Packers: A look at Matt LaFleur’s incredible first three seasons
Matt LaFleur is off to the greatest head-coaching start in NFL history. Through his first 40 career games as an NFL head coach, he went 33-7. That is the best start for any head coach in the Super Bowl era.
Through three seasons with the Green Bay Packers, LaFleur has gone 39-10, won three division titles, and he has guided the team to two NFC Championship appearances. His career win percentage is nearly 80%.
It’s safe to say LaFleur was the right hire by President/CEO Mark Murphy and GM Brian Gutekunst back in 2019.
In 2019, LaFleur’s first season, the Packers went 13-3, won the NFC North and appeared in the NFC Championship Game.
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What was amazing about that season is the Packers were neither top-10 statistically in total offense or defense. But that didn’t matter. They took the season game-by-game. One play at a time.
Running back Aaron Jones broke out with his first career 1,000-yard season and had 19 total touchdowns, which led the NFL.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers had a TD/INT ration of 6.5 to 1. Prized free-agent edge rushers Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith combined for 25.5 sacks.
There were a lot of individual players that had fantastic seasons — 2019 was just the start of success for LaFleur in Green Bay.
In 2020, LaFleur mirrored his first season in Green Bay by going 13-3 once again. This was particularly impressive because 2020 was a year dominated by COVID.
The Packers had the No. 1-ranked scoring offense in the league.
Rodgers was named MVP for the third time in his career. Wide receiver Davante Adams was named a first-team All-Pro. Aaron Jones made his first Pro Bowl.
Za’Darius Smith and cornerback Jaire Alexander were both named second-team All-Pros. Guard Elgton Jenkins made the Pro Bowl in just his second season.
The defense took another step. The Packers won the NFC North and made yet another NFC Championship Game appearance.
In 2021, the first-ever 17-game season in NFL history, the Packers won 13 games again.
They finished the season with a 13-4 record, the third straight year with a first-round bye in the playoffs.
Rodgers won his second consecutive MVP. He and Adams had another incredible season in which they once again both made first-team All-Pro.
The defense finished in the top 10.
Young impact players like running back A.J. Dillon, edge rusher Rashan Gary, and cornerback Eric Stokes made their presence be known.
Free-agent linebacker De’Vondre Campbell became a first-team All-Pro after signing a one-year deal with LaFleur’s squad. Mid-season acquisition Rasul Douglas proved to be one of the best stories in the league. He should’ve been named an All-Pro.
This last season was LaFleur’s best coaching job.
From where this team was at the end of the Mike McCarthy era to where it is now is incredible.
The Matt LaFleur-Aaron Rodgers connection has been statistically the best in the game since 2019. Rodgers has thrown 111 touchdowns and just 13 INTs. Absolutely ridiculous.
The Packers have been one of the elite teams in the regular season. However, LaFleur is still trying to navigate his team to a Super Bowl berth.
The Michigan native has won two divisional round games (vs. Seattle in 2020, vs. LA Rams in 2021) but has been eliminated twice by the San Francisco 49ers (2020, 2022) and once by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2021).
There is no question that the Packers have one of the best teams in the game. They have one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time, arguably the best RB duo in the game, a top-10 defense, and a soon-to-be much improved special teams unit (thanks to LaFleur for convincing coaching legend Rich Bisaccia to come to Green Bay).
They have two first-round picks and four top-60 picks in next week’s NFL Draft. They are in prime position to compete for the Lombardi Trophy for the next few years at minimum.
That is mainly due to the job Matt LaFleur has done in his short time in Green Bay, WI.