NFL Wild Card Round: Packers @ Bears on January 10th at 7:00 PM

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I have a tough time going after Love in this game. The dry spell 3rd quarter wasn't great but he threw for 300+ and 4 touchdowns. He led a touchdown drive with 6 minutes to get an 11-point lead and converted a 4th down on the final drive to get us to about the 30 or whatever. Yeah, delay of game, some less than great managing of things. But he played a very good game and had a generally great year. I am a bit mystified by how many people want him gone or feel so convinced he isn't "the guy."

I don't think Jordan Love even cracks the top 15 problems on this team. I just don't see any reason he can't be a championship QB. 

[Recovering Chicagoan]

6 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I have a tough time going after Love in this game. The dry spell 3rd quarter wasn't great but he threw for 300+ and 4 touchdowns. He led a touchdown drive with 6 minutes to get an 11-point lead and converted a 4th down on the final drive to get us to about the 30 or whatever. Yeah, delay of game, some less than great managing of things. But he played a very good game and had a generally great year. I am a bit mystified by how many people want him gone or feel so convinced he isn't "the guy."

I don't think Jordan Love even cracks the top 15 problems on this team. I just don't see any reason he can't be a championship QB. 

Love is a good QB, for sure. But this season Williams made more big plays than Love, and that's a tough pill to swallow.

[HarveysWBs]

2 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

I have a tough time going after Love in this game. The dry spell 3rd quarter wasn't great but he threw for 300+ and 4 touchdowns. He led a touchdown drive with 6 minutes to get an 11-point lead and converted a 4th down on the final drive to get us to about the 30 or whatever. Yeah, delay of game, some less than great managing of things. But he played a very good game and had a generally great year. I am a bit mystified by how many people want him gone or feel so convinced he isn't "the guy."

I don't think Jordan Love even cracks the top 15 problems on this team. I just don't see any reason he can't be a championship QB. 

I agree with this, and even if they wanted to part ways with Love, that’s hardly feasible anyway so it’s a silly academic argument at best and obnoxious bar chatter at worst.

I don’t think Love himself is the issue, but I also have a hard time fully exonerating him. Yes, he was sensational for most of this one and outplayed Williams consistently. But when you’re the guy making the bag and you have an opponent with an average at best defense on the ropes and it’s do or die time and you let them breathe, that’s not championship caliber. Love did enough to win tonight, sure, but what we’ve seen repeatedly is that Love and LaFleur together have no killer instinct and too often can’t close. I think they have to hope a different regime takes him to the next level in games like this.

[Recovering Chicagoan]

14 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

We got all the bounces, converted some big 4th downs and they still ran us out of the gym in the 4th quarter. I don't feel like we were the better team and should have won right now. 

I agree. The better team won this game. I'll add the caveat that if we had a healthy Parsons, Kraft and Tom playing, we'd be the better team.

[HarveysWBs]

22 minutes ago, yourout said:

I think it's time for a complete reboot.. 

We don't have enough pieces and we don't have good enough coaches. 

It would be painful for a year or two but if you get the right people it can be turned around pretty quick..

I actually wouldn’t tear down the roster. We don’t have a first round pick of our own next year anyway, and we’ve got an enviable foundation with Parsons and Love, with a bunch of very nice surrounding skill players to boot. But they need a new voice at the helm of each phase, and they have to quickly shore up the trenches and the CB room and also find a kicker.

Since Gutekunst has shown a lack of either the ability or concern or both regarding addressing any of those positional failures for the last several seasons, I lean towards him getting the axe too. But I kind of suspect he stays, and if you held my feet to the fire I’d admit he’s the one I’m least upset about among all the brass. I’m not feeling too charitable, however.

[Recovering Chicagoan]

1 hour ago, OldHeidelberg said:

25 points in 4th quarter. oof...

Yup. That's on the defense. And 0 - 5 since Parsons' injury.

[GAME05]

I feel like, during a playoff game, "That's his first career TD" is something to be said of 7th Round WRs, not 1st Rounders.

