Fill in the Blank: Matt LaFleur is a Top 'X' Head Coach in the NFL
By rex.sheild
The hire of Matt LaFleur as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers in 2019 was not universally loved nor seen as a slam-dunk hire. As the offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans, his last stop before heading to Titletown, he did not exactly light the world on the fire as the offense struggled to find consistency in his lone season calling the plays, although injuries played a huge role. Still, while he was the offensive coordinator with the Los Angeles Rams for one season, LaFleur never called plays prior to arriving in Nashville, so the Packers were taking a swing. A huge swing, in fact, considering that Aaron Rodgers was entering the late stages of his career and needed someone that could maximize his abilities and get through to him, something that trailed off under head coach Mike McCarthy. LaFleur ultimately did just that.
The Packers made back-to-back Conference Championship appearances in 2019 and 2020 and won three consecutive NFC North titles, while Rodgers won the MVP in 2020 and 2021. In his first five seasons at the helm, he has amassed a 56-27 regular season record, a win percentage of .675. His 56 victories are tied for the second-most in NFL history in a coach’s first five seasons, and the team’s win percentage since 2019 is tied for third in the entire league, trailing only the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills. He’s not a perfect coach – his hiring track record has left a lot to be desired, and he has made some head-scratching in-game moves, including kicking a field goal down eight late in the 2020 Conference Championship Game – but he’s a damn good one. Thus, where would you rank LaFleur among the NFL head coaches?
On ESPN’s Mina Kimes Show, Kimes said LaFleur is in consideration for being a top-five head coach. “He’s right there for me. Green Bay was the fourth-youngest playoff team … ever in the modern NFL,” Kimes said on the podcast’s latest episode last week. “Everybody said, ‘Show us that you can do it without Aaron Rodgers.’ Well, he showed us he could do it without Aaron Rodgers.”
Kevin Clark of Omaha Productions/ESPN was a guest on the episode and also sang LaFleur’s praises. “The ability to get Jordan Love this good this early is incredible, all while maximizing Rodgers to two MVPs,” Clark said. “I wrote this a couple of years ago and everybody got at me, and I said, ‘If it was so easy to win this many games with Aaron Rodgers, why didn’t Mike McCarthy do it?’”
While LaFleur has produced quite a resume in Titletown, the most impressive element of it was the job he did last season. There were a lot of unknowns. The youngest team in the NFL. A first-year starting quarterback replacing a future Hall of Fame quarterback. And as the season started off, it was difficult to see the light at the end of tunnel for the 2023 Packers, considering they lost franchise left tackle David Bakhtiari to a season-ending knee injury in Week 1 (replaced by a former seventh-round pick) and started the season 3-6. Things turned around in a hurry. Jordan Love played like one of the best quarterbacks in the league, the young offensive skill players impressed, and Green Bay dismantled the Dallas Cowboys on the road on Wild Card weekend, with an offensive performance that had LaFleur’s handprints all over it. And despite losing the following week to the San Francisco 49ers in the divisional round, they were a play here and a play there away from making the Conference Championship Game for the third time under LaFleur.
So, getting back to the original question, I believe LaFleur is squarely in the top ten, but he is not a top-five head coach in the NFL. That is not a knock on him whatsoever. He frankly should have been the Coach of the Year in 2023 for the work he did with that young team. Simply put, though, there are other coaches more deserving, ones who have had sustained success and/or won a Super Bowl. Below is my top ten.
- Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs
- Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams
- Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers
- John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens
- Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers
- LaFleur
- Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills
- Dan Campbell, Detroit Lions
- Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers (previously San Francisco 49ers)
- DeMeco Ryans
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Rex is a lifelong Packers fan but was sick of the cold, so he moved to the heart of Cowboys country. Follow him on Twitter (@Sheild92) and Instagram (@rex.sheild).
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Comments (33)
SicSemperTyrannis
May 27, 2024 at 01:48 pm
Don't be so negative, MLF is not an ex HC. Yet. He still has this season to redeem himself by proving that he can fulfill HC duties. So far, those have been his weakness, while OC duties have been where he's shined.
Hopefully he improves, and rises to the occasion. GPG!!
TKWorldWide
May 27, 2024 at 03:43 pm
“Not an ex HC”?
Sarcasm font?
Are you merely pointing out that he’s a current HC and hasn’t been fired? (ex HC)
I think I misunderstood you, or you took the headline to mean something else.
dblbogey
May 27, 2024 at 08:50 pm
He's made some puzzling moves, sitting Zach Tom while Royce Newman was being humiliated game after game, picking Joe Barry, keeping Joe Barry, drafting a kicker with a 66% field goal rate in college, and then sticking with him when he continued to hurt us badly. There's a learning curve and overall I consider him a top 8. I like the guy, thought he handled the whole Arod ego and craziness as well as could be expected, and think he has a great offensive mind.
