The LaFleur question isn't the only one hanging over the Packers as the offseason begins

The Packers' coaching staff won't look the same next season, and that's true whether they retain Matt LaFleur or not.

Good morning!

Instead of the usual pre-story windup, today’s edition of The Leap will just jump right into the Green Bay Packers’ 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears and the aftermath of that defeat.

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The LaFleur question isn’t the only one hanging over the Packers as the offseason begins

Jason B. Hirschhorn: For most of Saturday, Matt LaFleur’s status in Green Bay seemed all but settled. A report from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport stated that the head coach would “not be judged by the next four quarters” and instead would meet with team president Ed Policy this offseason with the mutual goal of signing a contract extension. The mere question seemed downright silly when the Packers stopped the Bears on fourth down for the third consecutive time with a chance to add to an already massive 21-3 lead.

Then Green Bay made the first of several missteps. Brandon McManus sliced a field goal just before halftime. He went on to miss two more kicks in the fourth quarter: an extra point and then a 44-yard field goal. Hitting even one of those would have significantly changed the end-of-game situation for the Packers, and converting even two of them would have likely meant a win in regulation or a chance to tie on the final drive.

Meanwhile, an undermanned defense started to show cracks. Caleb Williams, who ended the first half with just 78 yards and a sub-50% completion, found receivers open deep with regularity. Multiple of his long completions came on busted coverages, and he managed to throw some spectacular dimes as well. By the end of the game, Williams had racked up a franchise-record 361 passing yards.

Those problems mattered, but the Packers offense could have mitigated them. Instead, the unit’s first three drives in the second half ended in punts -- two as three-and-outs -- before finally finding some rhythm. By then, the Bears had fought their way back into the game and had more than enough time to complete a comeback.

All of which creates a muddled situation at 1265 Lombardi Ave. Perhaps even Policy doesn’t know where he stands on the subject of LaFleur’s future at this moment. He certainly doesn’t have an easy decision.

The case for changing head coaches has more ammunition than at any previous point in LaFleur’s tenure. The Packers didn’t just fail to close out Saturday’s playoff tilt against the Bears; they lost the previous encounter in comparably ignominious fashion and nearly did so in the first matchup. And beyond the games against Chicago, Green Bay couldn’t close against a handful of opponents in 2025. LaFleur’s team blew second-half leads in four of its losses this season. Of those, the Packers had a two-possession advantage in all but one.

LaFleur’s playoff record now stands at 3-6. While no coach who has made as many trips to the postseason as him can match their regular-season record, LaFleur’s teams have not advanced past the divisional round since January 2021. He has one playoff win in the time since, and even that came multiple years ago.

At the same time, Policy needs to consider the context around those outcomes. Injuries decimated the Packers in a way that few teams could endure. Tucker Kraft, the offense’s best weapon, suffered a torn ACL less than halfway through the season. The offensive line dealt with near-constant recalibrations between injuries to Aaron Banks, Eglton Jenkins, and Zach Tom. Saturday’s game alone forced Green Bay to play Lecitus Smith at center after both Sean Rhyan and Jacob Monk went down.

And the offense represents the “healthy” unit on the Packers. Special teams lost its kicker for multiple weeks and saw Zayne Anderson, Bo Melton, and other key contributors go down before the playoffs. The defense lost Devonte Wyatt on Thanksgiving and, most significantly, Micah Parsons in Week 15. And that list hardly covers all of the wounds.

The Parsons injury serves as a line of demarcation. At the very moment he tore his ACL, the Packers had the inside track to the NFC’s No. 2 seed and a lead over the Denver Broncos, the team that would go on to claim the top seed in the AFC. From that moment, everything changed for Green Bay, which went on to lose that game and every contest the rest of the way. Before that happened, LaFleur’s squad had rallied to rip off four straight wins, including victories against the still-feisty Detroit Lions and the now divisional-round-bound Bears.

So, what does Policy want to do? He previously said he doesn’t want to have his head coach go into a lame-duck year, which would mean extending or firing LaFleur this offseason. LaFleur would certainly have a market if he became available, with several clubs with Green Bay connections already looking for a new headman.

And, by most accounts, the league doesn’t think much of this year’s candidate pool overall. The first-time options largely reside on defense, and the apparent top offensive option, Klint Kubiak, has a limited résumé and comes with legitimate questions about his ability to command a locker room.

As a result, the likes of Mike McCarthy, Mike McDaniel, Matt Nagy, and Arthur Smith have interviews with multiple teams. A return to Green Bay won’t happen for McCarthy, but would Policy care to fire a head coach who would immediately become one if not the hottest option on the market for the opportunity to hire a retread who couldn’t match LaFleur’s job performance in their last head-coaching gig?

The exception, former Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, has drawn interest from every opening, but he’ll cost more than the Packers have historically paid for a coach not already working for them. Even if they decided to make an exception, he might prefer one of the other openings instead. And regardless, Harbaugh’s playoff record over the last seven seasons looks worse than LaFleur’s.

Perhaps the Packers will decide to accept the risk and move on from LaFleur, but they could also reasonably view such a decision as a likely downgrade.

But even if LaFleur returns, the Packers coaching staff will look different in 2026. Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has gained steam as a head-coaching candidate and has at least one known interview request so far. That number will likely increase now that the Miami Dolphins have hired former Green Bay executive Jon-Eric Sullivan as their new general manager. As The Leap reported last month, Hafley won’t “automatically accept any job offered to him.” Still, he could realistically find the right landing spot in the coming weeks and take an assistant or two with him.

Other changes will come to the coaching staff regardless of what Hafley does. The Packers cannot justify another season for special-teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. Not every problem with the third phase falls on him, but his units have consistently struggled in a handful of areas besides missed kicks. And unlike past special-teams coordinators in Green Bay, Bisaccia had a hand in picking a handful of his key players, including failed sixth-round pick Anders Carlson, veteran punter Pat O’Donnell, and a handful of other players whose tenure proved short-lived.

The Packers could also look to make changes to the offensive staff. OC Adam Stenavich and O-line coach Luke Butkus both own a considerable share of the blame for the issues in the run game and pass protection. It would not come as a surprise to see one or both leave this offseason.

But all of those rank as secondary matters. First, the Packers need to determine what to do with LaFleur. Until they make that decision, everything else will remain on pause.