[Jopal78]

6 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

It's basically one guy who has stuck his flag in the "they have no talent" position and isn't ever going to come off of that no matter how badly LaFleur performs. 

LaFleur is indefensible at this point. Yes the team has roster issues, but no serious person can believe this is the guy to get this team back to respectibility. He is an OC. He needs the game management left to his HC. 

Clearly, the Packers don’t have as much talent as they’d have people believe. They have nobody at RB, CB, K. Outside of Parsons they have no pass rushers. Look at the roster and ask yourself honestly what position group in Green Bay is better than most teams? 

How did that manifest itself in the game? They couldn’t run the ball with Jacobs making them one dimensional.  Johnson had no respect for the defense at all and never punted once on 4th down. 

If you want to criticize LaFleur because he’s the HC and ultimately bears responsibility for losses and inability to get special teams right. Fine. But firing him because expectations were that a fringe 7 seed  (4-2 in their division, 5-5-1 against everyone else) would do better in the playoffs  is a knee jerk reaction. 

 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

24 minutes ago, GAME05 said:

I feel like, during a playoff game, "That's his first career TD" is something to be said of 7th Round WRs, not 1st Rounders.

This is something that makes MLF look horrendous. He was all over the place making plays and we were opting for Bo Melton the entire year. Inexcusable. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

9 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

 

If you want to criticize LaFleur because he’s the HC and ultimately bears responsibility for losses and inability to get special teams right. Fine. But firing him because expectations were that a fringe 7 seed would do better in the playoffs  is a knee jerk reaction. 

 

Honestly, I can't keep having this argument, it won't go anywhere. But the Packers as late as week 14 for positioning themselves for the 1 seed and were essentially a unanimous top 5 team from any analyst. Then Parsons went down and the whole thing fell apart. 

So that's not LaFleur's fault, right? 

You would think not, except you can make a strong case that at 9-3-1 the Packers should have been more like 11-2 and he was the primary reason they weren't. And this isn't new. He then goes on to crap his pants in Chicago, does it again in the playoffs. 

But my desire to have him canned isn't really based on last night or even this season. It's that he has been failing in the same ways for 7 years. Misuse of timeouts, letting his friends be assistants without repercussions for awful production, turtling with a lead etc. He can go be a good OC somewhere. He's a bad coach. This is not the next Super Bowl coach. It hasn't been like a year or two. It's been 7 damn years. He's essentially Mike Sherman only LaFleur has enjoyed better QB play. 

When blowing multi-score leads has become the team identity I have a hard time believing there's a significant talent problem. 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/silverstein/2026/01/11/packers-ceo-ed-policy-should-move-on-from-coach-matt-lafleur/88107203007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z117937d00----v117937d--88--b--88--&gca-ft=188&gca-ds=sophi

 

Bold move considering it's unlikely to happen and Silverstein has to work with LaFleur every day. 

[Jopal78]

21 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Honestly, I can't keep having this argument, it won't go anywhere. But the Packers as late as week 14 for positioning themselves for the 1 seed and were essentially a unanimous top 5 team from any analyst. Then Parsons went down and the whole thing fell apart. 

So that's not LaFleur's fault, right? 

You would think not, except you can make a strong case that at 9-3-1 the Packers should have been more like 11-2 and he was the primary reason they weren't. And this isn't new. He then goes on to crap his pants in Chicago, does it again in the playoffs. 

But my desire to have him canned isn't really based on last night or even this season. It's that he has been failing in the same ways for 7 years. Misuse of timeouts, letting his friends be assistants without repercussions for awful production, turtling with a lead etc. He can go be a good OC somewhere. He's a bad coach. This is not the next Super Bowl coach. It hasn't been like a year or two. It's been 7 damn years. He's essentially Mike Sherman only LaFleur has enjoyed better QB play. 

Yeah, there’s 17 games in a season. Who cares where they were positioned in Week 14?  The NFC North Champs beat them straight up on a botched onside kick, and a long touchdown pass in overtime. 
 

