Green Bay Packers: Grading the Coaching Staff

The Green Bay Packers’ regular season is winding down, so let’s hand out some grades to the coaching staff.

During the second year of the Matt LaFleur regime, the Green Bay Packers currently hold the best record in the NFC and have an astounding 12-3 record through the first 15 games. Through these games the Packers have shown many reasons for optimism that point towards a potential deep playoff run.

With this anticipated playoff run, more eyes and added pressure will be on the coaching staff. This season has not been flawless as the Pack have had some minor and major miscues in all facets of the game. The pressure will be on Coach LaFleur and his coordinators to correct any and all errors and prepare the team for a Super Bowl run.

First up is the head coach, Matt LaFleur. The 2nd year man boasts a very impressive resume this far into his career, and hopes to add his first Super Bowl ring before the season concludes. LaFleur is an offensive minded coach and has been the primary play-caller for the Packers throughout the regular season.

One thing has become clear through watching the Green Bay offense closely, LaFleur is one of the best offensive minds in today’s game. The absolute mastery displayed  week in and week out by LaFleur is something to marvel at. The proof is in the pudding, look at the efficiency and effectiveness of the Packers on offense.

LaFleur has been stellar so far this year in play calling and running the offensive unit.  Just don’t take my word for it though, the Green Bay Packers’ offense is running at a historic clip and is currently ranked second in the league with a DVOA of 26.1%. DVOA is a metric used by Football Outsiders that calculates a team’s efficiency on offense by comparing the success on every play to the league wide average based on both opponents and differing situations. It is essentially a complex formula used by some analytic guys to determine the best offenses in the NFL.

On top of this, by all accounts, LaFleur seems to be loved throughout the locker room. As much as the media tries to pin Aaron Rodgers against him, Rodgers vocalizes quite often how well the Green Bay-LaFleur partnership is working out. It is clear after watching Robert Tonyan, the league leader in tight end touchdowns, celebrate with LaFleur through a good ole’ chest bump that he has great respect and command over the locker room. This bodes very well for his overall grade, and gives hope for a deep postseason run in the coming months.

Coach LaFleur has had a tremendous season and deserves to be in the conversation, if not the front runner, for NFL Coach of the Year. With that being said, it has not been a perfect season by any stretch of the imagination. The biggest negative to me is how the Green Bay Packers as a whole looked coming off their bye week. I realize this was early on in the season, but the team’s showing against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 6 was lackluster at best. Even with the out of character multi-turnover performance from Rodgers, the game just never felt close. It felt eerily similar to the Packers – 49ers regular season game last season (also off a bye week).

This disappointing performance could be attributed to numerous reasons but coming off an extended rest with extra time to prepare for a big game like this does not bode well with me. LaFleur is young in his head coaching career and will surely iron out any flaws or mishaps that go into his bye week preparation going forward. Beyond the bye week struggles, I really do not have any valid knocks against LaFleur.

Of course, the arm chair quarterback in me wants him to run up the score and ditch conservative play calls at times, but that’s not logically smart. To put it simply, LaFleur has been excellent so far this year.

Don’t just take my word for the high praise on LaFleur, below is former NFL quarterback and current analyst Dan Orlovsky breaking down a small piece of his genius.

Grade: A