TKWorldWide
May 27, 2024 at 10:31 pm
Wasn’t Royce Newman drafted the year before Zach Tom? I think Newman only started as a rookie when Tom wasn’t on the team yet.
Coldworld
May 28, 2024 at 11:20 am
I presume he is talking about Tom’s first year and Newman being the starter over Tom at RT and G. One could add Hanson at C too.
TKWorldWide
May 29, 2024 at 01:55 pm
Be careful when you presume:
You make a “pre” out of “su” and “me.”
PackerBackerAZ
May 28, 2024 at 11:35 am
LaFleur didn't draft Carlson or anyone else. That would be the job of Gutekunst with probable input from Bisaccia. Keeping players is, also, the work of Gutekunst with Bisaccia being instrumental in the case of Carlson.
I hope that his third defensive coordinator will work out. If Hafley can get the defense to play with more intensity and controlled aggression, the Packers could have a dominate defense. Do the players Gutekunst has spent so much draft capital on have the necessary aggressive attributes to be a dominate defense? I sure hope so and will be looking forward to seeing that answered this season.
PackBacker
May 27, 2024 at 02:21 pm
It's too early to answer the ranking question with LaFleur at #6, or anywhere else on a list like this. It's a question that's best answered after this upcoming season, at the earliest.
Let's see how the defense performs under Hafley, a change that should have been made two seasons earlier. And for much of his tenure he was almost an assistant to Coach Rodgers. Now it's really his team, and his alone.
I happen to think he will eventually be acknowledged as an excellent, upper echelon coach, but he needs to prove it on the field first.
cdoemel
May 27, 2024 at 08:39 pm
I know it wasn’t the authors intent but, how do you have him ranked after last season?
PackBacker
May 28, 2024 at 06:43 pm
That's actually a good question. Thanks for asking it.
Here's my thoughts. If someone had asked me to predict the grade for the team and LaFleur at the beginning of last season I would have said, "Incomplete". I expected 2023-2024 to be a transition year where The Packers would learn what they had with players they had. Jordan love was a huge question that needed to be answered. Like so many, I certainly didn't expect the success of the second half of the season. But it was sweet.
All the same, I think that head coaches get more credit than they deserve when things are going well and more blame than they deserve when things are going bad. A perfect example is Bill Bellichick. People said he was a genius when he had Brady. And then he got trashed after Brady left. So, I don't put too much emphasis on the head coach one way or the other.
I think that far more important than the head coach is the General Manager. It's the General Manager who puts the weapons on the field for the head coach. The best coach in the history of the world can look awful without the weapons. And vice versa. LaFleur began with Aaron Rodgers, one of the most potent weapons of all time. How do you evaluate LaFleur's talents accurately under that circumstance?
Gute does seem to be doing a good job of accumulating the weapons for LaFleur. Time will tell for certain but I'm more than encouraged so far. I've read that Gute will have 62 million in cap space to work with next year. If he aces that our favorite team will be set up to do wonderful things like wiping the floor with the Bears for years to come. I'm confident that's exactly what will happen. And LaFleur will be able to use great talent to do great things.
But as I said earlier, I thought last year was transitional and this coming season is the true test of how good LaFleur really is. I think a really good/great head coach can be the difference between getting to the Super Bowl and winning the Super Bowl. As I said in my original comment, I think LaFleur has that potential. This year and next will be the test.
Anyway, sorry for my rambling reply.
LeotisHarris
May 27, 2024 at 02:31 pm
I'll say he's top notch.
stockholder
May 27, 2024 at 02:46 pm
I agree
TKWorldWide
May 27, 2024 at 03:44 pm
Hear, hear!
Leatherhead
May 27, 2024 at 02:56 pm
He has the highest career winning percentage of any active head coach, and one of the highest of all time
In fact, we're 50-7 in games where we score at least 23 points.
And we're 49-12 in games where we hold the opponent to 24 or less. Half of those 12 losses happened this year.
So in around 90 games,including playoffs, we 'hit our marks', so to speak. If we hit 23, we just about always win, and we hit 23 about 65% of the time. And if we hold our opponent to 24 or less, we just about always win....except for last year. And we hold them to 24 or less about 65% of the time.
