There were rumors earlier this season that Green Bay Packers’ Matt LaFleur could be his coach. If that’s the case, last weekend’s crushing loss to the Chicago Bears may hasten that decision.
But the Packers won’t let one game — or five straight losses — derail what has been a great run under LaFleur. The team agreed to a multi-year contract extension on Saturday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported. The team also reportedly extended general manager Brian Gutekunst’s contract.
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LaFleur, 46, played seven seasons with the Packers and compiled a 76-40-1 record. He led the team to the playoffs in six of those seasons. But the Packers have struggled to make deep playoff runs in this period. The team is just 3-6 in the playoffs since LaFleur took over, sparking some rumors that LaFleur could be fired if the Packers lose to the Bears in the wild-card round.
For much of the game, that doesn’t appear to be the case. The Packers led Chicago 21-9 with about 13 minutes left in the game, but then gave up the lead, allowing Chicago to score three consecutive offensive touchdowns. This marked the second time in just a few weeks that the Packers had lost in the fourth quarter to the Bears.
Even though LaFleur had one year left on his contract, the Packers elected to re-sign him — significantly less than many of his peers. The team could have allowed LaFleur to continue coaching through 2026 without renewing his contract, but that could have had a negative impact. LaFleur’s contract situation could become a distraction and his voice could lose authority in the locker room as players know there’s a chance he’ll be out of a job at the end of the 2026 season.
The Packers addressed those issues by extending LaFleur’s contract, ensuring he doesn’t enter the final year of his last contract as a lame-duck head coach.
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The Matt LaFleur era gets off to a good start, but there are some cracks
LaFleur was hired in 2019 and his tenure got off to a hot start, with Aaron Rodgers winning two MVPs and Green Bay winning 13 games in each of LaFleur’s first three seasons, the most by a coach in NFL history. But as Yahoo Sports’ Charles Robinson recently detailed, LaFleur is just 37-30-1 over the past four seasons, a mark he gained from a Hall of Fame quarterback late in his prime years.
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In July 2024, Jordan Love developed well enough under LaFleur to earn a record contract extension. The following season, the Packers beat just about everyone they were supposed to beat, finishing 0-6 overall with wins over the top-seeded Detroit Lions, 14-win Minnesota Vikings and eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.
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Then last summer, the Packers moved their chips into the middle of the standings, selling two first-round picks to the Dallas Cowboys for elite pass rusher Micah Parsons. Parsons was injured late in the season, and Tucker Craft and others suffered season-ending injuries, causing Green Bay to lose its final four regular-season games and then the wild-card game against the Bears.
But as Robinson wrote, it also raised questions about LaFleur’s ability to overcome adversity. After losing Parsons, the Packers failed to win a game, and the team’s already excellent defense also declined significantly. In the five-game losing streak at the end of the season, the Packers allowed at least 30 points three times.
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Although reports emerged shortly after the team’s playoff loss that the Packers wanted to keep LaFleur, there was no guarantee a deal could be reached. LaFleur faces a tough negotiation with the Packers because his contract is less than the contracts of three other coaches in the NFC North and even less than the contracts of three first-time head coaches this season. The Packers ultimately sided with their coach, believing in his ability to push them back into Super Bowl contention.
However, with the team imploding this season, LaFleur’s Packers will almost certainly face more pressure to start making a deep run in the playoffs. Otherwise, he may find himself the subject of more job rumors sooner than expected once his new contract comes into effect.
