After back-to-back losses, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is starting to feel the heat. While he’s signed through the 2026 season, teams don’t typically like to have their coach enter the final year of his contract as a lame duck, making the Packers’ recent offensive struggles an issue that could cost LaFleur his job.
But while LaFleur may be coaching for his own job as The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman suggested after Monday night’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, he may also be trying to save face for some of his assistants who could be looking for head coaching opportunities elsewhere.
The most obvious candidate is defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who has turned Green Bay into an elite unit this season. But it also concerns the future of offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich, who may not get the same opportunities he did one year ago unless things turn around.
Packers Offensive Struggles Could Change Everything for Adam Stenavich
Stenavich has been a popular name for Packers fans amid LaFleur’s struggles to get the offense going. After arriving with LaFleur’s staff as an offensive line coach during the 2019 season, he added the title of running game coordinator with the Packers in 2021 and offensive coordinator in 2022.
Some may believe that since LaFleur calls plays, Stenavich’s role may be subdued compared to the rest of the league, but he’s made an impact on Green Bay’s offense. Outside of overseeing an offense that ranked fifth in total yardage and eighth in points last season, he has also been a crucial part of building the Packers’ offensive line, which ranked sixth in PFF’s final rankings for the 2024 season.
That track record has made him a hot commodity. When former Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett left for the Denver Broncos in 2022, he attempted to bring Stenavich west before LaFleur promoted him to keep him in Green Bay.
This past offseason, Stenavich got a head coaching interview with the Chicago Bears in addition to interviewing with the Seattle Seahawks and Houston Texans for their offensive coordinator vacancies. With Seattle and Houston also offering play-calling duties with those positions, Zone Coverage’s Matt Hendershot noted it was a solid first step to get more opportunities next offseason.
“While he didn’t get those jobs, the league is taking an interest in Green Bay’s offensive coordinator,” Hendershot wrote for Zone Coverage back in August. “Unless the Packers completely fall apart this season, Stenavich likely gets even more interviews next coaching cycle.”
This seems like great news for Stenavich to go find a new job this offseason. But Hendershot’s key words – ”Unless the Packers completely fall apart” – seem to be his biggest concern at the moment.
Stenavich could look to the front office as a reason the offensive line has fallen apart. But Green Bay has fallen to 17th in PFF’s weekly rankings as they prepare for Sunday’s game at the New York Giants. Even though the offense has struggled, the possibility of LaFleur granting Stenavich play-calling duties feels like a long shot at this point, and Wendell Ferreira of A to Z Sports suggested it may be more likely to see him demoted to put in more time with the offensive line.
“Stenavich is a great offensive line coach, but the results as an offensive coordinator have been limited – and it’s hard to know from the outside how exactly he contributes to the operation,” Ferreira wrote. “Allowing him to work more closely with the big guys could help the offense play better upfront, and that’s the biggest calling card [Stenavich] has to offer.”
A demotion could be the best thing for the Packers, but it could hurt Stenavich’s chances of landing a bigger opportunity this offseason. Unless LaFleur finds some way to jumpstart the offense, Stenavich could come as collateral damage, forcing him to start from square one before next year’s coaching cycle.