Despite the five-game slide and embarrassing playoff collapse to end the season, Green Bay Packers team president Ed Policy proved that he’d made up his mind on a Matt LaFleur extension long ago, giving the 46-year-old head coach a chance to surpass Mike Holmgren’s 84 career wins in the green and gold, Vince Lombardi’s 98, and maybe even Mike McCarthy’s 135 (the length of LaFleur’s contract extension hasn’t been released yet). Count yours truly among those who think that LaFleur and his fear of such daunting fan engagement as “the wave” will never come close to sniffing Curly Lambeau’s team record 212 wins.

Personal takes aside, the fact is that Matt LaFleur is the head man in Green Bay and likely will be for the rest of the Jordan Love / Micah Parsons window, barring a catastrophic 3-14 kind of failure. In that spirit, what are the resume-building wins that the 8th-year playcaller has compiled since coming to Titletown?

10.) 2024 Season: Week 3 at the Tennessee Titans (30-14)

Okay, so there’s no getting around the fact that the Titans finished the year at 3-14 and secured the first pick in the 2025 NFL draft, but LaFleur supporters often point to the success he had in completely reshaping the offense for backup QB Malik Willis, who’d only been on the roster for 27 days after GM Brian Gutekunst picked him up for a 7th round pick in an end-of-training-camp trade with…the Tennessee Titans.

Starting QB Jordan Love went down toward the end of week 1 and Willis got his first start (and W) in week 2 against another bad AFC South team in the Indianapolis Colts. That said, Tennessee’s coaching staff had to have all the inside tricks to rattle Willis, yet LaFleur drew up a gameplan that loosened the reins he’d put on the young QB against the Colts and let him fly to the tune of 202 passing yards, 73 rushing yards, 2 total touchdowns, and no turnovers. Not bad work for a guy still learning the playbook.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of redesigning his playbook on the fly and tailoring it to the strengths of his players.

9.) 2025 Season: Week 8 at the Pittsburgh Steelers (35-25)

Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love, and Aaron Rodgers are all professionals who publicly treated this mid-season tilt as just another week on the schedule, but anybody who watched the tension between LaFleur and Rodgers throughout their time together knew that this matchup was personal. So how did Coach LaFleur respond in the first and potentially only head-to-head matchup he’ll ever have against his former MVP quarterback? He got rid of all the unnecessary 3rd down deep-shots and drew up a quick-rhythm passing game that allowed Jordan Love to tie a franchise record with 20 straight completions (a record-setting 21 if you count the 2-point conversion that the record books leave out). Love outdueled his mentor with 360 passing yards, 3 TDs, and a 134 passer rating, on the road, against a scrappy Pittsburgh team that led the division then and ultimately won it by the end of the year. It was a big time win on the national stage.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of running an offense that operates in rhythm and on time.

8.) 2022 Season: Week 17 vs. the Minnesota Vikings (41-17)

This game might rank higher if the Packers hadn’t, well, pooped the bed against the Detroit Lions in a “win and you’re in” season-ending disappointment one week later (I still think starting Love over an injured Aaron Rodgers would have gotten the team into the playoffs). Setting that sour taste aside, the team never would have been in position to make the playoffs if they hadn’t absolutely throttled the eventual division champion Vikings, who came into the matchup at 12-3. The defense takes most of the credit for the win with the four turnovers they harassed QB Kirk Cousins into, but LaFleur wisely rode the ground game to over 160 yards and put up 41 points on a division rival. Green Bay has only put up 40+ nine times under LaFleur, making this rare blowout the highlight of the coach’s only season with a losing record.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of putting his boot on a team’s throat and burying them.

