Whoever’s the Coach, Packers Better Find This Before Next Season

Ben Johnson made some comments leading into the wild-card matchup between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears that were left to the imagination as to whether he was taking a dig at the Packers.

“Some teams, they rest their starters. We don’t. We play football,” Johnson said in contrasting the approaches for the teams’ Week 18 games.

Johnson’s comments were much more pointed in the locker room following Chicago’s stunning 31-27 victory over the Packers on Saturday night.

“F**k the Packers. F**k them,” Johnson yelled in the locker room.

Not. Done. Yet. pic.twitter.com/0rq2ZMPIQC
— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) January 11, 2026

Those comments were privately to his team after a blowby handshake with LaFleur at the end of the game and a press conference in which he referred to the Packer as “the team up north.”

Nothing left to the imagination there.

Perhaps some of Johnson’s comments border on that of what a college coach would say, but the reality is Johnson coaches with an edge. He hates his opponent, and he wants to beat you and let you know it once the game is over.

It’s not the first time Matt LaFleur and his teams have been the recipient of pointed comments.

Perhaps the most damning came after the New York Jets, coached by LaFleur’s friend, Robert Saleh, came into Lambeau Field and destroyed the Packers in October 2022.

“The mindset to go 60 minutes," Saleh said after beating the Packers 27-10. “And just keep giving them body blow after body blow after body blow. And just keep hitting them, keep hitting them in the mouth. O-line just keep pushing and just keep leaning on them.

“We felt like if we could just keep taking them down to deep water, they’ll find out they can’t swim. It was just a mindset.”

That mindset was the edge that Saleh found with his team that day, while LaFleur’s team sank.

The numbers at this point speak for themselves.

Fading LaFleur

LaFleur’s tenure in Green Bay began with a 39-10 start and two appearances in the NFC Championship Game.

Everything changed after the 2021 season, when the No. 1-seeded Packers lost at home against the San Francisco 49ers in the snow.

Since then, Green Bay is 37-30-1 in the regular season the past four seasons. They’ve won more than nine games just once. They’ve won one playoff game in that timeframe, with back-to-back one-and-done postseasons including Saturday night’s collapse against the Bears.

The reality is LaFleur’s team often finds itself in deep water and has struggled to find its sea legs.

Whether the Packers are drowned by their opponent bludgeoning them into submission like the 49ers did in LaFleur’s first playoff loss or drowning themselves by tying an anvil to their ankles, the result remains the same.

The Packers cannot swim.

What Happened?

The question now is why?

Why did they go 7-8-1 in 16 games this season after starting 2-0?

Why is an offense that can look so prolific also capable of self-destructing the way it did for most of the second half on Saturday night? Ditto for the defense.

Football is the ultimate team sport. There are 11 individual variables on the field on a given play. That does not account for coaches, game plans, analysts and the smattering other people that can influence a play.

The other reality is that football is unlike any other sport. It’s a physical war of attrition.

Physicality and toughness are nearly as important attributes as size and speed. That’s true on the sideline, as well.

Chicago Bears wide receiver D.J. Moore is wide open for the game-winning touchdown against the Green Bay Packers. | Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Saturday’s game was not the case of losing to a team it was inferior to. The Chicago offense did not run a single offensive play in three games against the Packers with the lead. Yet, it somehow won two of the three matchups.

How?

Guts.

When the Packers allowed the Bears to hang around, it almost felt certain that a Chicago team, a reflection of its head coach, was comfortable in that situation.

On the other sideline, a collapse felt imminent, because Green Bay also reflects its head coach.

What happens when LaFleur’s Packers have been in deep water?

Since Jordan Love became the starting quarterback in 2023, the Packers have been in the playoffs three times. Their record is 29-24-1 in the regular season. They’re now 1-3 in the playoffs.

The expectation in Green Bay is to get to the postseason and to bring home the trophy that is named after the organization’s legendary head coach.

To do that, you have to beat good teams.

In 2023, Love’s first year as a starter, their record against playoff teams was 3-3. That included wins over Detroit and Kansas City in back-to-back weeks, but also included a win when Brett Rypien was starting at quarterback for the Rams.

They won their playoff game at Dallas before blowing a fourth-quarter lead against the 49ers. By any objective measure, the 2023 team was successful and playing its best football when the season ended.

The past two seasons were different. The Packers lost their last three games in 2024, including two divisional losses and a relatively non-descript loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild card round. They were 0-6 against the NFC’s top teams and 2-6 against postseason teams in general with wins against Los Angeles and Houston.

