Much has been made about what could have been for the Green Bay Packers in 2022. On the heels of two near-Super Bowl appearances in 2020 and 2021, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers crashed down to earth in 2022.
But, it wouldn't be right to pin that shortcoming squarely on Rodgers. The reality is that the entire roster didn't live up to expectations. During Green Bay's five-game slide that began in October, the team simply didn't execute: assignments were routinely missed, turnovers committed and players seemingly waited for another to make a play.
In the NFL, those kinds of failures fall on the head coach.
It's true: the Packers probably make the 2022 postseason if Matt LaFleur coaches up to his potential. Just look at Brian Daboll and the Giants' pedestrian-at-best passing game. Or, Pete Carroll's Seahawks, who many picked to be a Bottom 3 team last season. Both teams edged out the Packers for the 6th and 7th seeds in the NFC playoffs.
In 2023, LaFleur must be better. Here are seven areas that are most concerning for a coach that was - only a year ago - widely considered to be one of the league's top young talents.
1. The Joe Barry Decision
It must be said again: LaFleur opted to stick with Barry at defensive coordinator when other premier DCs were available on the market. This includes Jim Leonhard, the man that was first offered the DC job in early 2021 before turning it down and forcing LaFleur to go with his next-best choice. While Barry's D wasn't the team's biggest problem in 2022, the willingness to stick with mediocre rather than roll the dice on elite seems..lazy.
2. Key Player Utilization
LaFleur hasn't done a good enough job emphasizing players drafted specifically for his system. While "gadget guy" Amari Rodgers simply just didn't pan out, fellow third-round pick Josiah Deguara has been VASTLY underutilized in the H-back role on offense. One other egregious example: it took several games of neglecting Aaron Jones for LaFleur to realize how important he was to offensive production in this system.
3. Suspect Personnel Decisions
After going with quite possibly THE worst O-line combo in the playoff loss to San Francisco, LaFleur continued to make similar mistakes in '22. He played Royce Newman and Yosh Nijman far too long in favor of rookie Zach Tom. On D, LaFleur allowed Barry to keep rookie Devonte Wyatt on the sidelines, despite the raving potential displayed on a limited number of snaps. On special teams, LaFleur condoned the Amari Rodgers experiment several games too long, costing the Packers a win in the process.
4. Clock Management
During LaFleur's first three seasons as Packers head coach, the Packers found a way to win a number of close games. In 2022, they found themselves in similar, one-possession scenarios, but instead came out on the wrong side. Part of the problem was frequently burning timeouts early in the second half (often on low-probability downs) and leaving the team void of crucial clock-stoppers inside two minutes. While some of those issues lie with Rodgers, LaFleur's suspect use of challenges furthers his guilt in this domain.
5. Homefield (Dis)advantage
Since the beginning of the 2022 calendar year, the Packers are just 5-4 in games played at Lambeau. To put that in perspective, they had lost just THREE total games there between 2019 and the end of the 2020 season - what most would consider a "true" homefield advantage. While I applaud LaFleur trying to get the crowd to make more noise, he may want to focus more energy on getting his defense fired up to play in the cold and making sure that play calling on offense lends to that playing environment.
6. Lack of In-Game Adjustments
Too many times, the Packers have fallen to a deficit in the first half and continue making the SAME mistakes in the second. One has to wonder what LaFleur is telling his team in the locker room during halftime. In all fairness, this gap seems to be on the mend as the Packers played comeback against the Cowboys, Bears, Dolphins and nearly the Eagles late last season.
7. (Lack of) Player Discipline
One overlooked aspect of LaFleur's coaching tenure in Green Bay has been player character issues leading to departures from the team. Emerging star DL Kingsley Keke and high-potential RB Kylin Hill were both shown the door with little detail shared with the public. The hypothesis is that both players were not geling in the locker room, which is a knock on both the front office that drafted them and, quite honestly, LaFleur for not correcting the problems as they arose.
We've all heard LaFleur routinely cast blame on himself during postgame conferences following losses. And that's an admirable move by the 43 year-old given the possibility that factors beyond his remit negatively impacted his effectiveness as Packers head coach.
Many speculate that many of the offensive breakdowns in 2022 stem from Aaron Rodgers' demeanor on and off the field, constraining LaFleur's control over the offense and in locker room. We saw minor spats between the two throughout the season, like during the Dallas game when a play call that Rodgers perceived as too conservative resulted in the offense not moving the ball into field goal range and winning the game in regulation.
If this is all true, Rodgers' recent decision to become a New York Jet in 2023 means that LaFleur is free of that reign. And, with that said, he should be held fully accountable for transforming the offense to 2019-2020 form and getting the Packers back to the playoffs. At his disposal is an arsenal of first-round picks on defense and a quarterback capable of operating within his system on offense.
All eyes are on Matt LaFleur in 2023 - he must now deliver as Packers head coach.
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