7.) 2023 Season: Week 13 vs. the Kansas City Chiefs (27-19)

Coming off of a 2022 Super Bowl victory and on their way to a 2023 title that would make them the first repeat champions since Tom Brady began a dynasty, the Kansas City Chiefs were the gold standard when Green Bay hosted them in 2023. The team was 5-6 coming into the matchup after suffering a string of losses early in Jordan Love’s first year as a starter and despite the shocking upset detailed in the game below, nobody was giving Green Bay much of a chance against Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes. LaFleur’s squad scored first and didn’t let up, putting points on the board in every quarter to pull to .500 and set themselves up for a run to the playoffs that few fans expected in what was supposed to be a transitional year. You can’t say that the head coach didn’t have his guys ready to play against the best of the best this time around.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of going toe to toe with the best of the best.

6.) 2023 Season: Week 12 at the Detroit Lions (29-22)

The game above this one might not have gone as well if the Packers hadn’t gone into Detroit on Thanksgiving day and taken a heaping serving of confidence that simply didn’t belong to them up to that point. The matchup earlier in the year was a two-score loss at home, and the Lions boasted a division-leading 8-2 record coming into this holiday classic. LaFleur’s boys punched the opposition in the mouth for 20 first quarter points that left Dan Campbell’s squad dazed and confused for the rest of the night. The win was so unexpected that the Fox broadcast infamously didn’t have any of the traditional post-game turkey legs prepared for the visiting team, as rumor has it that the network seared a Lions logo onto the bird they did have, being so sure of a Detroit victory. Whether or not that urban legend is true, there’s no denying that this was a culture-building win that created a spirit of self-belief that the team rode for the rest of the year.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of bullying the bully in a hostile environment.

5.) 2021 Season: Week 8 at the Arizona Cardinals (24-21)

This win might not go down in history as an “important game,” but to me, it is Matt LaFleur at his very X’s and O’s best. I’ll admit to having no hope when the team traveled out west on a short week to face the 7-0 Arizona Cardinals with the following players all sitting out due to injury or COVID: WR1 Davante Adams, WR2 Allen Lazard, WR3 Marquez Valdes-Scantling, EDGE1 Za’Darius Smith, CB1 Jaire Alexander, CB2 Kevin King, Center Josh Myers, LT David Bakhtiari. Are you kidding me?

What did LaFleur do with Jurassic-era Randall Cobb and JAG Equanimeous St. Brown as his leading receivers? He pivoted to making star RB Aaron Jones a multi-faceted weapon that led the team in receiving yards while hammering RB2 AJ Dillon for 78 yards on the ground. Did the team still need practice squad pickup Rasul Douglas to seal the game with a last-second endzone interception of Kyler Murray? Sure. Does that make this textbook example of digging into the ole bag of tricks and adapting to the “next man up” any less impressive? No. Give me this version of LaFleur seven days a week and twice on Sunday.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of instilling a “never-say-die” attitude.

4.) 2020 Season: Week 16 vs. the Tennessee Titans (40-14)

The Titans were 10-4 coming into this snowglobe match at Lambeau Field and were powered by the most physical force NFL football has seen over the past 10-15 years: RB Derrick Henry, on his way to a historic 2,027 yard rushing season. Packers fans had reason to be nervous that the team’s track-meet style offense under eventual MVP Aaron Rodgers wasn’t suited for December football in the same way that the Titans were. Henry did manage 98 hard-earned rushing yards, but Rodgers tossed 4 TDs, AJ Dillon and Aaron Jones combined for 237 all-purpose yards and 2 TDs, the defense picked off QB Ryan Tannehill twice, and the A/V crew at Lambeau were basically free to set “Bang on the Drum All Day” on repeat and kick back with with some Old Milwaukees. LaFleur dialed up winning plays at will and produced the most down-right fun snow game this side of the 2007 playoff blowout of the Seattle Seahawks.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of scheming offensive brilliance and balance.

3.) 2019 Season: Divisional Round vs. the Seattle Seahawks (28-23)

Speaking of the Seahawks, they were the first playoff victim of the Matt LaFleur era, in a season where absolutely nobody picked the first year head coach to lead his team to the NFC Championship. Green Bay’s head man led a balanced offensive gameplan that wasn’t particularly notable in any one way, but what matters is that he re-established a culture of winning playoff football on a team that hadn’t tasted victory in the “second season” since January 15th, 2017. The fact that the Packers were flattened into the field at San Francisco the next week in one of the worst displays of run defense the team has ever put on tape might actually make this win more impressive, as it was obvious that the team overachieved in LaFleur’s first year on the job and that he got more out of his players than their natural talent level should have allowed.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of pushing a team to be greater than the sum of its parts.

