Is Matt LaFleur’s body language responsible for the Packers’ struggling against top teams? One guy writing in a primarily financial magazine thinks so!
Look, there’s one thing you should know about me and my family before we get started here, and that is the fact that my dad had a subscription to two magazines when I was growing up and kept a stack or each in our upstairs bathrooms. I know reading in the bathroom has become commonplace in the age of cellphones, but back then, it was not as common, and in truth, it was kinda gross. There’s even a Seinfeld episode about how gross it is, but let’s not dwell on the grossness and instead move back to how dad was a pioneer and thought leader when it came to reading in the bathroom.
Those two magazines were Consumer Reports and Forbes. I much preferred the former and the knowledge gained has served me well in my adult life, especially in car-buying. But sometimes you run out of Consumer Reports and have to fall back on Forbes and their Rolex ads, Cessna ads, and repeated calls for additional tax cuts. I’ve read a LOT of Forbes in my life. I probably own some kind of record for a 14-year-old who has read the most copies of Forbes.
Forbes would occasionally delve into sports back then as well, but mostly with a business angle along the lines of team and stadia valuations, which was in their wheelhouse. But this piece by Rob Reischel? This is not that. This is not in a wheelhouse. This is in whatever kinds of houses cavemen had before the wheel. Square…caves, I guess. This is in their squarecave.
This seems more in the wheelhouse of a random midnight-to-five-a.m. sports talk radio show that involves a big red button that blows a horn when pressed. This is very much not about the finance of sports, or sports analytics, or even cogent, old-timey Ken Burns-lite nostalgia along the lines of what George Will occasionally farts out on the subject of baseball. I suppose I haven’t really read a Forbes since it, and I, stopped routinely appearing in my parents’ bathroom, and so perhaps this is just a reflection of the deterioration of the conservative movement generally.
You can read the entire thing right here. It’s been a while since something so deserved the old Fire Joe Morgan treatment. Rob is in italicized bold, and my responses are not.
Packers Coach Matt LaFleur Must Start Acting Like The Adult In The Room
I am not above criticizing Matt LaFleur. There are several areas where he has struggled this season, and a few of those are even mentioned in this article, namely his lack of success on challenges. An in-depth look into those problems would be worthwhile journalism. Or instead, we could talk about his composure on the sidelines.
In all walks of life, steadiness is the one of the finest quality (sic. Off to a great start here.) a leader can have.
Ah yes, the legendary steadiness of Bobby Knight, Earl Weaver, and George S. Patton.
Whether it was George Washington’s army battling the British Empire, Phil Jackson’s constant composure on the sideline, or a spouse re-assuring their partner that everything will be fine when there’s a minor plumbing issue, calmness is king during moments of crisis.
One of the hackiest things in sports writing is excoriating a calm coach for not showing enough fire, or a fiery coach for not being calm enough. Was George Washington’s “steadiness” more important than his strategic acumen, his use of guerilla tactics, etc.? I have no idea, I’m not a Revolutionary War buff, but I do know that sometimes a steady hand works, and sometimes General Sherman burning everything to the ground is a more effective solution. Also, note that a calm demeanor is useful during a “minor” plumbing emergency, and that a “minor” plumbing emergency is NOT A MOMENT OF CRISIS, whereas a MAJOR plumbing emergency very much is, and that if you try to calm everyone down during one of those, certain family members are likely to hit you with a displaced lead pipe.
Unfortunately for the Green Bay Packers, Matt LaFleur has been like an EKG machine this season.
This metaphor works great if the EKG is hooked up to me while reading this metaphor, but EKG machines, or heartbeat monitors, just blip along with the heartbeat of the person attached! They are in many instances, quite steady! If the person dies they are incredibly steady! You’re trying to assert that Matt LaFleur has been up and down, immature, unpredictable, by comparing him to a machine that only behaves in these ways if hooked up to people who are amped up, or having heart attacks. That machine has nothing to do with it! It’s like saying Victor Wembanyama is as tall as a tape measure.
The Packers were positioned to win
Currently 11-5. Likely 12-5 when it’s all said and done.
— and win big — this year.
The playoffs still actually have to be played of course, but this will be just the 12th time since the Merger (64 total games) that the Packers have won 12 games in a season if they beat the Bears this week. If they played in any other division they likely would be winning it, and all advanced metrics have them as an upper tier team. The fact that they play in one of the strongest divisions in NFL history should probably be mentioned at some point.
And they needed an adult to be left in charge.
