Packers: Matt LaFleur to coach NFC team in Pro Bowl

The Green Bay Packers‘ season might be over, but head coach Matt LaFleur still has one more game to prepare for.

It was announced on Friday that LaFleur and his staff will coach the NFC team in next week’s Pro Bowl. For the AFC, it will be the Tennessee Titans’ Mike Vrabel and his staff. LaFleur worked for Vrabel as the offensive coordinator in Tennessee before becoming the Packers’ head coach.

LaFleur and Vrabel guided their teams to their respective No. 1 seeds this year, but both were one-and-done in the postseason with heartbreaking home defeats to walk-off field goals.

It’s a real shame LaFleur hasn’t been able to take his team to the Super Bowl, having been dominant in the regular season, winning 13 games in each of his first three seasons as head coach. In all three years, the Packers have secured a first-round bye. In the previous two, they’ve been the NFC’s number one seed.

What we don’t know is how many of LaFleur’s coaching staff will still be there next week. The Packers have already lost their offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett, who has been named the Denver Broncos’ new head coach.

It’s possible that quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator Luke Getsy and offensive line coach Adam Stenavich could also take jobs elsewhere, although they are both still in contention to replace Hackett as the Packers’ OC.

And who knows what’s next for Maurice Drayton, whose special teams unit made big mistake after big mistake throughout the regular season, then saved their worst performance for last with a blocked field goal and blocked punt for a touchdown in last week’s divisional-round loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

LaFleur will be disappointed he’s not preparing for this week’s NFC Championship Game and then the Super Bowl, but being selected for the Pro Bowl is still well deserved after an excellent season.