GREEN BAY \u2014 Ed Policy knew there were some Green Bay Packers fans who were less than thrilled with head coach Matt LaFleur and thought the team should move on from LaFleur after the way the season ended. He heard them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He just didn\u2019t agree with them.<\/p>\n
Speaking with the small group of reporters covering the annual NFL Meetings in person at the Arizona Biltmore resort in Phoenix on Monday evening, Policy was insistent in his support of LaFleur.<\/p>\n
Not only that, but Policy, who had not spoken on the record to reporters since signing LaFleur, general manager Brian Gutekunst and director of football operations Russ Ball to contract extensions, said the Packers\u2019 gut-wrenching NFC first-round playoff loss to the archrival Chicago Bears on Jan. 10 did not factor into his decision.<\/p>\n
Policy said he\u2019d decided to keep LaFleur and extend his contract \u201cwell before\u201d the Packers squandered a 21-3 halftime lead and gave up 25 fourth-quarter Bears points in the 31-27 loss \u2014 their fifth straight defeat to end the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always believed that you don\u2019t make football decisions out of emotion. You have to be methodical about it,\u201d Policy said. \u201cI don\u2019t believe in making emotional decisions based on one game or a series of games.\u201d<\/p>\n
Policy also admitted that he was \u201ca little bit shocked\u201d by questions during the season about LaFleur\u2019s job being in jeopardy.<\/p>\n
Policy said he drew on the seven years he\u2019s known LaFleur and the way he and his predecessor as team president\/CEO Mark Murphy talked about LaFleur during the hiring process in January 2019, when Policy was part of the hiring committee.<\/p>\n
Since Murphy tabbed LaFleur to follow Super Bowl XLV-winning head coach Mike McCarthy, the Packers have gone 76-40-1 in regular-season play and reached the playoffs in six of his seven seasons.<\/p>\n
But Green Bay is 3-6 in the postseason under LaFleur, reaching the NFC Championship Game in 2019 and 2020 with Aaron Rodgers at quarterback and making the playoffs in each of Jordan Love\u2019s three seasons as the starter.<\/p>\n
The lone year the Packers missed the playoffs was in 2022, Rodgers\u2019 final season, when they lost at home to the Detroit Lions in a win-and-we\u2019re-in regular-season finale at Lambeau Field when the Lions had nothing to play for.<\/p>\n
Since Love ascended to QB1 status, the Packers have been the seventh and final NFC playoff seed all three years. They won an NFC wild card playoff game on the road over the Dallas Cowboys and had the San Francisco 49ers on the ropes in the divisional round in the 2023 postseason, and lost to the eventual Super Bowl-champion Philadelphia Eagles on the road in a wild card game in the 2024 playoffs before losing to the Bears this past postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fact that we haven’t achieved our ultimate goal in the seven years he’s been here, it’s disappointing to him, it’s disappointing to all of us,\u201d Policy said. \u201cBut again, I firmly believe he is the best coach for the Green Bay Packers at this point in time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite those disappointing defeats, Policy praised LaFleur\u2019s teaching abilities and the way he works with quarterbacks, helping Rodgers win his third and fourth NFL MVP awards, developing Love from an inconsistent thrower into one of the league\u2019s top young quarterbacks and resurrecting the career of backup Malik Willis, who signed with Miami in free agency to be the Dolphins\u2019 new starter.<\/p>\n
Policy also said players spoke up on LaFleur\u2019s behalf after the season, which resonated with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe locker room supports him, from Jordan to the rest of the locker room. … They support him openly and they support him behind closed doors,\u201d Policy said, adding. \u201cFrankly, the fact that I was being asked, is firing him even an option at that point? I was a little bit shocked by that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Packers were 9-3-1 and held a 23-14 third-quarter lead on the AFC-leading Denver Broncos on Dec. 14 when they lost star edge rusher Micah Parsons to a torn ACL in his left knee. Already without tight end Tucker Kraft, who suffered a torn ACL in his right knee on Nov. 2, the Packers lost right tackle Zach Tom for the rest of the season to a torn patellar tendon in his knee against the Broncos as well.<\/p>\n
The Packers never won another game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second half of that Chicago [playoff] game was very disappointing. We were all extremely frustrated,\u201d Policy said. \u201cI know the fans are frustrated and I wouldn\u2019t want them not to be frustrated. They\u2019re very passionate about our team, about our games and about the outcome of our games. I wouldn\u2019t change that. And I did hear quite a bit of it.<\/p>\n
\u201c[But] I can\u2019t let that factor into these types of decisions. Ultimately, does it impact me? Yes. Do I hear it? Yes. [But] these are not decisions that should necessarily be made by fans after a very disappointing loss.\u201d<\/p>\n
Policy, though, believes he has the right people atop the football operation to turn that disappointment into a Super Bowl berth in the near future.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s never been clearer to me that we have the right people in the right places and that they’re all aligned,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn’t mean our work is done.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve always got to work on communication. We’ve got to work on making sure that we continue to be aligned.<\/p>\n
\u201cCertainly we’re not all going to agree on every decision, but I feel great about the people, and I feel great about their level of communication with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
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