Green Bay Packers have decision to make on Matt LaFleur

With Saturday night's stunning collapse to the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers under Matt LaFleur have become the NFC's answer to what the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens are in the AFC: they're almost always in the playoffs, but rarely do anything once there.

In seven seasons, LaFleur is 70-46-1 in the regular season with six playoff appearances, but just a 3-6 record once there. Green Bay won 13 games and the NFC North from 2019-21 and reached the NFC Championship in 2019-20, but the trajectory changed after '21. LaFleur went 8-9 and missed the playoffs in 2022, and has made the playoffs in the past three seasons -- but as the No. 7 seed all three times. Green Bay upset Dallas in the Wild Card round in 2023, but went one-and-done each of the past two seasons.

And now with one year left on his contract, Green Bay president Ed Policy (son of Carmen) must now decide whether to extend LaFleur and GM Brian Gutekunst, allow them to coach and/or general manage under lame-duck status in 2026, or to cut one or both of them loose.

Appearing on ESPN's NFL Countdown on Sunday, Adam Schefter presented an interesting possibility: the Packers firing LaFleur, then cutting in line to hire John Harbaugh.

As Schefter explains, Harbaugh is represented by Bryan Harlan, son of Packers chairman emeritus Bob Harlan. Bob Harlan is now 89 and clearly not calling the shots any longer, but he was with the organization on a full-time basis from 1971-08 and ran the team as president from 1989-08.

It's not clear if Schefter is reporting of the Packers' possible interest in Harbaugh, wish-casting it, or simply connecting dots, but one does not have to be Bob Beamon to leap from A to B. 

Harbaugh has been reportedly watching film on Jaxson Dart and Cam Ward to help decide whether he'd like to coach the Giants or the Titans, and a possible Packers vacancy would out-shine New York, Tennessee, and every other opening on the market. Green Bay has employed only five head coaches since Mike Holmgren's hiring in 1992, with 24 playoff berths and 14 NFC Central/North championships over that span; they're one of the most stable organizations in pro football, which would self-evidently appeal to a coach who just spent 18 seasons in Baltimore.

And should Green Bay move on from LaFleur, he would instantly vault to the top of the coaching free agency market, likely especially in Atlanta and Tennessee, where he used to coach.

First, Green Bay will have to determine whether its recent plateau can be fixed by doubling down on or dismissing LaFleur, and then reach out to Harbaugh's agent to see where their vacancy would fall on his pecking order. 

He wouldn't be hard to reach. 

Monday Update: Schefter reports the Packers are expected to work out a deal with LaFleur.