Matt LaFleur is literally one of the winningest coaches in NFL history. He resurrected Aaron Rodgers’ career, deftly navigated the move from one of the oldest rosters in the league to its youngest, made the playoffs twice in a row with the league’s youngest roster, and consistently draws praise from national and local media alike for his creative play calling, including three games this season in which his starting quarterback was hurt.
Instead, LaFleur’s antics have been both childish and boorish for much of the season. And while the Packers are 11-5 overall, they’re also 0-5 against the NFC’s top three teams in part due to the overly emotional LaFleur.
I cannot wait to learn about how Matt being animated on the sidelines cost the Packers against three of the very best teams in football this year. Cannot wait.
Green Bay’s 27-25 loss at Minnesota Sunday was the ultimate microcosm of LaFleur’s season.
Lay it on me.
LaFleur acted as if every play was the biggest of his life,
Oh my god! Imagine a coach valuing every play in a football game!
repeatedly fought with officials,
Oh, huh, why did he do that, I wonder? Weird behavior for sure. I hope Rob dug down into the tape of the game to figure out why?
whipped off his headset, and jumped up and down like a spoiled toddler.
OK, but like, why?
On the opposite sideline, Minnesota’s Kevin O’Connell was as poised and self-assured as a modern day ‘Cool Hand Luke.’
The winning coach wasn’t freaking out? HOW INSANE! I cannot believe the coach of the team that had everything working was cool and collected, that is news on par with dogs biting man. And again, why was Matt so bent out of shape?
LaFleur coached like he was angry at the world,
WAS HE ANGRY AT SOMETHING I WONDER? MAYBE YOU SHOULD TELL US WHY HE WAS ANGRY NOW.
and his team was tight and mistake-prone from the start. O’Connell never let anyone see him sweat, and the Vikings were the looser unit throughout.
YES, WE’VE GOT IT. MATT the SPOILED TODDLER, KEVIN as JOHN WAYNE.
Watching both coaches, it should have been no surprise Minnesota built a three-score lead before Green Bay had two touchdowns in the final 6 minutes to make the final score more respectable.
I’ll BET THE CALMER COACH WAS IN THE LEAD AND THAT’S WHY HE WAS CALMER, WHY WON’T YOU TELL US WHY MATT WAS MAD? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?
YOU SEE HOW I’M TYPING IN ALL CAPS RIGHT NOW AND HAVE BEEN FOR THE LAST THREE PARAGRAPHS? IT’S NOT BECAUSE I’M JUST IMMATURE AND ANGRY FOR NO REASON, IT’S BECAUSE I’M READING THE DECEPTIVE DRIVEL THAT YOU HAVE WRITTEN THAT COMPLETELY IGNORES THAT BIG QUESTION AS TO THE CAUSE OF MATT LAFLEUR’S BEHAVIOR! DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW THIS WORKS?
Afterwards, Wisconsin radio personality Mark Tauscher — who won a Super Bowl with the Packers in 2010 — was as tough on LaFleur as the Lions, Vikings and Eagles have been this year.
“I thought Kevin O’Connell ate LaFleur’s lunch today,” Tauscher said. “I love his passion … I just feel like he lets his emotions get the better of him too many times.”
Here, I will return to a normal tone of voice to mention that I have nothing but respect for O’Connell. He’s one of the best coaches in the league and he called a great game. However, I personally would have mentioned Brian Flores’ excellent work calling the defense and changing from a zone-heavy scheme during their first meeting back to his traditional man-heavy blitzing defense. But yeah, O’Connell is good.
Now, back to Matt LaFleur being mad at (MYSTERY).
“Players want to see calmness. You want to see a coach go crazy from time to time, but you can’t be every third down that doesn’t happen, or every penalty. It can’t be every time something bad happens, there’s a blank storm. There’s got to be some kind of, ‘It’s alright, everything is alright. We’re going to handle this.’
Oh! Were there some penalties that made Matt angry? Some poor execution on third and fourth down? Well, it sounds like they weren’t that bad since you’re sort of glossing over them.
“Don’t make everything to be the biggest thing in the world. You got to let stuff roll off your back. Is (Kansas City’s) Andy Reid freaking out every time there is a penalty on a Chief or when they don’t covert a fourth and three? No, he’s not. You’re the trend setter of this group. You have to be relaxed.”
So, first, every coach in the league reacts to poor play and calls, including Andy Reid.
