The crushing end to another double-digit, division winning season that came up five points short in the NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field was discussed at length today by both Green Bay Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur and General Manager Brian Gutekunst.
LaFleur went first in the season ending Zoom session and spoke for just over 28 minutes.
The disappointment from the 31-26 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers eight days ago was still evident with the Head Coach who has had each of his first two seasons on the job end one step away from the Super Bowl. Since that loss, LaFleur has made moves with his coaching staff, firing special teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga after two years, and moving on from defensive coordinator Mike Pettine who spent three years with the organization. Pettine didn’t sign a one year contract extension before the 2020 season began and LaFleur said that really didn’t factor into his decision to move in a new direction and he also disclosed he will promote from within for the special teams job.
Two more staff departures were disclosed by LaFleur. Senior analyst Butch Barry is leaving to become the assistant offensive line coach for the San Francisco 49ers and offensive quality control assistant Kevin Koger has accepted a job to become the tight ends coach for the Los Angeles Chargers.
LaFleur did say he’ll consider current defensive assistants for the coordinator job, presumably secondary coach Jerry Gray who has coordinated defenses in both Buffalo and Tennessee in the past.
LaFleur fielded several questions about the Championship game loss, saying the touchdown surrendered with one second left in the first half was a miscommunication between he and Pettine. The Packers called for a man to man defense that was exploited by Tom Brady who hit Scotty Miller behind Kevin King for a 39 yard touchdown giving the Bucs a 21-10 lead at the half. LaFleur said every call is ultimately his responsibility even though his post-game comments appeared to put the onus on Pettine. He also thought long and hard about deciding to kick a field goal on 4th and goal from the 8 just outside the two minute warning saying he thought it best to secure three points, pulling his team to within 31-26, and hoping his defense would get the ball back one more time. It didn’t happen and LaFleur said he might have taken a shot at the end zone if they would have gained even minimal yardage on the first three snaps from the eight.
Regarding Aaron Rodgers, LaFleur spoke with him before he departed Green Bay and made it clear he’s going to be his quarterback for the foreseeable future. “Absolutely, no doubt about it”, LaFleur said, “you’re talking about a guy who’s going to be the MVP of the league, we’re not in this position without him.”
Whether or not the Packers restructure Rodgers contract to offer him security to remain the starter through the length of his deal which expires after the 2023 season falls under the GM.
Brian Gutekunst’s session cover over 27 minutes and it began with the massive speculation over Rodgers’ future last week based on the quarterback’s post game comments and podcast interview with Pat McAfee. Gutekunst wasn’t about to talk publicly regarding and adjustments to his franchise quarterback’s existing deal.
In the wake of the Detroit Lions trading of Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams for Jared Goff and three draft picks, there was a report in the Los Angeles Times from Sam Farmer that the Rams “made a run” at acquiring Rodgers. Gutekunst flatly said “there is no truth to that whatsoever.”
Gutekunst has plenty of other challenges as he mentioned. There are a dozen players who will have expiring contracts in March. Among them, Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams, Corey Linsley and Kevin King. Between now and the start of a new league year, Gutekunst and Executive Vice President and Director of Football Operations Russ Ball will have to prioritize which of those free agents are worth retaining and for how much with a salary cap that is expected to drop from around 200 to 175 million dollars.
Gutekunst did thank the team’s security director Doug Collins and head trainer Brian Engel for leading the Covid effort all year, putting in an incredible amount of work to make sure protocols were followed in a very challenging season.
Gutekunst admitted the “sting” of losing the NFC title game at home will take some time to get over, but he added, “to see how much it mattered to those guys is always something that I appreciated. It’s not always that way. But those guys cared very, very much and it hurt them deeply. I know we’ve got a lot of the right guys in that locker room who care about what we’re trying to accomplish and that gives me great hope for the future.”
