Packers football leadership poll

[Jopal78]

5 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Meh. It's so low energy to just look at W/L on some eternally crappy team and think a guy can't coach because of that. The Ravens owner gave a very transparent presser after firing Harbaugh in which he went on a tangent explaining exactly this as it relates to their coaching search. He was asked what would exclude a candidate and ended up saying he didn't know but that a losing record won't exclude someone. 

He is specifically paying extra attention to guys who were hot candidates in their cycle, but maybe landed with a difficult job where they didn't end up winning. His point was that he doesn't think Baltimore is a difficult job, he thinks it's the best job, and might be a better fit for those candidates. I think GB would be similar. 

Flores is a defensive minded coach and he did take Miami from 32nd to 6th from year 1 to year 2.  

They were 5-11, 10-6, and 9-8 with Tua and Ryan Fitzpatrick. 

I don't think that's enough of a shake to know whether or not he can be an effective HC. 

But here is the real kicker for me. Every Packers hire I have lived through besides Mike Sherman was done with the intent that the QB had to developed. 

Holmgren, McCarthy, LaFleur. That's not a pressing need. I would love to flip the script and get a HC whose emphasis is defense and details.

You may be misremembering: Rodgers was 35 and had 2 MVPs and a Super Bowl ring when LaFleur was hired. McCarthy had 37 year old Favre for his first couple seasons. When Holmgren was hired Favre was not yet on the roster. 

To your point, 

It’s a QB driven league. When the coach designed the system, and is successful, it stays intact instead of the QB having to learn new systems, terminology etc. the moment a successful OC moves on.  A defensive minded coach has to delegate the most important asset on the team to someone else. 

[HarryDoyle]

On 1/16/2026 at 7:25 AM, GAME05 said:

The Packers have always wanted stability, so losing both MlF and Hafley would be the last thing they'd want. But if there's any thought to promoting Hafley, they better hurry up. 

Could Jim Leonhard be our next DC?

Hire from within? No thanks. I just don't see Hafley as a successful head coach in the NFL.

[OldHeidelberg]

Schefter now reporting deal to extend MLF and Gutes expected to be completed. We can only hope it is a 2 year deal for LeFleur. 😡

[OldSchoolSnapper]

1 hour ago, OldHeidelberg said:

Schefter now reporting deal to extend MLF and Gutes expected to be completed. We can only hope it is a 2 year deal for LeFleur. 😡

Yeah. Pretty much knew this was coming but still so disappointing. Can't wait for at least 3 more years of botched timeouts, blown leads, dumb, emotional challenges. 

Oh what fun. It honestly feels pointless to follow them next year unless you just like watching without any attachment. 

[adambr2]

Just so textbook “Packer Way” to just stay the course on everything.out of fear of change. It’s a “good old boys” club in Green Bay where as long as you have at least one positive thing to point to, you can somehow word salad your way into telling us everyone is doing a good job. Hell, they are so far gone that they are publicly trying to sell us on Rich Bisaccia, who would have received his pink slip in 31 of 32 other organizations by now if their teams were also done.

The bar is competence, not greatness.

Easy optimistic prediction for next season: the Packers go 10-7 and don’t win the division. They get into the playoffs and actually win a playoff game before losing by 13 in the Divisional Round.

Then Policy, Gute, and MLF have a nice steak dinner out and toast to their improvement.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

16 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

Just so textbook “Packer Way” to just stay the course on everything.out of fear of change. It’s a “good old boys” club in Green Bay where as long as you have at least one positive thing to point to, you can somehow word salad your way into telling us everyone is doing a good job. Hell, they are so far gone that they are publicly trying to sell us on Rich Bisaccia, who would have received his pink slip in 31 of 32 other organizations by now if their teams were also done.

The bar is competence, not greatness.

Easy optimistic prediction for next season: the Packers go 10-7 and don’t win the division. They get into the playoffs and actually win a playoff game before losing by 13 in the Divisional Round.

Then Policy, Gute, and MLF have a nice steak dinner out and toast to their improvement.

You left out half the fans lamenting how it all would have been different if this guy had caught this one pass, so really we know the next year is our year. 

[HarryDoyle]

And so it begins. Or should I say ends.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

I look forward to Policy at the lectern looking back at these extensions and the results and letting us know:

"That's on me."