This year, the season cratered with a five-game losing streak. The Packers had a second-half lead of more than 10 points in three of those games. In another game, the Packers were embarrassed by the Ravens, who rushed for 307 yards. That was the second time a team had run for more than 300 yards in a game under the stewardship of LaFleur.

Apart from the late-season losing streak, the Packers stunk against playoff teams again in 2025.

The only teams the Packers beat who qualified for the postseason were the Steelers and the first matchup against the Bears. They were 2-4 against postseason qualifiers in the regular season, capped by another one-and-done in the postseason.

That doesn’t cut it in a city named Titletown, USA.

Disheveled ... And Worse

While Johnson and Saleh are taking potshots at LaFleur and his team in their press conferences, LaFleur is often at a loss for word or, like he was Saturday night, claiming his team was “disheveled” in the midst of a second-half collapse.

Remember the talking point surrounding the proverbial chip on Aaron Rodgers’ shoulder? Finding any perceived slight possible to motivate himself and his team?

That’s a common thread among the great competitors in sports. Arguably the greatest athlete ever, Michael Jordan, took everything personally.

LaFleur does not appear to. More often, he seems content to take the high road and let his performance do the talking.

The problem is, the performance is not backing up his silence any longer.

Perhaps that passiveness was on display most prominently during a two-game stretch against Denver and Chicago, when nobody came to the defense of Jordan Love after the quarterback was repeatedly hit in the helmet. In the Denver game, Love was hit out of bounds by safety Talanoa Hufanga. As Love was trying to get up, Hufanga pushed his helmet back to the turf.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love (10) is sacked by. Chicago Bears defensive end Austin Booker (94). | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

LaFleur brushed those plays off, simply saying it was football. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich seemed offended by the line of questioning.

One week later, Eagles coach Nick Sirianni was in the ears of the official after Jalen Hurts was hit on the sideline on a borderline play. He was seething that his quarterback was hit. Sirianni’s job was not to be objective in that scenario. It was to have the back of his quarterback. He knew that.

Say what you will about Sirianni, but all he’s done is win since getting hired in Philadelphia. He’s one drive away from winning two of the last three Super Bowls.

How about Liam Coen of the Jacksonville Jaguars? He might be the coach of the year this season. When Broncos coach Sean Payton made a comment about Jacksonville being a small market, Coen used those comments to motivate his team.

“Just thankful that a small-market team like us can come into a place like Mile High and get it done,” Coen said after a 34-20 win at the Broncos.

Another example would be Coen barking back at Robert Saleh after Saleh made comments about the Jaguars legal sign stealing methods. When the game ended Coen got into a verbal spat with Saleh.

That type of edge, which might look like insanity if channeled incorrectly, is something that is missing in Green Bay.

Mike McCarthy was not a perfect coach and had plenty of problems. He also never had a problem with boldly proclaiming confidence in his team.

The most famous example of this was McCarthy saying his team was “nobody’s underdog” after falling to 8-6 during the 2010 regular season. They’d win 21 of their next 22 games, including Super Bowl XLV.

LaFleur has never reached that mountaintop. He’s been more successful in the regular season. His offense still has not hit the stale stage that McCarthy did in the final stages of his tenure.

He’s brilliantly navigated a transition between his Hall of Fame quarterback to the next man in line. He revitalized the career of Rodgers and kickstarted the career of Love.

So, What’s Missing?

Why is the team with a coach who is so successful in the regular season unable to find their way in the postseason?

Why is a team which is so often the darling of advanced numbers like DVOA, EPA/Play, CPOE, and ANY/A underachieving?

The answer lies in that which cannot be quantified.

When the water gets deeper, LaFleur and his team cannot find their way to shore. As a result, they drown – and have done so for seven seasons running.

There are no fancy numbers that can quantify toughness, guts or grittiness. Those traits have been lacking in Green Bay for the majority of LaFleur’s tenure.

That does not dismiss all the good things he does on the field, but the results are emphatically clear after Saturday’s collapse.

Whether it’s LaFleur, or somebody else in the big chair in Green Bay, they should be using Johnson’s comments and the subsequent use of cheese graters on the postgame show by Chicago’s players as means to create an edge.

Find something about your opponent that you hate and push back.

If they don’t, the 2026 season will be destined for another wasted year.

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Fading LaFleur

What Happened?

Disheveled ... And Worse

So, What’s Missing?

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