LaFleur’s saving grace is his high floor. First, he is money with QBs, and this is indisputable. Matt Ryan, Rodgers, and now Love and even Malik Willis have been the best versions of themselves under his tutelage. Knowing every year you will get maximized QB play from QB1 and even QB2 is worth its weight in gold, because the opposite of that is the fastest way to become the Jets or the Browns.
He never seems to lose the locker room, and the message doesn’t seem to get stale. But he’s being tested on that now. And his in-game foibles have been hashed enough and I won’t deny them.
The question is, does Policy have anyone who he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that can come in and either reset practically the entire coaching staff amidst a title window for the next two years and get a better shot with Love and Parsons than MLF gives you? Or, can you trust Hafley to captain this ship and find a wunderkind OC to continue Love’s maturation? If Policy isn’t absolutely certain about either prospect, pulling the ripcord on LaFleur now is basically malpractice.
I don’t love this situation, but it is the reality. And I think you can still say he’s definitely a top 10 HC overall, and probably top 5 on his best day. Can he be that guy at least one time when it counts? Who knows. Not even Kyle Shanahan can claim as much for all the plaudits he gets.