What are the Packers Thinking?

Artist depiction of Ty watching Packer’s games the next few years

The Packers hired a new head coach. I thought the search would go on a bit longer, but they "jumped" at the chance to hire Tennessee offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur.

I don't really know how I feel about this hire. I have gone back and forth since it was made official on Monday. Even last night when my wife asked me how I felt about it, I couldn't give her a real answer. I talked to my dad about it over coffee today, he is the reason I am a Packers fan, and I feel like we both came to a consensus.

We are not a fan of this hire.

Don't get me wrong, I like that they are trying to get a younger, offensive minded coach, but Matt LaFleur was the best they could do? I mean, what about Mike Munchak or someone from the Rams offensive staff or even a college coach? Why LaFleur? I made it clear a few weeks back, when they fired McCarthy, I wanted them to go after John Harbaugh or Bruce Arians. The Harbaugh thing was a pipe dream. I'm pretty sure he is going to stay in Baltimore, especially with the late choice to start Lamar Jackson. They have something real going on there. And Arians said he was only open to Cleveland, and then, all of the sudden the Buccaneers come from nowhere and he takes that job. It is mind boggling. I will say, I am glad that they stayed off the Josh McDaniels train. He would be just as certain to bail on that job just like he did to the Colts last year. I did not want them to even interview him. And after his comments yesterday, saying that he was staying in New England, it made me even happier that they didn't hire him.

With all that being said, and thought about for 2 days, I am still not on board with LaFleur. Sure, he was the QB coach when Matt Ryan won his MVP award. And yes, he was on the same staff as Sean McVay, and, by all reports, was just as smart as every other coach in the room. But when he was on his own as the OC in Tennessee, he did not do great. It actually looked like the Titans regressed. Marcus Mariota did not get much better. In fact, he was either hurt, or was throwing 6 yard passes. The run game was better, Derrick Henry had a pretty good season, but Green Bay doesn't have a running back on Henry's level. I like Jamaal Williams and Aaron Jones, but they aren't even in the top 20 of backs in the league.

Then we have the whole Aaron Rodgers conundrum. He is one of the best QB's in the league, that is not debatable. He can throw anyone open. He makes the pinpoint throws. He has turned marginal guys into production guys. Davante Adams and Donald Driver and Jordy Nelson, while solid receivers, they are not Julio Jones or Calvin Johnson or even Juju Smith Schuster. That is my biggest area of concern with this hire. I feel like the Packers are fine on offense. They had a rougher year than usual, but they are fine, as long as they have Rodgers.

The biggest problem with this team is the defense. That is why I wanted Harbaugh or Arians. They have good offensive minds, but they are defense first. So with the 2 of them out of the picture, why not a guy like Brian Flores or Vic Fangio? I wanted them to go defense with the head coach, and then let that guy hire a solid, young offensive coordinator. They could do the opposite of what the Rams did. They hired a young offensive guru, and then let him hire a great D coordinator to run that unit. The Packers should have done that, but hired a defensive minded head coach and let him go out and hire a young offensive guru. Hell, I would have been happy if they hired Fangio, and he went out and nabbed LaFleur as his OC for the team. But the Packers wanted to do the modernized offense thing, and I feel like this is going to go badly for them. I don't feel like a guy like LaFleur will be able to enter the facility and be taken seriously as a head coach. I feel like Rodgers is going to be that guy, and that is no good. I don't like when a player has to be the leader on the field and in the locker room and the film room. It's too much.

I hope I am wrong and LaFleur is the next Sean McVay, but I don't think that will happen. We will see.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is looking forward to see who the other head coachless teams get. There is no way the Cincinnati Bengals will get a better name than Green Bay. Right?

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