Despite showing a little fight in the second half, the Green Bay Packers fell to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night Football, extending their losing streak to four games in a row.
The offense showed promise and took a step forward. However, the defense couldn’t withstand the sheer awesomeness of Josh Allen and crew. It was good to see the team fight until the bitter end for once, and the offense finally showed some identity. Still, the Packers are simply a mediocre team until further notice.
This is still a squad with an outstanding head coach, a future Hall of Fame quarterback, and talented pieces across the roster. But they may have too many flaws to contend in January. I won’t throw in the towel just yet. Stranger things have happened, and a team can get hot at the right time. But this is a flawed group, and those flaws start at the top. Although he’s an overall excellent head coach, Matt LaFleur has shown a weakness in hiring his coordinators, and we’re seeing the results of a flawed process in action this season.
When he first arrived in Green Bay, LaFleur chose to retain defensive coordinator Mike Pettine from the Mike McCarthy era and brought in former Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and special teams coach Shawn Mennenga.
Pettine had head coaching experience from his time with the Cleveland Browns. Therefore, he was helpful in assisting the rookie head coach while maintaining defensive continuity. Still, it was clear the game had moved past him. Pettine’s defense cost the Packers some big games. Like most special teams coordinators in Green Bay, Mennenga was uninspiring. The Packers replaced both coaches following the 2020 season.
On the special teams side, LaFleur curiously chose to promote internally from Mennenga’s staff and gave Maurice Drayton the job. LaFleur seemed to think the talent was there, and the only change needed was at the top. Despite some good speeches and agreeable philosophies, Drayton wasn’t the answer. His unit cost the Packers a deep playoff run.
Drayton’s historically lousy performance led to a drastic change in philosophy regarding special teams, leading to LaFleur hiring respected guru Rich Bisaccia. Thus far, Bisaccia’s unit has had its ups and downs. But the former interim head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders is the best coordinator on the team.
LaFleur hired Los Angeles Rams linebackers coach Joe Barry to take over for Pettine after University of Wisconsin defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard turned down the job. While Barry’s previous track record as a defensive coordinator was less than stellar, LaFleur was familiar with him from his time in Los Angeles and his relationship with Sean McVay. Barry also kept most of the Packers’ defensive coaching staff intact. Once again, LaFleur thought he had the talent he needed and just required a competent leader.
As much as Barry seems like a great person with good energy, and you’d like to root for a guy to learn from the past and evolve, his unit has been a massive disappointment this season. The Packers have invested far too much free-agent money and draft capital in the defense to be this inconsistent.
Barry has shown some willingness to adapt, playing more man coverage, blitzing more, and being slightly more aggressive. And it certainly doesn’t help that the offense can’t stay on the field, leading to exhausted defenders. But the players also need to execute, which they haven’t been doing.
The defense is playing sloppy football. It can’t tackle, it doesn’t stop the run, and it doesn’t finish plays. It’s baffling why Jaire Alexander, the league’s highest-paid corner, isn’t shadowing No. 1 receivers every week. The Packers can never get a complete performance from the group, despite having enough talent to be viewed nationally as a top-five defense entering the season.
LaFleur had plenty of time to research coordinators, and the Packers were one of the last teams with an opening to fill that spot. Instead of branching out, he hired a re-tread he had personal familiarity with. Someone who wasn’t offered the promotion with their own team. Meanwhile, his third-choice option, Ejiro Evero, is excelling in Denver.
Offensively, Hackett was a slam-dunk hire for the Packers. He brought energy and creativity to LaFleur’s system, and working in a different offensive scheme helped him add different elements to LaFleur’s playbook. Hackett was a driving force behind the team’s offensive success, and it’s not surprising he earned a head coaching opportunity.
With the Chicago Bears set to hire quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy as their offensive coordinator and Hackett wanting to bring offensive line coach Adam Stenavich with him to Denver, it made sense for LaFleur to promote Stenavich to OC instead. Stenavich had done an admirable job keeping the offensive line intact through constant injuries in 2021, and it would maintain continuity in a strong offense. It seemed like a great idea at the time!
But, in hindsight, perhaps LaFleur should have looked outside the organization to find his new right-hand man. The Packers were always going to need to adapt after losing Davante Adams. But even with the lack of weapons at wide receiver, the offense shouldn’t stink this much. And the offensive line, Stenavich’s specialty, hasn’t been spectacular. It’s too early to give up on Steno, but it’s fair to wonder if LaFleur shouldn’t have gone outside his comfort zone and found an outsider with a different perspective that could push LaFleur and Rodgers to try new things.
While his friends Sean McVay and Kyle Shanahan have hired outside their organizations to evolve, LaFleur has mostly stuck to who he knows. This nepotism has cost the Packers multiple games and a chance to evolve. Massive shakeups aren’t guaranteed to fix things, and continuity is good, but LaFleur’s poor hiring decisions are costing Green Bay winning football. By attacking symptoms instead of causes, the team has become a stagnant and mediocre mess.
It isn’t too late for the Packers to make a push, but LaFleur’s hiring tendencies have cost the team some big chances in his short head coaching career. It’s fair to wonder if the 2023 Packers have new coordinators on offense and defense. If so, LaFleur needs to learn from the past and change his process.
