The Green Bay Packers are a playoff lock under Matt LaFleur, yet discipline and big game struggles create frustrating realities for Packers fans.
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has gotten a lot of flack around these parts, and he's often earned it.
Just look at the Packers' heartbreaking loss to the Chicago Bears in Week 17 as an example of why LaFleur can be so frustrating as a head coach. His team was clearly the better one in that game as far as talent was concerned, but a lack of discipline and fundamentals doomed them.
That has been one of the constant complaints ever since LaFleur took over the Packers back in 2019. He's a great play-caller and he's certainly amongst the top half of NFL coaches you'd want leading your squad.
Discipline and lack of details can plague his teams, though. Not-coincidentally, they also seem to struggle when the "you know what" hits the fan and they have to deal with adversity.
Sure, it's on the players to adjust and do their jobs, but anyone who knows anything about the game of football will tell you that a team takes on the personality of its coach.
LaFleur is clearly a smart guy. The locker room likes him and by all accounts he's a great person.
When things start getting choppy, though, he tends to start feeling the pressure.
He can lose his cool at times:
He also has a tendency to get lost within the game as a play-caller, perhaps forgetting that he is indeed the head coach of the Packers and not just the offensive coordinator.
It can be frustrating at times, and it's certainly meme-able.
The truth of the matter, though, is that there's no such thing as a perfect head coach in the NFL. There's also the unmistakable fact that with the Packers clinching the playoffs on Christmas Day thanks to a loss by the Detroit Lions, LaFleur has now taken Green Bay to the playoffs in six of his seven seasons.
Yes, his playoff record of 3-5 leaves a bit to be desired. Yes, he hasn't gotten the Packers over the hump despite making the NFC Championship game in two seasons straight (2019 and 2020), but how many franchises in the NFL would kill for a coach who could take them to the playoffs 86% of the time?
Packers fans are spoiled, and we know it. Perhaps the consternation regarding LaFleur and his ability to win the big game is a sign of that.
Or perhaps, that's the standard that comes along with coaching in a place known as "Title Town".