Despite Doom-And-Gloom Predictions, Rodgers-LaFleur ‘Partnership’ Flourishes
GREEN BAY, Wis. – When the Green Bay Packers line up on Sunday at Chicago with a chance to earn the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, it will have been exactly 725 days since Matt LaFleur was introduced as the 15th coach in franchise history.
During his first news conference on Jan. 9, 2019, critics of the hire immediately seized upon LaFleur’s plan to make the offense a “partnership” with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Outsiders figured the 35-year-old Rodgers, having outlasted former coach Mike McCarthy, would use his strong personality to dominate any partnership with the 39-year-old, first-time head coach. After all, Rodgers had won two MVPs and authored a Hall of Fame resume. What had LaFleur done other than work alongside hot young coaches Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay and lead a bad Tennessee Titans offense in 2018?
“I’ve had multiple conversations with Aaron,” LaFleur would say later on the “Wilde & Tausch” radio show on ESPN Wisconsin. “I’ll tell you what, the one thing that came across early is how passionate he is for the game of football and how much he wants to win. There’s nothing that’s going to stand in his way of really getting after it. I’m looking forward to working with him and continuing our relationship. And I really do view that just philosophically, I think that anytime you have a quarterback of his stature – I went through this with Matt Ryan in Atlanta, a guy who’s had success – and it is a partnership not only offensively but as a team, as a leader, and guys are going to follow guys of their caliber.”
The truth is the critics couldn’t have been more wrong. The partnership between the young head coach and the supposedly “imperial quarterback” has been a rousing success.
Their success shouldn’t have come as a surprise. All Rodgers wanted was a modern offensive scheme that gave him a chance to win a second Super Bowl. His eyes were opened wide on the night of Sept. 27, 2018. That’s when McVay’s Rams took apart Mike Zimmer’s vaunted Vikings defense on a Thursday night.
The Rams’ 38 points and staggering 556 yards stuck with Rodgers. That LaFleur was bringing that scheme was an instant win.
What’s happening this season, with Green Bay boasting the best record in the NFC and leading the NFL in scoring in much the same fashion as how LaFleur and Ryan flourished in Year 2 together in Atlanta, was exactly what Mark Murphy envisioned when he hired LaFleur.
In 2015, LaFleur was named the Falcons’ quarterbacks coach under offensive coordinator Shanahan. In their first season together, Ryan posted an 89.0 passer rating, down slightly from his career totals over his first seven seasons. In Year 2, Ryan and the Falcons soared to new heights. Ryan, whose passer rating surged to 117.1, won MVP and the Falcons reached the Super Bowl.
It’s hard to ignore the parallels as the Packers are roaring toward the playoffs.
In Year 1 under LaFleur, the Packers went from 6-9-1 to 13-3 but Rodgers’ passer rating dipped from 97.2 in 2017 and 97.6 in 2018 to 95.4 in 2019.
In Year 2, Rodgers’ passer rating has soared to 119.4 – the third-best in NFL history heading into Sunday’s finale. He leads the NFL in touchdown passes (44) and touchdown percentage (8.8) and is second in interception percentage (1.0). With that, Rodgers is the favorite to win his third MVP award and the Packers are favored to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.
Beyond comfort in the scheme, what is it about Year 2 jumps with LaFleur’s quarterbacks?
“I think there are so many variables that play into it,” LaFleur, a ridiculous 25-6 as Packers coach, said on Monday. “Certainly, a quarterback can’t do it by himself. I think it takes the other 10 guys out on the field. We’ve put a lot of emphasis on our run game and just how some of the play-actions and keepers and whatnot play off our run game and how important that is.”
A running game that ranks sixth with 4.81 yards per carry – 0.44 yards better than last season – has created so many easy completions, whether it’s bootlegs to the tight end or deep shots. According to Pro Football Focus, Rodgers leads the NFL with 20 touchdown passes and a 137.4 passer rating on play-action passes. The previous four seasons combined, Rodgers threw 19 play-action touchdowns.
Rodgers’ accuracy has never been better. He’s completed a career-high 70.3 percent of his passes. From 2015 through 2019, of the 50 quarterbacks to throw at least 500 passes, Rodgers was 26th at 62.9 percent.
While it’s helped to have more receivers open – those bootlegs, in particular, have been easy money – some of the improvement is rooted in the something magical he found watching some old film, a factor he’s referenced numerous times since mid-August. He mentioned it again two weeks ago, when he recalled a specific throw during training camp that got him on his way.
“It may be surprising to hear that one throw could do that but, a lot of times, it’s just something little, whether it’s in your personal life or professional life, that can kind of take you on a new course trajectory. That throw that day was that for me this year,” Rodgers said.
Combined, LaFleur’s scheme and coaching, Rodgers’ self-improvement and the rousing success of their partnership have translated into perhaps the best season of Rodgers’ phenomenal career. And because of that, Green Bay looks poised to be playing deep into January and perhaps into the first weekend of February.
All that talk about audibles and a diva who’s an “addict” to his stats and promises Rodgers would be “even more difficult to coach” in 2020 with a focus on the running game and his presumed successor on the roster all seem like standup comedy.
“I’m happy he’s here. We’ve had a great time together,” Rodgers said last week. “We’ve been laughing all the way to the NFC Championship last year and back in the playoffs this year about any question about our working relationship. It’s been a lot of fun working together. I think he’s put together a fantastic staff.
“A lot of times, a head coach gets maybe too much credit and definitely too much blame for ones who haven’t been winning. A lot of that is on who he brings in, the type of culture that person creates, the accountability he holds assistant coaches to or the freedom that he allows assistant coach to have, and I think he’s been a good blend of all those things with him and his staff. It’s been fun on offense. He’s got a great group of teachers, and I enjoy the working relationship, enjoy the friendship, enjoy the communication. We’ve had a good run so far.”
With four more wins this season, a “good run” would become a championship run.