And second, if, hypothetically, my team is on the receiving end of some poor calls, the officials are going to hear about it from me, because I do not want those calls to repeat themselves throughout the game.
Relaxed?
From Day 1 this year, LaFleur has acted like a man that downed a pot of coffee and followed it with a few Red Bulls.
LaFleur has always coached with great passion. It’s one of his redeeming qualities.
This year, though, his emotion has often trumped logic — which only leads to damaging outcomes.
Why
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And also, let’s back up a bit since I’ve now calmed down from not being told why Matt was so mad last game despite being a million paragraphs (since sentences are paragraphs now) into this thing. Is it even true that LaFleur is an unusually emotional coach? One thing I like to see in my reporting is evidence, and I personally have never really considered ol’ Matt to be on the emotional side of NFL coaches. Maybe I’m wrong! But if I am, a few examples from not last week would be useful to show this.
During a Week 4 loss to Minnesota at Lambeau Field, LaFleur wanted a timeout, the officials didn’t see him and he went irate. The result was a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty for his juvenile antics.
Hey! A reason! That’s right, Matt was trying to call a timeout and the officials ignored him, and then penalized him when he actually got their attention. I, personally, am glad he was paying attention to the clock. Fun fact! The Packers scored a touchdown on a 15-yard pass to Jayden Reed immediately after this, and so it didn’t hurt them.
“I’m absolutely embarrassed that I got an unsportsmanlike (conduct penalty),” LaFleur said that day. “When you expect composure from your team and then you’re doing that, that’s a bad look. I think we all can be better, myself No. 1 at the forefront of that. This is a humbling league at times.”
You know what I like? I like when leaders take responsibility for their mistakes publicly.
During Green Bay’s 34-31 loss at Detroit on Dec. 5, LaFleur got into a verbal altercation with a Detroit Lions fan before the game.
The fan was on the field to hold the flag for the national anthem, when he and LaFleur engaged in a lengthy, heated verbal battle.
“He was talking junk to our players, giving them the throat-slash sign, you know,” LaFleur said. “You’re trying to de-escalate it, and then he gets in my face.”
Since we’re leaving out important facts about events that took place (checks journalism handbook – sees that reporting events that took place is the actual job – sighs – returns to Fire Joe Morgan-style column), maybe we should mention this piece of reporting on the event, from Tom Dierberger’s post in Sports Illustrated, which you can read here:
This next quote is from Tom, not Rob, which you can tell because there is no (sic) in the first two sentences.
During the pregame festivities, a Lions fan taking part in an event on the field walked up to the Packers’ sideline to talk smack. LaFleur yelled at him to go away, and his players stepped in to back up their coach.
So this fan, a man named Fahad Yousif, of Farmington Hills, Michigan, approached the Packer sideline. In my humble opinion, if a fan is on the field and starts approaching the team on the sideline and talking smack, that fan is in danger. Reischel (Not Tom) goes onto say:
The thing is LaFleur didn’t de-escalate it. He made it worse.
But Dierberger (That’s Tom, not Rob) reported that:
LaFleur yelled at him to go away, and his players stepped in to back up their coach.
Wait, what’s that again?
and his players stepped in to back up their coach.
Oh. Huh. Hey. Look at that.
In my reading of Reischel’s portrayal of this event, it seems like LaFleur was more of an instigator, that he just should have ignored this yahoo, and I’d agree with that if the guy was in the stands, or even across the field. But surely physical proximity matters here, does it not? Some idiot walking over to the Packers is at risk from the players themselves, who also probably expected security to step in? As Dierberger wrote:
“I’ve never been a part of something like that,” LaFleur said after the game. “He was talking junk to our players, giving them the ‘throat-slash’ sign. And you know, you’re trying to deescalate it and then he gets in my face. I thought it was pretty unsportsmanlike. I’ve never seen that. I’ve been on many fields and usually they police that much better.
This was, fundamentally, a security issue in which Lions security failed. By making himself the focal point of the interaction, LaFleur insured none of his players would get in trouble, or get suspended, and also, importantly, that the fan would not get hurt. Anyway, back to “Forbes Sports Journalism.”
No one will ever remember the knucklehead fan who started the fight. They’ll remember that LaFleur — a man with far more to lose — allowed himself to get sucked into the shenanigans.
I’ll be honest, I had forgotten about this entirely until you brought it up. But I get your point, that LaFleur should be calm and collected like Detroit Lion coach Dan Campbell, who is practically Buddha on the sidelines, never gets angry at poor officiating, and never gets excited when his players fight in practice to display their competitiveness, and doesn’t look like this after angrily removing his headset.