That their defense without Parsons was amongst the worst in the league makes it indisputable the talent on that side of the ball isn’t very good. If you want to go metrics, their defense already negative expected points in 7 of 13 games WITH Parsons and in every single game without him. They gave up nearly 400 yards in the last five games of the year. 

They should take a good look in the mirror, they were a 7 seed who got in the playoffs in a watered down conference, then got bounced after being shredded for 450 yards and 31 points. What do timeouts  & game management have to do with that (I’m sure they would’ve liked to eat the clock in the 2nd have, but having a  washed up veteran and 2 UFDAs at RB, and a mediocre OL didn’t allow them to do that— not play calling)?

 

[Jopal78]

20 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/nfl/packers/silverstein/2026/01/11/packers-ceo-ed-policy-should-move-on-from-coach-matt-lafleur/88107203007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z117937d00----v117937d--88--b--88--&gca-ft=188&gca-ds=sophi

 

Bold move considering it's unlikely to happen and Silverstein has to work with LaFleur every day. 

He does lead that article off saying LaFleur is a good coach. But also is critical that LaFleur didn’t try Willis for a change of pace, so maybe what Silverstein writes is largely ignored anyways, and probably should be with those kind of arguments. 
 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

24 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

Yeah, there’s 17 games in a season. Who cares where they were positioned in Week 14?  The NFC North Champs beat them straight up on a botched onside kick, and a long touchdown pass in overtime. 
 

That their defense without Parsons was amongst the worst in the league makes it indisputable the talent on that side of the ball isn’t very good. If you want to go metrics, their defense already negative expected points in 7 of 13 games WITH Parsons and in every single game without him. They gave up nearly 400 yards in the last five games of the year. 

They should take a good look in the mirror, they were a 7 seed who got in the playoffs in a watered down conference, then got bounced after being shredded for 450 yards and 31 points. What do timeouts  & game management have to do with that (I’m sure they would’ve liked to eat the clock in the 2nd have, but having a  washed up veteran and 2 UFDAs at RB, and a mediocre OL didn’t allow them to do that— not play calling)?

 

Yeah this is coaching. Particularly when your ST unit is consistently awful and your best friend is the coordinator. 28/32 coaches could call about 5 games the Packers lost this season to the finish line. I really can't anymore. You like LaFleur, you think the team is bad, that's fine, I accept it. 

[Jopal78]

26 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Yeah this is coaching. Particularly when your ST unit is consistently awful and your best friend is the coordinator. 28/32 coaches could call about 5 games the Packers lost this season to the finish line. I really can't anymore. You like LaFleur, you think the team is bad, that's fine, I accept it. 

I get it too, you’re looking for something to blame besides the talent for their failure in meeting your expectations. That’s why you’ve  criticized LaFleur as having “friends” as assistant coaches. Specifically, Bisaccia is 66 years old, he’s old enough to be LaFleur’s dad, and they’ve never worked together before 2022. Best Friends? I doubt it. 
 

What is fact is outside Sean Mannion none of the assistant coaches had worked with LaFleur before being hired in GB. Further Bisaccia when hired in ‘22 had been a special teams coach in the pros since 2002 and has a Super Bowl ring. And he almost certainly is going to get canned despite that pedigree.

If you dont like the guy, just say it. If you want to blame losses on assistant coaches, just say it. Blaming your disappointment on the HC “hiring friends” is nonsense. 

[OldHeidelberg]

Future of LaFleur, Gutekunst after Packers' wild-card loss - ESPN

 

Demovsky on some possible outcomes although getting a pick for MLF seems like a pipe dream. I just can't get my head around giving MLF an extension after losing 5 straight including this game. He has clearly lost the fanbase, it would be odd to reward him at this moment. I guess a 1 year extension might be a middle ground but LaFleur may want more security and may want to get a big contract while he is still a hot name.

If we do move on I am ready to blow up the young OC type hires and go to a veteran coach like Harbough. Let's try something different, we have the QB and Parsons in place, we need a fresh approach. 