PhantomII
May 27, 2024 at 07:53 pm
Yes, Gute has assembled a pretty good roster since MM left minus a #2 WR for AR to attain 2-MVP's..which is no part a one man show at all. The crushing post season fiascos from ST and poor offensive performances, to defensive gaffs cast a long shadow on our playoff outs. we have won many games we were suppose to have no trouble with and had an immense amount of problems getting past the NFCC game to get in the show. ML took half the season to get the pack doing well last season, but they were firing on all cylinders after that and looked smoother than when AR was under center. If ML can get us a SB win with what looks like the BEST overall team in recent memory I will heap all the praise on him and Gute anyone desires. ML has been improving in his post season coaching. I'm looking forward to the new DC adding some bite to our unit and putting pressure on the opponents QB. I believe this is..... "OUR YEAR".....GPG
T7Steve
May 28, 2024 at 08:13 am
The problem was that AR wasn't under center. At least not enough to help. Only on runs so it telegraphed the plays to the D.
Bitternotsour
May 27, 2024 at 08:21 pm
he's has the best job in football. sums it up, really.
GB@Germany
May 27, 2024 at 03:34 pm
MLF is a top 5 OC, no question.
To get to the Olymp of HC we need to see much more complementary football and at least a trip to the SB the next years.
I strongly believe, he can do it, but the proof is in the pudding
GB@Germany
May 28, 2024 at 05:00 am
P.S. What I miss from MLF is some straight talk in press conferences. They are almost unbearable with soft talk and empty slogans- a little bit of Dan Campbell would be much appreciated.
LambeauPlain
May 28, 2024 at 07:20 am
I understand what you are saying, however I did see more assertiveness and command in pressers last season, sans Rodgers...especially in the last half of the season.
MitchAnthony
May 27, 2024 at 03:39 pm
Maturing, developing, and growing into the job. Getting better at in-game adjustments and clock management which wasn't a high point early on. No denying his offensive smarts and his overall decency as a professional person. Certainly gets high points for his personable attributes.
I don't know how much actual control he was given as the head coach from the get-go but I would not score him high for the managerial mistakes of keeping Drayton and Barry as long as he did but with that now in the rear view let's hope he really is becoming the complete head coach of all three phases of the game. Hire good subordinates and trust them but if they're not working out, they're not working out. Can't be nice all the time.
I always cut him slack as a younger coach coming into a team that everyone knew was going to be facing a transition. He came through it all very well. Good for him and the team.
jvole
May 27, 2024 at 04:05 pm
I would say top 3 OC. If the Hafley selection hits, then he is a top 3 HC. If assessed with the Barry hiring and retention, then I think he drops to the 7-10 area. Retaining Barry another year was an epically bad decision.
LambeauPlain
May 28, 2024 at 07:24 am
Hiring Barry in the first place was prophetically a bad decision. Barry had failed at every attempt as a DC previously and ML made an almost decision of panic hiring his crony buddy when Jim Leonard turned him down (although Jim gave it a lot of thought).
Bearmeat
May 27, 2024 at 06:02 pm
He's a top 10 HC right now. With top 3 upside if he can win it all a couple times. His DC picks and catering to 12 too long have been the only spots on his resume lacking.
cdoemel
May 27, 2024 at 08:45 pm
Honest question cause I really don’t know. Do bad decisions in your past continue to haunt you your whole career? I mean no matter what you’ve done since then, does something that you did follow you and taint you somehow forever? I thought we were ranking him right now or for this season or last. I didn’t know we were ranking all-time greatest coaches, and every decision they’ve ever made in a career.
Coldworld
May 28, 2024 at 11:35 am
If bad decisions continue then yes. This year we should see, but Hafley failing would be a major blow. Bad decisions haunt unless one learns and corrects in time. Right now the hope is that Hafley represents a significant upswing, but that’s yet to be confirmed.
LaFleur is entering g his 6th season as a HC. He’s had longer than almost anyone gets with one team to fulfill his potential, but it now seems that the Rodgers factor was not just real but much more significant than thought.
This is LaFleur’s second season unfettered. He has his people on the field and off. We should expect a blossoming offense but we should also start to see the other two phases pulling together and that weak links in the coaching chain have been removed.
If we do, then he’s learned and the past ceases to matter. If Hafley and others fail or the new O doesn’t jump forward but stagnates with teams having figured it out, then the end will likely be fast approaching.
This is a pivotal year for LaFleur, on offense and in terms of whether he can hire the right people and manage them as a unit. The team is there. Love seems real as does the rest of the O, and now has another season under its belt. We have a new DC and approach and a lot of seemingly tailored picks invested to give Hafley his desired tools.
Now we need to see Hafley and Bissacia prove themselves worthy and, I think, more willingness to reward talent/performance more rapidly through better (less cautious) use of the roster.