 

[HarryDoyle]

Our first step back to the 80s.

[Joseph Zarr]

In all seriousness, I personally don't find anything to complain about now that this is done. Whatever. Would I have liked a different direction? Probably. Do I understand this decision? Yes. They have essentially a three year window with their core. McManus absolutely crapping the bed matters. As do the mental mistakes of many a player (who likely won't be there next season). We'll see how serious they are in terms of how they approach constructing this year's staff. Hafley is obviously gone. There are several very solid candidates to replace him. Got to get a plus LB coach in the building. Have to address how the org values ST's units (I found Mosqueda's article here quite eye opening - ie Bisaccia is nowhere near as bad as some of us think and the org apparently loves him) Have to address the secondary and O-Line issues. Have to address the dead wight on the roster - some hard cuts will likely have to be made. Anywho, this was the predictable outcome. I don't have any expectations really but this always felt like the direction they'd go.

[HarveysWBs]

Now that it’s a done deal, and appears Hafley is moving on, I had a theoretical question occur to me. While I know that the Packers will in all likelihood anoint Covington as DC because that’s what we do, but in theory, what if they wanted, say, Saleh? Because DC to DC is a lateral move, San Francisco would surely block it, and Saleh himself might not even be interested. But if they offered the assistant head coach title along with it, would that free Saleh to pursue the job then? Can a team have more than one “assistant head coach” (Rich B currently holds that title)?

This is all strictly academic, but I haven’t seen any specific wording about such a situation.

[JosephC]

I don't see this as a disaster, just a bit of a disappointment.  LaFleur (and Gutekunst) have been around long enough where it's a very safe bet that they won't do to the Packer organization what McIntosh and Fickell have done to the Badger football program.  I just see 9-8 seasons going forward.  And if they do really well and finish 12-5, it probably means they choke and get knocked out in the first playoff game.  At least this decision won't turn them into the Browns or Jets.

[Joseph Zarr]

33 minutes ago, HarveysWBs said:

Now that it’s a done deal, and appears Hafley is moving on, I had a theoretical question occur to me. While I know that the Packers will in all likelihood anoint Covington as DC because that’s what we do, but in theory, what if they wanted, say, Saleh? Because DC to DC is a lateral move, San Francisco would surely block it, and Saleh himself might not even be interested. But if they offered the assistant head coach title along with it, would that free Saleh to pursue the job then? Can a team have more than one “assistant head coach” (Rich B currently holds that title)?

This is all strictly academic, but I haven’t seen any specific wording about such a situation.

I think the leading candidate, as I see it, is Raheem Morris. And, that would be a very good hire on multiple fronts. He's a consistent leader in DVOA with his units. He has improved units everywhere he has coached. AND, I think he also sticks around for a bit because there really isn't all that much shine left on his HC resume. Just my two cents. 

[JosephC]

8 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I think the leading candidate, as I see it, is Raheem Morris. And, that would be a very good hire on multiple fronts. He's a consistent leader in DVOA with his units. He has improved units everywhere he has coached. AND, I think he also sticks around for a bit because there really isn't all that much shine left on his HC resume. Just my two cents. 

Morris is a good guess.  If the Falcon's new coach fires Jeff Ulbrich, then I will guess Ulbrich.  He was the Falcons linebacker coach when LaFleur was there, and we know how NFL head coaches love to hire guys they worked with in the past.

[yourout]

2 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

I look forward to Policy at the lectern looking back at these extensions and the results and letting us know:

"That's on me."

 

If it goes south then Policy needs to go with it. 

[Mark6887]

Follow up on the contract extension from the Athletic :

Quote

Policy told reporters last summer that he wasn’t extending LaFleur and Gutekunst with two seasons remaining on their contracts, but that decision was based more on how the organization operates than a disappointment in how the head coach/GM pair had performed. According to a league source, Policy felt “very good” about both LaFleur and Gutekunst staying in Green Bay long term last summer but wanted to remain open-minded until he had to make a decision after the 2025 season.

