Matt LaFleur Gets Contract Extension With Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers and Matt LaFleur have agreed to a contract extension, ensuring the 15th coach in franchise history will be back for his eighth season.

The team also is working toward a contract extension with general manager Brian Gutekunst. His job was never in jeopardy, though. Rather, the drama was with LaFleur. Or so it seemed. As we reported on Saturday, there wasn’t any drama there, either.

#Packers GM Brian Gutekunst is also getting an extension. The Green Bay braintrust is back. https://t.co/0V5KL5ZqdT
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 17, 2026

LaFleur has led the Packers to six playoff appearances in seven seasons. While none of them reached the Super Bowl and he’s won only one playoff game the past five seasons, he’ll get another chance to lead a talented team that was devoured by key injuries this past season.

A day after the season ended in horrific fashion with the Packers blowing a big lead at the rival Chicago Bears in an NFC wild-card game, LaFleur said his focus was on the team’s future rather than his own.

“I think my sole focus is just trying to find solutions to some of our issues and why things went awry yesterday,” LaFleur said on Sunday. “And, you know, it’s disappointing. I’m as disappointed, obviously, as, as all you guys, as our fans, as everybody in our organization, because we had plenty of opportunities to slam the door shut and we didn’t get it done.”

Matt LaFleur’s History of Winning

In seven seasons, LaFleur’s regular-season record is 76-40-1. That is a .654 winning percentage. In NFL history, 207 coaches have led their team for at least 50 games. From that group, LaFleur ranks 16th in NFL history in winning percentage. Nine of the coaches in front of him are Hall of Famers, including Vince Lombardi, who is third.

“I’m not too much concerned about Matt,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “I feel like the fans put way too much pressure on him with what they feel like he should be at. At the end of the day, he’s still – since he’s been a head coach – the most winningest head coach in this league. I think we take it for granted how much winning is and how much winning he does.”

According to the Elias Sports Bureau via The Dope Sheet, LaFleur ranks second in NFL history in wins among coaches in their first seven seasons, trailing only former 49ers coach George Seifert (86 in 1989 through 1995).

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur calls a play against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving. | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

During his tenure, the Packers are first in the NFC and third in the NFL in wins.

He’s done it with one young team after another. The Packers entered each of the last three seasons as the youngest team in the NFL. All three teams reached the playoffs.

Impressively, LaFleur has won games with a veteran quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, and a first-time starter, Jordan Love. He has won games with a Hall of Fame-caliber receiver Davante Adams, and a receiver corps without a No. 1.

The Packers were 5-1-1 after seven games until they were systematically dismantled by one key injury after another. Injuries aren’t an excuse but they are an explanation, which was perhaps a big reason for new team President Ed Policy’s decision to stand by LaFleur.

The voices from the locker room might have swayed Policy, as well.

“I think he’s become a great leader since I’ve been here,”Jacobs said. “I think that he cares a lot about this program. I see him put in extra work every day. I know what he means to the players. Speaking for myself, I’m going to stay firm on wanting him to be the head coach and wanting them to figure something out with him.”

Defensive end Micah Parsons, whose acquisition fueled Super Bowl expectations, spoke passionately about the need for change.

Not at coach, though.

“The change is the players,” Parsons said. “Us players are the ones that’s playing the game. The change is the players. I challenge the guys today. Do more than what your job’s required. If you’re in shape, run more, do more. If we got to play 80 snaps, we play 80 fucking snaps. We shouldn’t be tired doing that. We got to strain. Look how many plays we lost because we got outstrained. That’s things that can’t happen. …

“You can’t coach effort and that’s the mentality that I want guys embracing.”

Matt LaFleur’s Legacy of Disappointment

While LaFleur has won with regularity in the regular season, he has lost too often in the playoffs. He’s 3-6 in nine career playoff games. Of the top 36 coaches in regular-season winning percentage, 32 coached at least three playoff games. His .333 winning percentage in the postseason is the second-lowest from that elite group.

Among all coaches to lead at least nine playoff games, LaFleur’s winning percentage is worse than only Steven Owen, George Allen and Marty Schottenheimer. At least Owen won a couple of NFL championships for the Giants.

LaFleur led the Packers to NFC Championship Games during his first two seasons on the job. However, his teams went one-and-done as the No. 1 seed in 2021, missed the playoffs in 2022, won one playoff game as the No. 7 seed in 2023, and went one-and-done as the No. 7 seed in 2024 and 2025.

Saturday’s wild-card game at the Bears was a new low. The Packers led 21-3 at halftime and 21-6 in the fourth quarter. In blowing the game, they became the fourth team in playoff history to lose a game with a lead of 15-plus points in the fourth quarter. Before Saturday, those teams were 172-3.

