Matt LaFleur split opinion among Green Bay Packers fans after the team's late-season collapse.
LaFleur has enjoyed tremendous success in Green Bay, but on five occasions this season, his team held a double-digit lead and still lost. The Packers saved their worst for last, throwing away an 18-point lead to endure a playoff defeat for the ages against the Chicago Bears. It raised questions about LaFleur's future.
The Packers ultimately decided to extend LaFleur's contract. Some fans are happy, others strongly against it. Many are indifferent. But not the Green Bay locker room. Star player after star player, from Jordan Love to Micah Parsons to Tucker Kraft, rallied in support of their coach.
We can add Romeo Doubs to the list.
Romeo Doubs strongly defends Matt LaFleur and pushes back on Packers fans wanting a change
Appearing on Up & Adams this week, Doubs went in-depth about his love and appreciation for LaFleur.
"I love Coach LaFleur. He's a huge reason why I am where I am, and I don't even want to speak on just the football aspect," Doubs told host Kay Adams. "Just part of my growth as a person, I give him a ton of credit for that. It's just a bigger perspecitve on every end."
Doubs praised LaFleur for his work handling the transition from Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love. Green Bay went from an experienced, aging team to the youngest in the league in 2023. It included a highly inexperienced receiving corps, a situation Doubs admitted "wasn't normal."
"You get a Hall of Famer in Aaron Rodgers, you bring in Jordan. Clearly, the whole offense is different going into that next year," Doubs said. "I just thought throughout the course of those years with Jordan being the guy in Green Bay, I thought he did a fantastic job."
Packers fans would agree with the outstanding resume LaFleur has built, but much of the frustration comes from the inability to get over the line. The fact that his team has earned the No. 7 seed three times in a row but has only one playoff victory to show for it.
No NFC North titles in four years. No trip to the NFC Championship Game in five. It was supposed to be the year, especially after trading for Parsons.
Still, Doubs strongly pushed back on the calls for LaFleur to get fired at the end of the season.
"I disagree with that, and the biggest reason for that is because Matt is one of the best coaches in the league. Just based off the situation alone and what he had to deal with, I do not fault them keeping him there. Again, he's one of the top coaches in the league."
LaFleur is a great coach and also needs to improve. Both can be true. And ultimately, the Packers likely made the correct decision. Which head-coaching candidate would guarantee better results?
Of the offensive play-callers available in this cycle, Kevin Stefanski? Kliff Kingsbury? A reunion with Mike McCarthy?! None screams out as a slam-dunk hire.
Many of the biggest hires were defensive coaches, like Jeff Hafley to the Miami Dolphins, Jesse Minter to the Los Angeles Chargers, and Robert Saleh to the Tennessee Titans. Those coaches will need to find offensive coordinators, which is no easy task.
LaFleur undoubtedly needs to take a step forward in 2026, starting by retooling his coaching staff. But no matter the split among Packers fans, he hasn't lost the locker room, far from it.
Doubs made it clear how much LaFleur means to him, and he's far from the only one.