other eight times during their NFL careers \u2014 with each winning four of them \u2014 the NFL\u2019s scheduling rotation won\u2019t have the Packers and Cardinals facing each other until 2027 \u2014 unless they meet up in the playoffs next postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t wait two years. Hopefully [it happens] next year,\u201d Matt said. \u201cThere\u2019ll be champagne popping. The people it\u2019s going to be hardest on are our parents.\u201d<\/p>\n
Especially on their mom, who already is well known for being a nervous wreck during her sons\u2019 games \u2014 so much so that Rams general manager Les Snead, who worked with both Matt and Mike in Los Angeles, sent Mike a text message about her after the news broke.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring games, she really watches the games. She just paces and tries to hide because of the stress,\u201d Matt said. \u201cAnd [Snead] said, \u2018It\u2019s probably a good idea for your mom between September and January to move to Europe.\u2019 So maybe we’ll try to find a place for them over there, just to get her out of the fray a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, that won\u2019t be happening, and while Mike digs into his new job and Matt focuses on getting his Packers over the hump in their quest for their first Super Bowl berth since the 2010 team won Super Bowl XLV a decade and a half ago, the two brothers know that while they\u2019re different people, they believe in a similar approach to coaching.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe beauty of coaching is, you\u2019ve got to find out what your guys do the best and then put them in the position to go out there and do that,\u201d Matt said. \u201cCertainly Sean [McVay] does it as good as anybody in the game, in my opinion, just being able to adapt.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike talked [in his press conference] about being organic throughout the course of the season and how you evolve. And I think there’s so much truth to that. You can’t be rigid. I think the days of rigidness in coaching are long gone. It can’t be, \u2018This is how it’s going to be, because this is the way we’ve always done it.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s, \u2018You got to find out what your guys do well, and then you put them in position.\u2019 And it kind of organically grows throughout the course of the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
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