Mike Holmgren was the Packers’ head coach for seven years. During that period, Holmgren never fired an assistant coach.
Mike McCarthy led the Packers for 12 ¾ seasons before being fired with four games remaining in the 2018 season. McCarthy sacked five coordinators throughout his tenure.
Matthew Patrick LaFleur has only been coaching in Green Bay for five seasons. And in that time, LaFleur, who has the look of a choir boy, has already played the Grim Reaper several times and fired four other coordinators.
LaFleur fired defensive coordinators Mike Pettine and Joe Barry, as well as special teams coordinators Shawn Mennenga and Maurice Drayton.
LaFleur has done a lot of things right as Green Bay’s head coach. Finding qualified coordinators has not been a strength.
Following the firing of Barry last week, LaFleur is looking for a new defensive coordinator. And if the Packers, who made the NFC divisional playoffs this season, want to take the next step in 2024, LaFleur must ensure that this move is a success.
“We’re coming. “We’re coming with a purpose,” right guard Elgton Jenkins said about Green Bay’s future. “We want to win it all.” I believe we could have accomplished it this year, but I am optimistic for next year.
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“We have the guys inside the building. We have everything we need to get this done. We just need to go do it. We established a solid basis this year. We just need to go win.”
To accomplish this, LaFleur must outperform his next defensive coordinator.
What should give Packer Nation nightmares, however, is LaFleur’s history of failing to hire coordinators.
Despite having no prior relationship with Pettine, LaFleur retained him from McCarthy’s last crew. And, while the results were respectable, the relationship lasted only two seasons.
In 2019, Green Bay’s defense was ninth in points allowed and 18th in total yards under Pettine. In 2020, the Packers ranked ninth in overall defense and thirteenth in scoring.
However, there appeared to be a disconnect between Pettine and LaFleur during the 2020 season. The final straw came when the Packers had only one safety deep and cornerback Kevin King gave up a 39-yard touchdown to Tampa Bay’s Scotty Miller in the waning seconds of the first half of the NFC Championship game.
The Buccaneers won 31-26 and won the Super Bowl two weeks later.
“Definitely not the right call for the situation,” LaFleur stated following the game. “You can’t play like that against a decent football team and expect to win.
“That was the major difference in the football game. You just cannot do those things. I blame ourselves as coaches for putting our players in that position. That’s unacceptable. That should not have occurred. So we need to look at it, do some self-reflection, and figure out how to prevent it from happening again.”
Pettine resigned only five days later. LaFleur then interviewed nine candidates before selecting Barry, an old buddy from his time with the Rams.
If anything, Green Bay’s defense deteriorated over Barry’s three seasons with the team.
The Packers finished 17th in total defense this season, and their average rank under Barry was 14th. During the Barry era, Green Bay had an average scoring defense ranking of 14th.
With the season on the line in the divisional playoffs versus San Francisco, Barry’s defense faltered once more.
Green Bay led 21-17 with less than 5 minutes remaining and needed one stop to advance to the NFC Championship Game. Instead, San Francisco marched 69 yards in 12 plays and scored the game-winning touchdown when Christian McCaffrey scored from 6 yards out.
The Packers’ last four first-round picks—and 12 of their last 13—have all been on defense. Green Bay had eight first round defensive players on the roster this year, and the club believed that unit should have been great.
It wasn’t, resulting in Barry’s eventual dismissal.
LaFleur’s search for a special teams coordinator has not gone any better.
In 2019, LaFleur promoted Mennenga to head coordinator for the first time, and Green Bay’s yearly troubles in that area persisted. With Mennenga in charge, the Packers ranked 26th in Rick Gosselin’s annual special teams rankings for 2019 and 29th in 2020, prompting LaFleur to make a move.
Inexplicably, LaFleur moved Drayton, who was Green Bay’s assistant special teams coach under Mennenga, to the position in 2021.
“I’ve had a chance to witness him for the last two years, and I’ll tell you what, he’s a teacher,” LaFleur said after hiring Drayton. “He is an excellent communicator.” Again, gives wonderful enthusiasm to that room, which is exactly what I thought was needed: just his voice leading that gathering. I’m really confident in his ability. I think he’ll do an excellent job for us.”
Ah, not exactly.
During Drayton’s one-year tenure, Green Bay’s special teams were completely inept. The Packers finished 32nd in the Gosselin rankings and were not very close to 31st.
In the NFC divisional playoffs, the Packers had a low point when 49ers defensive tackle Jordan Willis blocked a punt. Safety Talanoa Hufanga recovered and ran 7 yards to tie the game 10-10 with 4 ½ minutes remaining.
“What a nightmare,” Larry McCarren, the Packers’ radio network’s longtime color commentator, screamed to his audience. “What a meltdown.”
The 49ers also stopped Mason Crosby’s 39-yard field goal attempt that day. On the final play of the game, a 45-yard field goal by San Francisco’s Robbie Gould gave the 49ers a 13-10 victory, the Packers had only 10 men on the field.
“That can’t happen,” LaFleur replied. “This is intolerable. Again, that is my responsibility.”
LaFleur fired Drayton less than a year after promoting him and started over.
When LaFleur signed veteran coach Rich Bissacia to manage the Packers’ special teams, he thought he had finally discovered the solution to their problems.
Bissacia had been one of the NFL’s best special teams coordinators for two decades. And the Packers made him the league’s highest-paid special teams coordinator, with an average compensation of $2 million.
Surprisingly, Green Bay’s advances have been modest, at best.
The Packers improved on special teams in 2022, rising to 22nd in the Gosselin rankings. But the Packers faltered this year, dropping back to 29th in the Gosselin rankings.
With a poor track record of finding coordinators, LaFleur is back on the lookout for someone to save his defense. And the pressure is on.
“A lot is ahead, man,” wide receiver Doubs stated at the close of the season. “If I had to put it in my universe, we’d have to figure things out. The hope is high for this club, and the goal heading into the offseason is to figure out what we can improve on.”
LaFleur believes it all begins with ultimately hiring the right coordinator.