Get the best current players out there and reward on field and practice performance more and more quickly. No more sticking with adequate well after others show they may be better (Lowry over Wyatt, Rodgers over Amari, perhaps Myers over Tom/Jenkins, Heath/and others over Melton and Newman over almost anyone still on the team, for example).
In LaFleur’s case, that probably means more proactive involvement in choices by his team. That’s been an overlooked weakness thus far. To encourage talent in his coaches is laudable, but guiding them to overcome their weaknesses is part of developing both them and the team that is absent if they are largely delegated free reign to make personnel and even tactical calls. That has been his style, as we know from various coach’s statements and his own comments.
He needs to become a Head Coach of all facets, not merely delegate: not just OC and primus inter pares among the coordinators or his offensive coaches.
Leatherhead
May 28, 2024 at 02:00 pm
''''' but it now seems that the Rodgers factor was not just real but much more significant than thought. ''''''
Huh? In our first year without Rodgers, we won more games, made the playoffs, and advanced. How does this mean the "Rodgers factor" is real?
LaFleur gets "more time than most""" Yes. He's had 5 years already. And he's won games at a higher rate than any current coach. In fact, he's 11th all time and could move up this season. He's earned the time.
As an aside, you look at people like Lowry as detriments, whereas I look at him and realize you don't win without guys like Lowry. You don't get to have above-average players at every position. Sometimes, dependable and stable are qualities worth having.
cdoemel
May 27, 2024 at 08:42 pm
Dude was thrown into a tough situation with the Prima Dona. It would take a special person to weather that storm and also win. Oh wait, yeah. And now he’s leading the charge with a new franchise arm. And honestly it was pretty damn good most of the time. A lot of the time. Given the circumstances of player inexperience. I’m plenty hopeful
Bearmeat
May 28, 2024 at 07:17 am
Agreed. He is outstanding. But in a highly competitive field, he’s not at the top. Yet. Because of the reasons stated above.
Yes he was in a tough spot. Yes, overall he handled himself and the team well. Otherwise he’d be gone and we’d be rebuilding with a new GM and HC.
Yes, of course I have regrets from bad decisions that have cost me, my family and those I am close to and they continue to affect me. They always will. So do you. So does MLF.
Yes, he can excel so much that those things recede in the mirror. No. He hasn’t done it. Yet.
LambeauPlain
May 28, 2024 at 07:33 am
He's a top OC now...top 5 IMO.
HC...he gets heavily discounted because during his HC tenure, the D and STs have been consistently NFL bottom dwellers and the men he hired to coach did not get the job done, ML let them continue to fail. Rich B is now on that list heading into his 3rd year.
Great HC's must make the difficult personnel decisions. Matt seems very timid in this decision making. They are not fun, but they are necessary.
ML also seemed very intimated by Rodgers, who customized the offense to his preference. He received very little, if any push back from Matt.
With Love, he has a willing student who has bought into his lessons and has performed as coached...and performed well. So have the young playmakers on O.
If Hafley does well, Matt will get accolades too. If a HC is going to be mostly an OC, he's going to get the blame for poor results on D and STs. And if they do well, the HC will get the credit.
I still see solid growth upside for the young HC. As an OC he is there. As a HC, he may be one of the tops in a year or two.
Ya_tittle
May 28, 2024 at 09:27 am
I think your analysis is solid, however the guy is too wedded to coordinators that aren't competent (Special Teams at one point, Joe Barry at another). This has cost us. Were he as ruthless as Bellichick, it might help him.
Since'61
May 28, 2024 at 05:07 pm
I would rank MLF as the #8 HC in the NFL at this point. I agree with the top 5 from the article but I would move MLF down From #6 to #8 behind Dan Campbell. Why? MLF is 2-4 versus Campbell. If MLF we 3-3 with Campbell maybe I could give him the benefit of the doubt but Campbell has had the better of MLF for the last 3 seasons.
We'll see what happens in 2024 and hopefully MLF improves especially since he finally decided to move from his big mistake in hiring and then retaining Barry too long. I'm still looking at 2025 as the Packers year for the SB. If not by then, then we'll know where MLF stands as an HC. GPG! Thanks, Since '61
WestCoastPackerBacker
May 29, 2024 at 01:20 pm
This kind of ranking is stupid. Period. Like, it doesn't matter one bit at all what the hell he's ranked. He has a winning record against most top coaches, except for Shanahan. Maybe this is the year he'll change that story. But rankings are worthless. Is he good enough to get an extension if the only question that has any bearing on the team.
And ranking a guy who's spent the last number of years as a college coach is ridiculous. Let's see how Harbaugh does before we have any opinion on him.