Packers: Matt LaFleur should be easy choice as coach of the year

Matt LaFleur doesn’t get enough credit for the job he’s done as Green Bay Packers head coach.

This season even more than the others, he has done a phenomenal job. The Packers have faced a lot of adversity, from the offseason drama to losing key player after key player to either injury or the reserve/COVID-19 list.

Throughout all of that, LaFleur has ensured this team just keeps winning. And winning. And winning.

With victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, the Packers were crowned NFC North champions for the third straight season. And with three games to spare.

According to ESPN’s Field Yates, LaFleur is the only head coach since 1970 to win more than 10 games and a division title in each of their first three seasons. That’s quite incredible.

If it was as simple as having a great quarterback, more coaches would’ve achieved this. Just because Aaron Rodgers plays in Green Bay, LaFleur often doesn’t receive enough praise. Despite the fact that the 2018 Packers went 6-9-1 with Rodgers. The Packers are 37-9 in the three years since.

This season, the Packers have been without David Bakhtiari. They haven’t had Za’Darius Smith since Week 1 or Jaire Alexander since Week 4. Elgton Jenkins has missed multiple games and won’t play again this season after suffering a torn ACL.

Despite that, they became the first team to hit 11 wins, are the only unbeaten team at home and have a one-game lead in the NFC with three games remaining.

Green Bay went on the road on a Thursday night without Davante Adams and beat the then-undefeated Arizona Cardinals. They comfortably beat the Los Angeles Rams at Lambeau Field.

LaFleur has been a phenomenal hire for the Packers. All he does is win football games. Taking the team beyond the NFC title game and to a championship is his next goal.

In the meantime, LaFleur should be the frontrunner for the NFL Coach of the Year award.