 

The source said it was possible Policy could have changed his mind on the futures of LaFleur and Gutekunst over the course of the season, but that it would’ve taken something “very significant” to do so. In the week since the Packers’ season ended, Policy didn’t spend much time considering whether to offer LaFleur an extension — his mind appeared to have already been made up — and instead worked with LaFleur, Gutekunst and vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball both individually and collectively to ensure everyone was aligned and wanted to be in Green Bay.

 

The Packers are also keeping their same organizational structure of LaFleur, Gutekunst and Ball reporting directly to Policy. The first-year team president paid close attention to how those three communicated among each other this year, even about difficult subjects, and decided that changing the structure with the same people would present more risk. In their recent meetings, Policy didn’t mandate LaFleur make changes with his staff, and a source said neither Gutekunst nor Ball would, either.

 

The Packers appeared on track for the potential No. 1 seed in the NFC before defensive end Micah Parsons tore his ACL in Week 15 against the Denver Broncos. Parsons was still named a first-team All-Pro by The Associated Press despite missing the final three games. The Packers also lost standout tight end Tucker Kraft to a torn ACL in Week 9, and several other key players missed multiple games with injuries, including quarterback Jordan Love, wide receiver Christian Watson, wide receiver Jayden Reed, center Elgton Jenkins and right tackle Zach Tom.

 

With LaFleur in place for the foreseeable future, he must determine whether changes are needed on his coaching staff to get the Packers over the proverbial playoff hump. LaFleur also said Sunday that he anticipates defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley will get a head-coaching job this offseason. If that happens, the Packers will have a contingency plan for the defensive coordinator.

 

[yourout]

Now that we are stuck with MLF for another season I think it's up to Green Bay and Brown county to build a massive data center with AI that will give him live coaching advice on the sidelines. Call it chat MLF.

I could see him ask it "should call a timeout?"  and the AI would go no you dumbass

 

Then he could ask the AI ... Should i challenge that play and the AI would go.... Are you completely blind?

[Samurai Bucky]

On 1/17/2026 at 2:37 PM, OldSchoolSnapper said:

You left out half the fans lamenting how it all would have been different if this guy had caught this one pass, so really we know the next year is our year. 

During the onsides kick against the Bears, I figured Packers wouldn't recover if they had a guy with the oversized helmet on.  You know... to take from the "boinking" against Seattle.

As a side note, every time I see those helmets, I have this strange urge to play the Wii.  Maybe it is because those helmets make players look like Mii avatars.

[kestrel79]

16 hours ago, yourout said:

Now that we are stuck with MLF for another season I think it's up to Green Bay and Brown county to build a massive data center with AI that will give him live coaching advice on the sidelines. Call it chat MLF.

I could see him ask it "should call a timeout?"  and the AI would go no you dumbass

 

Then he could ask the AI ... Should i challenge that play and the AI would go.... Are you completely blind?

He could also start a Madden Franchise mode. It really does teach good clock management.

[Joseph Zarr]

On 1/17/2026 at 6:35 PM, JosephC said:

Morris is a good guess.  If the Falcon's new coach fires Jeff Ulbrich, then I will guess Ulbrich.  He was the Falcons linebacker coach when LaFleur was there, and we know how NFL head coaches love to hire guys they worked with in the past.

Off the board and staying in Hotlanta.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The only thing missing to complete the disappointment will be when we replace Hafley with our secondary coach or something. 

[Joseph Zarr]

5 minutes ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

The only thing missing to complete the disappointment will be when we replace Hafley with our secondary coach or something. 

Captain Continuity will find you in your sleep!

[Samurai Bucky]

3 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

The only thing missing to complete the disappointment will be when we replace Hafley with our secondary coach or something. 

I'd be willing to take a flier on Jimmy Leonhard.

[HarveysWBs]

Now that Hafley looks like he’s definitely gone, this is the biggest moment of the offseason.

I was going to say MLF is about to make one of the biggest decisions of his career now, as this DC selection could make or break things. However, I’m not convinced that he would get to choose whoever he really wants, since the sentiment out there is that we are very reticent to pay top dollar on assistants.

As usual, I’m trying not to get my hopes up for a big swing here. We’ll get Covington or Ansley and have to like it.

[JosephC]

I'm with Joseph Zarr on the defensive coordinator.  Now with Ulbrich off the board, I'd put my money on Raheem Morris.