Acme Packing Company
There are a couple of things that we’ve been told about Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur’s current situation. We know that both ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport said that going into the Packers’ playoff loss to the Chicago Bears, Green Bay wanted LaFleur back and LaFleur wanted to be in Green Bay.
According to Schefter, contrary to other reports that new president/CEO Ed Policy just wanted to see LaFleur coach a year in person before an extension, this whole non-extension dispute that has been going since Policy took over has been about LaFleur’s money, which is concerning considering how virtually everyone, other than defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley and special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, is already some form of a cheap internal promotion on the coaching staff. (Our receivers coach used to be the guy who got our offensive line coach coffee for goodness sakes.)
And then…the team gave up 25 points to the Chicago Bears in the fourth quarter, after having a 21-3 lead at halftime (someone teach a linebacker to drop into the hook zones when the whole defense is based on passing off everything short and inside to the linebackers). While the Packers’ offense struggled to handle the Bears’ blitz scheme in the second half, quarterback Jordan Love made big play after big play when the offensive line actually picked up their blocks (bring me a new offensive line coach). Obviously, a loss like that can change how a person in Policy’s position can feel about the direction of the team.
Schefter reported on Monday, however, that the team still wants to finalize an extension with LaFleur.
Personally, I’m firmly in the camp of “do what you want, but spend more on an assistant coaching staff pool (be it LaFleur in 2026 or not) and understand your window.” If the team is going to learn new offensive and defensive schemes in 2026, especially with defensive end Micah Parsons, tight end Tucker Kraft, right tackle Zach Tom and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt each expected to be less-than-full-go at the start of training camp, the Lombardi probably isn’t coming home next year, anyway.
The current contract scheduling means that this should be the last time Green Bay’s cap situation is a full deck of cards until around 2029. If the Packers hire a new staff, they should get ahead of some of the roster decay scheduled for 2027 and 2028, at the expense of 2026, and figure out how to move off of some veterans like left guard Aaron Banks, cornerback Nate Hobbs and potentially even running back Josh Jacobs, who won’t fit in well with a contention timeline under a new staff. At a minimum, just understand how timelines change when there’s massive staff turnover is my ask (and at minimum, fire the offensive line and linebackers coaches – both roles currently filled by cheap internal promotions by the way).
But here’s the real question I want to ask you: **What is taking so...