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
It was a bad look for both LaFleur and the Packers.
Here is a list of people that this is a bad look for, in order:
1. The actual guy
2. Ford Field Security
3. The Lions
4. Rob Reischel
…
276. Matt LaFleur
277. The Green Bay Packers
And perhaps the greatest example of emotion trumping logic has come on challenge plays. LaFleur has thrown his red flag six times this year to challenge plays, and is 0-6 on those. He’s 1-12 in his last 13 challenges dating to 2023.
It’s in stark contrast to the man who went 5-for-5 challenging plays during his first season as coach in 2019.
“I’m gonna worry about winning games, and then we’ll worry about getting the challenges right,” an irritated LaFleur said after losing his latest challenge in Seattle on Dec. 15. “How about that?”
Hey, an actual good point! A dog’s ass finds a nut every now and then, as the saying goes.
LaFleur has definitely struggled on challenges recently after starting off with those five in a row, and I too would love to know why. I’d love to know if something has changed regarding the speed they get replays in the booth, or if the analytics department is considering the leverage of the play more than they used to, and so is comfortable taking lower percentage chances on higher impact plays, of if Lafleur feels going with his gut is motivating for the players who feel they were wronged by the call, whether he wins them or not. Those would all be great questions to ask when given the opportunity!
Hopefully someone asks him at some point, and doesn’t just talk to some anonymous AFC Scout.
An AFC scout told me Monday that LaFleur is coaching “differently” this year.
Reminder that this is one of the most efficient teams in football that will likely finish the season with enough wins to have won four of the six divisions. They have a much-improved defense after LaFleur moved on from Joe Barry, they have a much better special teams unit, and they command one of the best offenses in the league. That is pretty different from last year!
“He looks like he’s an angry teenager who’s (ticked) off at the world,” the scout said.
Hey guys, the AFC Scout, who is, as an AFC Scout, not a member of the Packer organization, thinks that Matt LaFleur “looks like an angry teenager.” This is truly groundbreaking stuff that only the insider-iest of insiders would be privy to. If there is one thing I rely on leaks from other teams to confirm for me, it’s how the coach of the team I ostensibly cover “looks.”
Now, if Matt LaFleur secretly looked like a lizard person, that would be news! But of course, Aaron Rodgers would have told us all about that.
That was certainly the case in Green Bay’s loss at Minnesota Sunday. Television directors have realized that LaFleur is “gold” in their business, and immediately focus on him when things go wrong for Green Bay.
LaFleur gave them plenty of material Sunday.
Oh, hey, did we ever get to WHY Matt was all honked off in the Minnesota game? This article is almost finished! You’re running out of time!
Also, TV networks never flash the camera over to any other coaches when poor calls are made or when their teams perform poorly since most other coaches are Calvin Coolidge on the sidelines.
When the Packers failed to convert an early fourth-and-2, LaFleur grimaced like he’d been shot and whipped off his headset.
“Hey Paul, did you see Matt’s reaction to Jayden Reed’s drop on fourth down?”
Yeah, I’d say he grimaced a bit (takes another bite of Big Mac).
“Oh, that doesn’t sound so bad.”
Oh, yeah, no, sorry, he grimaced LIKE HE’D BEEN SHOT! Perhaps by the Hamburglar.
I’m…I’m so sorry for that joke. It’s just that I truly believe that this may be the first time in the history of the written word that an author referred to the reaction to being shot as grimacing. Aside from all of that, a coach being mad because an incredibly high leverage play failed due to yet another drop is TOTALLY NORMAL BEHAVIOR. It is incredibly aggravating to see a well-designed play succeed only to be undone by a basic lapse in concentration that has plagued the team all season! And if you want to blame LaFleur for drops, or the lack of progress on drops, fine I guess? But I personally don’t believe the drops have any relation to Matt acting like an angry teenager per an anonymous AFC Scout.
Shortly before halftime, LaFleur berated down judge Mike Carr
Oh, here we go. Thought we’d never get here.
for more than a minute after Edgerrin Cooper lined up off sides on a field goal. Eventually, Packers Vice President of Security Doug Collins had to pull LaFleur away from Carr.
