Packers’ Stunning Loss to Bears Throws Matt LaFleur’s Future Into Question

Green Bay blew a three-score lead against its division rivals in Chicago to end another season that fell short.

Matt LaFleur watched a big lead slip away before walking off the field for the final time this season. / Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/USA TODAY Network

CHICAGO — Matt LaFleur stood on the thick white sideline, watching the Packers’ last gasp from the 28-yard line. When Jordan Love’s last-ditch heave hit the turf, the game had ended. 

At the same moment, LaFleur’s career in Green Bay quite possibly ended as well, amid a stunning 31–27 loss to the Bears at Soldier Field in the NFC wild-card round. 

The postgame scene spoke volumes. LaFleur and quarterback Jordan Love took the podium, both searching for answers they couldn’t find. Both trying to make sense of the nonsensical. The Packers had a 21–6 fourth-quarter lead and lost, becoming only the third team in NFL history to allow 25 fourth-quarter points in a playoff game. 

Green Bay never seemed in serious trouble until it was in dire straits. The Packers were plus-2 in the turnover battle and perfect in their three red-zone trips. They averaged a robust 6.0 yards per play while Jordan Love threw for 323 yards and four touchdowns. The Packers led 21–3 at halftime. They led by double digits at different points in each of the last three quarters. With less than six minutes left, Green Bay had a 96% chance of winning, according to Next Gen Stats. 

Then, suddenly, poof. 

“This one is going to hurt for a really, really long time,” said LaFleur, who is now scheduled to enter the last year of his contract. “When you are in complete control of a football game and the script gets flipped in the second half, and it was a lot of self-inflicted things. Give credit to them. We knew they were a team that could come back and fight. They proved it all season long. We had opportunities to put them away and we didn’t get it done.”

LaFleur credited Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen for bringing more pressure over the final two quarters, forcing Green Bay to engage in more drop-back protections. The result was missed assignments, something perhaps to be expected without star right tackle Zach Tom and center Elgton Jenkins. 

Now, the obvious question is whether LaFleur will return. He’s been on the hot seat in the NFL’s smallest market all year, with fans calling for his job amid a third consecutive season resulting in the NFC’s seventh seed. The past two years have seen one-and-done playoff appearances. 

For his part, Love gave a vote of confidence to the only coach he has played under since being drafted in 2020, putting whatever weight he could on the scale.

“Yeah, I definitely think Matt should be the head coach,” Love said. “I’ve got a lot of love for Matt. I think he does a great job.”

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In his postgame press conference, LaFleur repeated his belief in how the Packers need to be more composed in these spots. How they can’t make easy errors, such as the defensive substitution mistake that forced the Packers to burn a second-half timeout. Or, on the penultimate drive, a delay of game out of a timeout. Then there was the next-to-last play, when the Packers committed a false start.

“That’s our job to find those answers,” LaFleur said. “I think there were some uncharacteristic things, and we got bailed out at times, too. We displayed poor ball security, putting the ball on the carpet, and it didn’t kill us in a couple situations. But all in all, it was a lack of execution from everybody.”

“I don’t think we did a good enough job picking up their adjustments that they made and finding a way to take advantage of that the way we did in the first half,” Love said. “That’s every game you come into. You do good things in the first half and teams are going to make adjustments. We didn’t do a good enough job overcoming that stuff. I think we just hurt ourselves too many times.”

Unfortunately, the Packers have sung this tune often in recent years. LaFleur has been in charge for seven seasons and posted a 76-40-1 mark. His .654 winning percentage is better than Bill Belichick, Andy Reid and Curly Lambeau, ranking 11th all-time for any coach with at least 70 victories. 

Yet LaFleur is now just 3–6 in the postseason. He’s lost his last three games, including twice at Lambeau Field as favorites against the Buccaneers and 49ers in 2020 and ’21, respectively. After beginning his tenure in Green Bay with a trio of 13-win seasons, he hasn’t won more than 11 in a campaign, and three times hasn’t reached 10 victories.

Asked about his job security multiple times, LaFleur declined to answer, citing the wrong timing. However, he noted his passion for the position he’s in, professing a love for the only team he’s ever been a head coach of at any level.

“It means everything to me. This is the greatest organization in the world, in my opinion,” LaFleur said. “It’s very humbling and I am certainly disappointed right now for everybody that’s associated with the Green Bay Packers. I’m disappointed for our locker room, I’m disappointed for our fans, I’m disappointed for our leadership, all our employees, everybody involved.”

By the time LaFleur and Love were done speaking, the locker room was a ghost town with only a few players milling about. Equipment had been neatly packed into rollaway carts. The floor was dotted with clumps of dead grass attached to dried mud. The large gray garbage bin overflowed with empty boxes of hand warmers, tape and a small container of watermelon. 

On the shelf behind it, there were a dozen Uncrustables, some with strawberry jam, some with grape. Five bags of orange slices went unclaimed, along with five bananas and 10 small ham-and-cheese sandwiches. Nobody had the stomach to eat. 

It was a room dominated by emptiness and silence. The same emptiness LaFleur and the Packers must feel. The same silence that will be deafening on the plane ride home. 

The Packers now have to figure out whether to keep LaFleur, or to go anew. There are ample options out there, including experienced hands such as John Harbaugh and Kevin Stefanski.

If they do, LaFleur’s final moment as the Packers’ coach will have been spent watching a desperation pass fall short. 

The same way his team has time and again in the playoffs. 

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