Teams leading playoff game by 15+ points at start of the 4th quarter are now 172-4 all time after Packers blow 21-6 lead to Bears. The other losses:
Falcons to Patriots in Super Bowl 52 (led 28-9, lost 34-28 in OT)
Giants to #49ers in 2002 WC (led 38-22, lost 39-38)
49ers to…
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) January 11, 2026

“I think you’re always trying to evaluate and making sure that you’re putting your players in position to make plays,” LaFleur said of his playoff problems. “And, ultimately, it’s going to come down to that. And these games are tight, the margins are small, and when you have those opportunities, you’ve got to take advantage of them.

“And, unfortunately for us, you always look and see when it gets tight, if a guy makes a mistake, why are we making a mistake? And so those are constantly at the forefront of our mind.”

Also on Saturday, Love became the second quarterback to lose a playoff game in which he threw four-plus touchdown passes and zero interceptions.

“I definitely think Matt should be the head coach,” Love said after the game. “I’ve got a lot of love for Matt, and I think he does a good job. And that’s it.”

A Stunning Season

After improving from 9-8 in 2023 to 11-6 in 2024, general manager Brian Gutekunst made a blockbuster trade by acquiring Parsons.

The Packers started the season 2-0. After back-to-back losses sent them to 5-3-1, they won four consecutive games – including against the Bears at Lambeau Field – to take the NFC North lead with a 9-3-1 record.

However, Parsons suffered a torn ACL at Denver. With Tucker Kraft, Elgton Jenkins, Devonte Wyatt and Zach Tom also out with season-ending injuries, the Packers never won again. They ended the season with a five-game losing streak, tying their longest season-ending skid in the Super Bowl era.

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur talks with quarterback Jordan Love during the game against the Giants. | Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images

Injuries aren’t an excuse – look at this year’s 49ers – but they obviously can’t be dismissed. If Parsons were on the field, would Bears quarterback Caleb Williams have been able to lead the furious fourth-quarter comeback? If Tom were on the field, would Love have been under siege?

“Well, I don’t think it made it easier. We’re not going to live in that world because all they are is excuses,” LaFleur said. “We’re going to take the guys that we have, we’re going to put them in the best position possible and, unfortunately, we didn’t do a good enough job of that.”

Among those late-season losses were Week 16 at Chicago and Week 17 against Baltimore. The Packers didn’t punt in either game. That meant this amazing statistical oddity: This season, there were 14 occasions in which a team did not punt in a game. The Packers went 0-3 and everybody else went 11-0. For the 14 teams, the median point differential of plus-21.

So, Now What?

The Packers did punt against Chicago. Too frequently. They led 21-3 at halftime and started the second half with the ball with a chance to deliver a knockout. Instead, their first four possessions resulted in one first down and four punts. At that point, the tide had turned and the Packers couldn’t regather the momentum.

In 2020, the Packers reached the NFC Championship Game and probably would have gone to the Super Bowl had David Bakhtiari not torn his ACL before the playoffs. Who knows how this season would have ended had the roster not been dismantled.

What would have happened had Kraft, the best playmaker on offense, not suffered a torn ACL in the eighth game against Carolina? Had Wyatt, their best interior defensive linemen, not suffered a broken fibula in the 12th game against Detroit? Had Tom, their best offensive linemen not suffered a partially torn patellar tendon in the 14th game at Denver? Had Parsons, one of the best players in the entire NFL, not suffered a torn ACL in that game at Denver?

Still, the Packers were good enough to lead the NFC’s No. 2 seed by 15 points until an all-time collapse.

Beyond the injuries, LaFleur probably is going to have to make significant changes to his coaching staff, with the expectation that defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is poised to fill one of the eight head-coaching vacancies. LaFleur also might be eyeing new coordinators on offense and special teams and some new position coaches.

“I think you’ve got to use it as fuel,” LaFleur said. “There’s no other way to [proceed]. First of all, you’ve got to acknowledge it and accept it for what it is and then try to find ways to learn from it. But I think, ultimately, you’ve got to use it for fuel. This one stings, and it should sting – and it should sting for a long time.

“When these guys are training away from the facility and there’s a moment where, ‘Oh man I don’t feel like doing this today,’ it’s like, ‘Hey think about how you felt in that locker room, maybe that can get your motivated to get up off your butt and do what you need to do to get a little bit better.’ That’s going to be the message to our guys, is you have to use it as fuel.”

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Matt LaFleur’s History of Winning

Matt LaFleur’s Legacy of Disappointment

A Stunning Season

So, Now What?

More Green Bay Packers News