One thing we here at Acme Packing Company Dot Com pride ourselves on is getting the story right, even if it means crediting our friends over at Cheesehead TV, who posted this to X, the Everything Except Twitter App,
— CheeseheadTV (@cheeseheadtv) December 29, 2024
Please note that Reischel, or Forbes anyway, updated this piece on New Year’s Eve, long after the All-22 film was available to yokels like me, and long after everyone on the internet pointed out that Edgerrin Cooper was not in fact offsides, that this was a bad call, and to add further context that may excuse Matt’s grimacing, that the same official screwed up an illegal formation call on Dontayvion Wicks one drive earlier, turning a third and one into a third and five.
I personally would have mentioned these things in a post about a coach “overreacting” to the circumstances of a game. I also would have mentioned it up at the top of the article and not way down here where everyone has stopped reading and flipped to the latest article on mega yacht financing in the new year.
It also seems important to note that in quick succession, the same official cost the Packers like eight points of EPA. According to an anonymous AFC Scout, when the offsides call was made, I acted like a toddler who just had his favorite blanket taken away and started hurling random objects at or near the TV.
At halftime, LaFleur — lacking any self-awareness — told FOX sideline reporter Erin Andrews, “We are playing tight and we need to loosen up.”
The real story here is that a writer for FORBES MAGAZINE seems to earnestly believe that a quote given by a coach running into the locker room at halftime is indicative of anything at all. Coaches have like five canned quotes for this situation and “playing tight” is definitely one of them. But I’m sure the players are all playing tight because of Matt grimacing at offsides calls though.
Hmmm. I wonder why?
I wonder why I’m still reading this.
LaFleur continued to coach tight, screaming at the side judge after an illegal formation penalty on Zach Tom and hollering into his headset during another failed drive.
Is this what people think coaching tight is? I actually think LaFleur often opens games coaching tight, meaning coaching conservatively with a bit too much run game and too few passes, before opening up in the second half. I’ve never considered a coach yelling as synonymous with tight coaching. Ever.
With the Packers trying to mount a comeback, LaFleur was borderline panicky, jumping up and down multiple times before a late touchdown pass to Malik Heath. Finally, LaFleur tossed his arms up in disgust after Minnesota converted a game-clinching, third down pass to running back Cam Akers.
These are all, again, completely normal human behaviors at huge points in the game.
Afterwards, LaFleur sang a familiar song, saying: “I gotta be better and we gotta get better.”
Vapid coach-speak 101.
The thing is, Green Bay continues to get beat up by NFC elites Detroit, Minnesota and Philadelphia. And LaFleur is a big reason for those failures.
Look, it’s not great going 0-5 against the NFC cream of the crop for sure, but it’s worth noting that all three teams are VERY good, and that the Philly game was a bizarre game played on terrible turf in Brazil. Also, the first Minnesota game was Love’s first game back from injury, he was clearly impacted by it, and Brayden Narveson was still the kicker and missed two field goals. Also, one-score games are historically just coin flips, and four out of five of these games were one-score games. LaFleur certainly made mistakes, but the Packers also could have won most of these with just a little luck, like, for example, an official not calling phantom offsides/procedure penalties.
The Packers take their cues from the man in charge, and with LaFleur on pins and needles in Green Bay’s biggest games, his team has played tight end tense. If it doesn’t change, the Packers’ trip to the postseason will be brief.
“In the grand scheme, if you are aggressive and you’re playing loose today, and you get beat, you can live with it,” said Tauscher, the former Packer. “You played a really tight first half, and I think Matt LaFleur and the way he approached it was a big part of that.
The Packers may indeed have a brief trip in the post-season, but maybe not! And if they do, the reason will have far more to do with a historically outstanding NFC featuring as many as five teams with 12+ wins, including the Packers. But no, it’s not going to be the excellent competition provided by the Eagles, Vikings and Lions, it’s because of too much panicky jumping. And grimacing.
“I think Matt LaFleur, I would really love to see him level out and be more even keeled during a game, and be selective with his outbursts, rather than every time the camera pans over, it looks like somebody stole his dog.”
Analysts who spend their time reading body language are history’s greatest monsters.
Leaders provide stability in times of crisis.
11-5, probably 12-5 when it’s all said and done. In the playoffs with the youngest roster in football. CRISIS!
They’re calm, composed, courageous.
Perhaps LaFleur should add that to his play sheet before it’s too late.
According to this issue of Consumer Reports I keep in the bathroom, Forbes is no longer a reliable fluffer of wannabe rich conservatives and has instead become a sub-Barstool purveyor of talk-radio-level non-insights into America’s favorite sport. I think I’ll pass.