Seven years. Seventy-two wins. Matt LaFleur finally had to face a painful question about his job security.
All LaFleur has done is win, but for the first time in his Green Bay Packers tenure, the pressure is cranking up. His team entered the season with Super Bowl aspirations after trading for Micah Parsons, but they've won only five of their opening nine games, sitting third in their division and looking like NFC pretenders.
Following their humbling defeat to the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football, LaFleur finally faced the music in his postgame presser: Is he coaching for his job?
"I'll leave that for everyone else to decide," said LaFleur. "I'll just focus on the day to day. I feel like you're always coaching for everything in this league, that's just my mindset. That's always been that way. You can't ever exhale. You've got to always be pushing. That's just my mindset, and that will be my mindset until they tell me not to coach anymore."
The pressure is quickly building on Matt LaFleur after Packers' humbling defeat
Had it not been for their championship defense, the Packers would've gotten embarrassed by the Eagles. LaFleur delivered a classic coachspeak response to the question, but that's not the story.
The fact that a question about his future even entered the press conference at 1265 Lombardi Ave tells us where this team is. And where LaFleur is. Their 2-0 start, with statement wins over the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders, now feels like a distant memory. Many had already penciled the Packers in for Super Bowl LX, but they are just 3-3-1 since then.
New Packers president Ed Policy set the table for this uncomfortable conversation by not extending LaFleur's contract in the summer. Or GM Brian Gutekunst's, for that matter.
Green Bay's coach and roster builder have two years remaining on their contracts, including this year, but Policy said he doesn't want either to face a lame-duck season. In other words, he'll make a decision on a contract extension after this season.
At 5-3-1, third in the NFC North, and with an offense that has scored a total of 20 points in back-to-back home losses, the concern is real.
LaFleur has time. He'll be judged on the full season's body of work, but this team is spiraling into danger. We keep hearing about their self-inflicted errors and how they must clean up the mistakes. But those problems aren't new and haunted this team last season.
The "but they're the youngest team in the NFL" argument is no longer valid. This is Year 3 of the Jordan Love era. They just traded two first-round picks for Micah Parsons. That's a sign they believe they're ready to compete.
It's a bit much to say LaFleur is sitting on the hot seat, but his impressive 72-36-1 coaching record doesn't make him immune to it.
The pressure is building, and if the Packers can't find answers as they enter a brutal eight-game stretch to end the regular season, time may run out on LaFleur.