[HarryDoyle]

The Packers failed to win five games this year that they had a two score lead in. That's on coaching. MLF doesn't have the killer instinct and the fire in his belly that Ben Johnson has, and his all gas no brakes talk is all laughable lip service. One playoff win in five years, and if it wasn't for playoff expansion they'd only have played in one playoff game and MLF wouldn't even have a job in Green Bay. His play calling and clock management has been a sore spot all season long. We can't continue to keep going down this road and expect things to get better, and the longer we wait, the worse it will get. Can him by tomorrow before candidates become slim pickings. 

[Mark6887]

14 minutes ago, OldHeidelberg said:

Future of LaFleur, Gutekunst after Packers' wild-card loss - ESPN

 

Demovsky on some possible outcomes although getting a pick for MLF seems like a pipe dream. I just can't get my head around giving MLF an extension after losing 5 straight including this game. He has clearly lost the fanbase, it would be odd to reward him at this moment. I guess a 1 year extension might be a middle ground but LaFleur may want more security and may want to get a big contract while he is still a hot name.

If we do move on I am ready to blow up the young OC type hires and go to a veteran coach like Harbough. Let's try something different, we have the QB and Parsons in place, we need a fresh approach. 

They have not "lost the fanbase." When training camp comes, it will be packed to the gills with fans spending money on Titletown. Family day will be packed again, and opening day will sell out just like every home game. 

The fanbase might be upset or disappointed, but the coffers and stands are full. Ed Policy has very little reason to move on. The Packers have no first-round picks for two years and a messed-up roster with cap issues...why the hell would Harbaugh or any other coach want in right now?

If you take the emotion out of it, Green Bay took a risk with Parsons, and it backfired. But Gute oversold his roster, and it shows big time. None of this is fixed by a new HC alone.

GB isn't going to blow it all up to make the X and message board fans happy, and IF they do, we will be out of the playoffs more than in. Emotional decisions rarely, if ever, age well in the NFL.

[HarryDoyle]

On another note, I didn't even notice this. All the more reason to let this clown go.

 

[RobertR]

22 minutes ago, Mark6887 said:

They have not "lost the fanbase." When training camp comes, it will be packed to the gills with fans spending money on Titletown. Family day will be packed again, and opening day will sell out just like every home game. 

The fanbase might be upset or disappointed, but the coffers and stands are full. Ed Policy has very little reason to move on. The Packers have no first-round picks for two years and a messed-up roster with cap issues...why the hell would Harbaugh or any other coach want in right now?

If you take the emotion out of it, Green Bay took a risk with Parsons, and it backfired. But Gute oversold his roster, and it shows big time. None of this is fixed by a new HC alone.

GB isn't going to blow it all up to make the X and message board fans happy, and IF they do, we will be out of the playoffs more than in. Emotional decisions rarely, if ever, age well in the NFL.

Einstein's definition of insanity: "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".

 

It's not an emotional decision, it's an insane decision to not make a change. Which head coach has suddenly elevated his team to a super bowl contender after 7 seasons of disappointment? He's never going to do it in Green Bay.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

47 minutes ago, Jopal78 said:

I get it too, you’re looking for something to blame besides the talent for their failure in meeting your expectations. That’s why you’ve  criticized LaFleur as having “friends” as assistant coaches. Specifically, Bisaccia is 66 years old, he’s old enough to be LaFleur’s dad, and they’ve never worked together before 2022. Best Friends? I doubt it. 
 

What is fact is outside Sean Mannion none of the assistant coaches had worked with LaFleur before being hired in GB. Further Bisaccia when hired in ‘22 had been a special teams coach in the pros since 2002 and has a Super Bowl ring. And he almost certainly is going to get canned despite that pedigree.

If you dont like the guy, just say it. If you want to blame losses on assistant coaches, just say it. Blaming your disappointment on the HC “hiring friends” is nonsense. 

I don't have a problem with the guy. Seems like a nice, good guy and takes his health seriously. In an unrealistic world I wouldn't mind him staying on as the OC, but that doesn't happen. 

