I think I'm the first person to make this connection with LaFleur's last name?? That's why they pay me the big Schrute Bucks!
So, after a flurry of interviews over the weekend, the Packers made the call on their next head coach yesterday, 39 year old Matt LaFleur is coming to Green Bay.
A few things on this:
– By no means am I a good judge of what the ideal male looks like. If pressed, I'd guess peak male performance looks something like Tom Selleck circa Magnum PI or David Hasselhoff from Baywatch. But that's purely speculation on my part. That said, I noticed a certain tone of the comment sections announcing LaFleur's hiring from the female demographic of Packer fans:
Calm down ladies. It's 2019. Men no longer with to be objectified or have our role reduced to our good looks smdh.
– Yes, he was the Offensive Coordinator in Tennessee last season. And, yes, they finished 25th in total offense. That said, he was also the Offensive Coordinator under Sean McVay is Los Angeles in 2017. EVERYONE is looking for the next Sean McVay. LaFleur coached right under him and helped get Jared Goff's career turned around. And in 2016 he was the Quarterbacks Coach in Atlanta for Matt Ryan. That's the season that Matt Ryan lit the world on fire and won the MVP. Not too shabby.
– It sounds like he's keeping Mike Pettine as the Defensive Coordinator. LOVE this move. The only thing I liked about Philbin was that it was a mortal lock that Pettine was going to stay. Say what you want about the last few weeks when we were trotting out a MASH unit in our secondary, but overall, the defense took steps forward this season. You could make a case that it had nowhere to go but up, and you wouldn't be wrong, but still, there was a lot to like about what Pettine was building. Packers finished 15th in total yards given up and 22nd in points given up. By no means dominant numbers, but certainly improvements from where we were.
At the end of the day, no one has a clue how this is going to turn out. It's either going to go great and there's going to be a LaFleur Lane in Green Bay in 2-3 years, or it's going to implode and we're going to be looking for another coach in 2-3 years. I remember when Mike McCarthy was hired in 2006, nobody knew who the hell he was. All we knew was that he was the OC in San Francisco the year before, and they ranked 31st out of 32 teams. Not great! In fact, I recall being at a Green Bay Gamblers game right after his hiring where McCarthy got booed as he came out to drop the ceremonial puck. Nobody would have guessed that he would be the coach until 2018, and we'd see 4 NFC Championship games, a Super Bowl title, and McCarthy would have a street named after him in that time span. While I think we all agree the two parties needed to go their separate ways this season, if you told me today that LaFleur would see that type of success during his tenure, we'd all sign our name on the dotted line.
PS: LaFours Plan:
If Mark Murphy hired LaFleur for the limitless obscure movie references I don't hate it.