Acme Packing Company
New Green Bay Packers president and CEO Ed Policy is continuing Mark Murphy’s monthly column, where fans can ask him questions about the team. This is how Policy’s January post begins:
It is hard to believe that it is 2026 and the end of the regular season is upon us. It feels like just yesterday we were starting training camp and our guys were riding bikes across the street. Now we sit at 9-6-1 with a divisional matchup to go, and a playoff spot solidified.
Adversity is the norm in the National Football League, and I am extremely proud of how our team has handled many challenges. Last season we struggled within our division and this year we improved to 4-1. We’ve persevered through a litany of injuries and a very challenging schedule and placed ourselves in a position to compete for our ultimate goal, a Super Bowl championship.
Here’s why this is relevant: Policy did not choose to extend either head coach Matt LaFleur or general manager Brian Gutekunst this offseason, which sort of invigorated a Super Bowl or bust mentality from Packers fans — one that only had more fuel added to the fire after the Micah Parsons trade.
But based on Policy’s choice of words here, it seems like his standard was truly the team’s standing within the NFC North and making the playoffs in 2025. To be fair, accomplishing those goals with 15 players on injury lists is no small task. In just Week 18 alone, the Packers had to make 21 roster moves to field a roster in a no-stakes regular-season finale.
Ultimately, I think the team is going to bring back both LaFleur and Gutekunst, though I’m not sure if LaFleur will receive a multi-year extension, and I’m also not sure LaFleur will accept a short-term extension. Based on what ESPN’s Rob Demovsky has said, the head coach is expected to start reporting directly to the general manager beginning next offseason, instead of both the head coach and general manager reporting to the president/CEO independently. In short, the general manager will gain a lot more power in 2026.
If you take a look at the blast of articles that came out this week from league-wide rumor peddlers about the upcoming head coach and general manager market, you won’t find LaFleur or Gutekunst’s names listed anywhere as people on the hot seat going into Week 18. For the most part, the only firings that seem to be on the horizon at the head coaching level are the Las Vegas Raiders’ Pete Carroll and the Cleveland Browns’ Kevin Stefanski, who are a combined 6-26 in 2025. At general manager, the feeling is that the most likely firing (if there is another one this year) is Atlanta’s Terry Fontenot.
Still, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is a hot head coaching candidate, while Packers vice president of player personnel Jon-Eric Sullivan is a name floating around for general manager jobs. Both interviewed for these positions...