2.) 2020 Season: Divisional Round vs. the Los Angeles Rams (32-18)

The Rams would go on to win the Super Bowl the next year, but Sean McVay was already cemented as the prototypical “next generation” coach at this point based on his success in leading Jared Goff to the big game in the 2018 season. Funny thing is, one could argue that this game directly ended Goff’s career in Los Angeles and led to the off-season trade for Matthew Stafford that put the Rams over the top a year later.

Goff didn’t necessarily play poorly, putting up a respectable 106 QB rating and a touchdown, but Aaron Rodgers outshined him with 296 yards passing and 3 total TDs in a game that never really felt that close. Goff just wasn’t good enough. Similarly, future Hall of Fame DT Aaron Donald, one of the most feared pass rushers to ever lace up cleats, was dominated by LG Elgton Jenkins to the point of visible frustration. Donald was playing through a rib injury suffered the week before, but he still managed to put up 2 sacks in that Wild Card game; against the Packers on Divisional weekend, he managed only 1 tackle and 1 assist. At least some of that credit has to go to LaFleur and his play design.

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of out-scheming elite coaches and players.

1.) 2023 Season: Wild Card Round at the Dallas Cowboys (48-32)

It had to be this game, right? Despite merely being a Wild Card matchup compared to the 2019 and 2020 Divisional wins, the dramatic blowout fashion of this David versus Goliath showdown between the 7th seed Packers and 2nd seed Cowboys stands out as the most confident a LaFleur team has ever played. Dallas put up 16 points in garbage time to make this laugher look closer than it ever really was, but LaFleur had his team dialed in from the start. Jordan Love had a nearly perfect passer rating, Aaron Jones scored 3 touchdowns, Romeo Doubs had over 150 receiving yards, and the defense even got in on the scoring with a Darnell Savage pick six. There was just a loose, playing-with-house-money energy to the 2023 team that exploded in AT&T Stadium with the most dominant showing coach LaFleur ever put together. The momentum nearly carried the team to the NFC championship, as they led top-seeded San Francisco by 10 points in the 4th quarter of the Divisional matchup the next week only to fall short by a field goal in the end. Was the Dallas game lightning in a bottle, or was it proof of the potential of Matt LaFleur as a leader?

Key takeaway: LaFleur is capable of shutting out the noise and playing the role of scrappy underdog.

Honorable Mentions

• 2019 Season: Week 1 at the Chicago Bears (10-3)
  • I don’t put much stock into Week 1 matchups, but beating the rival Bears--who were division champions the year prior--in his very first game sure set a good tone for the year to come.
• 2021 Season: Week 3 at the San Francisco 49ers (30-28)
  • This might be the most nail-biting game of the LaFleur era, but I give 90% of the credit for the victory to the magic that Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams, and Mason Crosby were able to conjure with just 37 seconds on the clock and no timeouts remaining. 
• 2025 Season: Week 13 at the Detroit Lions (31-24)
  • The Lions ended up finishing last in the division, but they were very much in the running for the NFC North crown at the time of this Thanksgiving day matchup and came ready to play after Green Bay man-handled them in the season opener. Pulling out the primetime divisional sweep just as the playoff race was heating up showed that LaFleur had his guys focused and ready to fight for the throne in the North, right up until Micah Parsons’ injury broke the team’s spirit and planted a dirty little excuse in the back of their minds a couple weeks later.

Will the 2026 season hold any new signature wins for Coach LaFleur? Almost certainly. Maybe he’ll finally get a big time comeback that he can take credit for. The more important question at this stage of his career might be whether or not he’ll add to his list of gut-wrenching losses. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming follow-up to this article: Matt LaFleur’s 10 Worst Losses.