With a record of 42-12, Matt LaFleur has enjoyed unparalleled regular season success in his first three-plus years as coach of the Green Bay Packers. Unfortunately, he’s been more Mike Sherman than Vince Lombardi in the postseason. His offenses, while certainly not totally to blame for the last two playoff losses, haven’t been anywhere close to good enough.
Green Bay scored 26 points against Tampa Bay in the NFC championship game in 2020, but the league’s most potent offense that season failed to produce a single first down following three interceptions thrown by future Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady in the second half. And while Maurice Drayton’s special teams torpedoed the Packers in their divisional-round loss to San Francisco last January, the offense could manage only 10 points – three in the final 54 1/2 minutes.
Looking back, what bothered me most about those subpar offensive performances was LaFleur’s response during the games, or to put it more accurately, his lack of a response. I remembered watching the Patriots multiple times when legendary coach Bill Belichick, whose background is on defense, would spend an entire offensive series huddled on the sidelines with the players. He’d be yelling, teaching, and/or motivating when things weren’t going well on that side of the ball.
What was LaFleur doing while the offense – his specialty – struggled against the Buccaneers and 49ers? He was leading cheers on the sideline. Other than saying a few words to star quarterback Aaron Rodgers as he dejectedly left the field, LaFleur focused his time and energy on firing up the crowd. He might as well have traded in his headset for a pair of pom poms.
The Packers’ offense hadn’t scored since midway through the first quarter, yet firing up the crowd was the priority on this drive in the second half.
To be fair, I’m sure LaFleur was in constant communication with then-offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett during the games, but that’s not enough. He needed to do more. Like Belichick, he should’ve gone to his players in the bench area and tried to figure things out. Yell at them. Teach them. Motivate them. Instead, he buried his face in his oversized play sheet and only looked up long enough to wave both his arms wildly in an effort to get the sold-out stadium to be louder.
Since I didn’t attend either of the aforementioned games, is it possible that LaFleur was doing more than what was seen on television? I asked a handful of longtime season ticket holders who were in the stands on those two January days, and they assured me that what I saw from my living room in Jersey was what they witnessed from their seats in sections 110 and 114, respectively. In fact, it’s exactly what they’ve seen countless other times in the past three-plus seasons.
I was hoping that maybe things would change in 2022, but alas, they haven’t. According to the same handful of people who were at the New England game a few weeks ago, LaFleur is still spending more time cheering than coaching while the defense is on the field. He better be very careful. If his talented and high-priced team continues to underperform in the playoffs, he might find himself out of a job sooner than expected. On the positive side, at least then he’d be able to buy a ticket, sit in the stands, and make as much noise as he wants while some other person roams the sidelines for the Packers.
[yop_poll id=”68″]
I’m more concerned about his inability to hire good coordinators, but I agree his cheerleading is unbecoming for a head coach. It also says something about the crowd that the coach feels the need to do this. Lambeau has always been quiet compared to most other stadiums.
Ironically, Matt put the pom poms away on Sunday and actually talked to the offense when the defense was on the field. It didn’t do any good, but at least he tried to do something.