I don't think he's fit to be a HC and believe there's a mountain of evidence. I think a big chunk of HC is game management and he sucks at it. You don't always have to take everything personally. 

Btw I'm 40 and have close friends in their 70s. Coincidentally almost all of them are from my time in athletics and they were my coaches. I didn't just make that up. Those two were close friends. 

[HarryDoyle]

29 minutes ago, Mark6887 said:

They have not "lost the fanbase." When training camp comes, it will be packed to the gills with fans spending money on Titletown. Family day will be packed again, and opening day will sell out just like every home game. 

The fanbase might be upset or disappointed, but the coffers and stands are full. Ed Policy has very little reason to move on. The Packers have no first-round picks for two years and a messed-up roster with cap issues...why the hell would Harbaugh or any other coach want in right now?

If you take the emotion out of it, Green Bay took a risk with Parsons, and it backfired. But Gute oversold his roster, and it shows big time. None of this is fixed by a new HC alone.

GB isn't going to blow it all up to make the X and message board fans happy, and IF they do, we will be out of the playoffs more than in. Emotional decisions rarely, if ever, age well in the NFL.

I don't even know where to start on this, since the only thing correct in this post is the part of losing the fan base. Yes, training camp will be packed, Family night will be packed again, and home games will be sellouts again. You know what else will happen again? The fans will be left with bad taste in their mouths again come January. 

Policy has every reason to move on. The success isn't there. I would think someone from his lineage would understand that. Considering Gute is more miss than hit on first round picks, is that really a concern? He makes his hay on day 2 and 3 of the draft. The roster is hardly messed up. Is there room for improvement in some areas? Sure, but every team deals with that, and cap issues are easily worked around. People still take jobs with teams like the Jets and the Browns. Green Bay would easily be the most desired place to come. How can you possibly say the Parsons acquisition backfired? He went All Pro again this year, the team went 9-3-1 before he got hurt and failed to win a game since. Finally, this is not an emotional decision. MLFs job status has been a topic of discussion for practically the entire year. His record without Rodgers is 29-21-1. That's incredibly average, and fans hanging on to him being an elite regular season coach are missing the fact that he's not even that.

 

[OldHeidelberg]

26 minutes ago, Mark6887 said:

They have not "lost the fanbase." When training camp comes, it will be packed to the gills with fans spending money on Titletown. Family day will be packed again, and opening day will sell out just like every home game. 

The fanbase might be upset or disappointed, but the coffers and stands are full. Ed Policy has very little reason to move on. The Packers have no first-round picks for two years and a messed-up roster with cap issues...why the hell would Harbaugh or any other coach want in right now?

If you take the emotion out of it, Green Bay took a risk with Parsons, and it backfired. But Gute oversold his roster, and it shows big time. None of this is fixed by a new HC alone.

GB isn't going to blow it all up to make the X and message board fans happy, and IF they do, we will be out of the playoffs more than in. Emotional decisions rarely, if ever, age well in the NFL.

It's not just fans on twitter, take a look around, plenty of sportswriters out there questioning him too. He is 3-6 in the playoffs, hasn't gotten us to the Super Bowl, call it an overreaction to last night if you want but many of us haven't been happy with him for a while now. It's not that hard to win in the regular season if you have a good QB and he does seem to be a good OC. But he is a terrible at game management and it has been 7 years. He could probably use a fresh start somewhere else too. 

And I said he has lost the fanbase, never said anything about everyone dropping their season tickets over it.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

This "reactionary fan" stuff has merit when it's 3rd year. It's not when it's 7th season and he hasn't gotten out of the divisional without Aaron Rodgers. They haven't actually won 2 playoff games in a single season under him. 

[Recovering Chicagoan]

11 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

This "reactionary fan" stuff has merit when it's 3rd year. It's not when it's 7th season and he hasn't gotten out of the divisional without Aaron Rodgers. They haven't actually won 2 playoff games in a single season under him. 

I agree. A “change of scenery” might be good for both MLF and the Packers. Just like Harbaugh and the Ravens.