Inside the puzzle-box mystery the Packers have made of their DC search

The Green Bay Packers don’t want it to happen to them. Not again.

For a few weeks, the football-watching public assumed the Washington Commanders’ head-coaching search moved as quickly as the legislators in their hometown because they had the bill signed. Or in this case, the contract with Detroit Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, it had to be all but John Hancocked. And then on Tuesday, we found out it wasn’t and an entire fanbase was left going, “What the hell happened?”

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has first-hand experience with this hiring quagmire, a mix of personnel and personal disappointment along with a public relations clusterfuck on par with the political scandals in D.C. It’s no wonder Green Bay isn’t tweeting out the coordinators with whom they are meeting; that’s just not how the team operates on an organizational level. But there are meaningful reasons to handle it this way that have nothing to do with the Ludite digital strategy employed at 1265 Lombardi Ave. from time immemorial.

There’s a practical purpose to the Raymond Chandler-esque approach. During the last DC merry-go-round, the Packers’ preference for Jim Leonhard leaked, the then-defensive coordinator for the University of Wisconsin went on the record about why he turned down the job, and the information-plumbing problem forced LaFleur to answer awkward questions about why he ultimately had to hire a coach who was, at best, his second choice.

According to multiple ESPN reports, Leonhard will once again be a preferred candidate for the job he turned down three years ago. The Badgers did not promote him after he held the interim head-coaching role, instead hiring Luke Fickell. But if they interview him again, and come back without an agreement again, they come off looking even worse than the last time.

That’s the cynical side. Practical, but cynical.

Competitive advantage matters here though too. The Los Angeles Rams need a DC; that’s LaFleur’s buddy Sean McVay with Aaron Donald and the California sunshine at his back. Every football hipster’s favorite head coach, the Miami Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel, needs a defensive head as well after letting Vic Fangio leave for the Philadelphia Eagles earlier this month. South Beach and no state tax calls.

You don’t think LaFleur wants to beat those guys to the best candidate?