In his first season without Aaron Rodgers, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was finally able to showcase his skills as a coach and an offensive developer.
With Jordan Love, Green Bay finally had a quarterback who seemed to use the play that was called. Not that it was the fault of Rodgers — who is considered to be one of the smartest players in the history of the league — but to have a quarterback run the called play gives the head coach a little more stability and predictability to better understand the game.
LaFleur is by no means a veteran head coach and still has a lot to learn, but now that he has a player like Love to work with, it almost seems like the two can grow and learn the game together. That should only benefit them both.
One would have to imagine that this will be a season that LaFleur is going to remember for the rest of his life. Caught in the power struggle between Rodgers and Brian Gutekunst throughout the last few seasons, LaFleur finally rid himself of the drama and was able to call the game he wanted to see.
That was a struggle to start the season, though. After a great first showing against the Chicago Bears, things quickly soured, as it seemed that LaFleur’s offense was seriously limiting Love’s ability on the field.
That wasn’t all the fault of the coach. With an injury to Aaron Jones, LaFleur was forced to get creative. That creativity included working the boundaries of the field with slip screens and bubbles screens and not exposing the middle of the field. Once again, that severely limited Green Bay’s offense and resulted in a long streak of games where the team was unable to score points in the first half.
Later, LaFleur changed and seemed to let Love and the offense off a leash. Love hit his stride, and with LaFleur including players like Jayden Reed, Bo Melton and Tucker Kraft, Green Bay’s offense started to click. In what was supposed to be a rebuilding season, LaFleur’s continued growth with Love and the offense should be a positive sign for Packer fans for years to come.
“Every year is such a long journey, and there are a lot of ups and downs, trials and tribulations throughout it, a lot of adversity,” said LaFleur, in his season recap press conference. “But, I was so proud of how these guys hung and continued to fight and battle. I thought the team that we were at the beginning of the year was certainly not the team that we were at the end of the year.”
To have a strong opinion on whether LaFleur is a good coach probably cannot be had yet. Rodgers did so much for the offense, so to base LaFleur’s coaching prowess off basically one season would be foolish. What can be seen about LaFleur though is his leadership ability.
Throughout the season when the Packers underperformed, LaFleur was the first person to take responsibility, saying that everything starts with him. He is not one who will ever throw a player under the bus, which, as a coach, is the right move.
“What we are calling, what we are asking guys to do, you are always going to look at yourself first and be critical of yourself and make sure that you have the right plays dialed up for the guys,” said LaFleur. “Making sure you have that communication where everybody is on the same page.”
That is something that is very interesting about LaFleur. As what seems to be the common theme with young coaches in the NFL, there is a level of respect between the coach and the media. Unlike Bill Belichick. who more often than not is blunt with reporters and gives one-word answers, LaFleur often talks each reporter through each question to fully explain what he is thinking.
Now as any coach in the NFL, LaFleur has his moments where emotions get the best of him, and that is fair. Football is an emotional game, and after a team goes on a four-game losing streak, nobody wants to talk to the media. LaFleur is the same way, but he still faces the media to fulfill his job requirements, and as a media member, that is all you can really ask for.
A major downfall for LaFleur through his tenure has been his strong commitment to his friends.
That was most obvious with the hiring of Joe Barry for the defensive coordinator position a few years back. LaFleur has been on record saying that he struggles to coach against other coaches with whom he is friends.
Going back to his time in Washington, many of his counterparts have now found themselves in head coaching positions in the league today. Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan, Mike McDaniel and Bobby Slowik are just a few of the names that LaFleur was with in 2013 in Washington. With those names now holding high positions in this league, LaFleur will need to figure out a way to get over his struggles coaching against his friends to continue to succeed.
To put a bow on the 2023-24 season, LaFleur talked all season about the strong resiliency that this team had. From first-half blunders to a strong push to the playoffs to a victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the Wild Card round, it seems that that message of resiliency wore off on his team.
“I was just really proud about the resiliency of the group; I have said that many times,” said LaFleur. “The willingness to work and come together and continue to fight for one another – I think that is absolutely imperative.”
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