What Impact the Playoff Games Might Have on the Dolphins Coaching Search

The Green Bay Packers' meltdown in their playoff loss at Chicago might be reason for pause

Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is shown before their preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks Saturday, August 23, 2025 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Once Jon-Eric Sullivan became the new Miami Dolphins general manager and the attention turned to the head coaching search, it was only natural to look to his previous connections with the Green Bay Packers.

But does that still apply after the Packers' dramatic meltdown in their playoff game at Soldier Field on Saturday when they turned a 21-3 halftime lead, still 21-9 heading in the fourth quarter, into a crushing 31-27 loss?

What might the ramifications be after that collapse, not just as it pertains to those Packers coaches but also to other head coach candidates like, say, John Harbaugh?

HAVE PACKERS COACHES SUDDENLY LOST THEIR SHINE?

Harbaugh has been the logical top target for the Dolphins, but maybe Packers head coach Matt LaFleur wasn't far behind if he became available given his uncertain status heading into 2026.

Before the game, NFL Network's Ian Rapoport reported that LaFleur and the Packers would meet after the season to try to iron out a contract extension for his deal, which is set to expire after one more season. After the game, though, the national discussion shifted a bit more toward whether the Packers simply would move on from LaFleur after yet another playoff disappointment.

In his postgame press conference, LaFleur said his team lost its composure while the Bears were making their comeback and used the term "disheveled" to describe the performance.

There also were operational issues all over the place, such as calling a timeout on defense in the second half in a game where the Packers ran out of time on their last drive. There also was a false start on the team's next-to-last drive and a delay of game out of a timeout.

It's almost like something the Dolphins and their fans have seen in recent years from another coach from the Mike Shanahan tree, whose offensive mind never has come into question. Yes, Mike McDaniel.

Now, LaFleur's record over his seven seasons as Green Bay head coach is mure more impressive than that of McDaniel, with three 13-win seasons to start things off and only one losing record in seven years. The Packers also have made the playoffs in six of LaFleur's seven seasons, though they've been the No. 7 seed the past three years.

The question then becomes what has been most responsible for LaFleur's success, and to what degree, his coaching or the personnel he was handed by, among others, Jon-Eric Sullivan.

Another popular name connected to the Dolphins is Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, and that fourth quarter last night isn't going to push him over the top for any team that might be interested in him.

On the contrary, it was enough to make teams turn away.

Now, credit needs to go to Caleb Williams, who made a lot of plays only reserved for special quarterbacks, but the stats are the stas, and they say that the Packers gave up 25 points and 209 yards in that fourth quarter alone.

Doing some quick math, that's 100 points and 836 yards over a full game.

And that's not good.

And if the playoffs were to serve as some kind of final audition for Hafley's head coaching's candidacy, well, yikes.

Now, one bad game doesn't change Hafley's overall body of work in his two seasons as Packers DC, and Green Bay was fifth and 12th in total defense in those two seasons.

THE HARBAUGH RIPPLE EFFECT

Harbaugh remains the biggest name available on the market and the subject of more speculation than anybody else, and among the many reports about him came the suggestion that a team's quarterback situation would weigh heavily in his decision.

This clearly doesn't favor the Dolphins, who ended the 2025 season with a regressing starting quarterback with a nasty cap hit, a rookie seventh-round pick, a one-year free agent who was bypassed by that rookie, and another rookie who was signed off the Las Vegas Raiders practice squad.

The Packers, on the flip side, have a good, sometimes very good, starting quarterback in Jordan Love.

So if things go south in the Midwest with LaFleur and Green Bay, and the two sides part ways, the Packers could become a very appealing option for Harbaugh if QB indeed is an important criteria.

In the other playoff game Saturday, another Dolphins head coach candidate was at work, this time L.A. Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula.

His defense had some issues with the Carolina Panthers, including giving up four touchdowns in four red zone trips by Carolina, but it did come up with the game-sealing stop in the final minute on four straight incompletions (the last one was a drop, but Carolina probably didn't have enough time left to do anything anyway).

There are three more playoff games on tap for Sunday, including the Buffalo and Jacksonville game that will feature yet another potential Dolphins head coach candidate, Jaguars defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile.

For his sake and that of his team, he's gotta be hoping for a better result than what happened to the Green Bay Packers.