Packers Stick With Coach Matt LaFleur Despite Stumble With Bears

The Green Bay Packers’ last three seasons have all looked the same, with them having the no. 7 seed. Now it seems like they will be keeping things more or less the same heading into 2026.

ESPN reported that the Packers will be looking to reach an extension with head coach Matt LaFleur. This is despite him blowing an 18-point lead to the Bears in the playoffs. He has just one year remaining on his contract, and expressed his desire to stay with the team during post-game interviews.

LaFleur started out as an offensive assistant for the Division II Saginaw Valley State Cardinals in 2003. A season later, he would get a Division I job as the graduate assistant for Central Michigan. 

LaFleur got his first NFL job in 2008 as the Texans’ offensive assistant. There, he would learn under offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan, who would later become the 49ers’ head coach. The Texans had the 10th-best offense in the 2009 season. 

After this, his role changed to quarterbacks coach. He worked with the Redskins from 2010 to 2013, Notre Dame in 2014 and the Falcons from 2015-2016 in this role. In 2016, Falcons QB Matt Ryan had an MVP season, and the team made the Super Bowl. He was once again working with Shanahan.

After helping Ryan have an elite season, he was hired by the Rams to be their offensive coordinator. The Rams have their first winning season since 2003. They lost in the Wild Card game to LeFleur’s former team, the Falcons. The Titans also hired him as an offensive coordinator in 2018, but that wouldn’t net the same results.

Still, the Packers saw potential in him and hired him in 2019 to replace their long-time coach, Mike McCarthy. He won 13 games in each of his first three seasons and helped Aaron Rodgers get two more MVPs on his resume. In 2022, Rodgers showed a decline, which led the Packers to miss the playoffs. The Packers would move on from Rodgers and switch to Jordan Love at QB. The duo of Love and LaFleur has made the playoffs for three straight seasons.