It’s summer vacation in the NFL, which means fan expectations are growing faster than tomatoes in a garden. After back-to-back postseason appearances in the first two years of the Jordan Love era, many in Titletown are hoping this is the year the Green Bay Packers leap to true contender status.
With lofty expectations comes more pressure, and Love should be feeling it more than head coach Matt LaFleur this season.
In his first year with the Packers, LaFleur was feeling the heat as much as any first-year coach.The Packers had just completed a second season with a losing record and had shown long-time coach Mike McCarthy the door during the season. Future Hall of FamerAaron Rodgers was also displeased with certain developments within the organization and didn’t keep his feelings quiet.
Would he be receptive to a young, hot-shot, first-time head coach?
Two consecutive 13-3 campaigns and Rodgers returning to playing MVP-caliber football silenced any doubts.
LaFleur had the Packers back on stable ground.
The transition from Rodgers to Love could’ve gone off the rails. Instead, Love showed, with a bit of patience from the naysayers, that he’s got the goods teams look for in a franchise QB.
His coming-out party took place on a national stage in a road game against the Dallas Cowboys in his first postseason game. Love threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns as the Packers hung 48 points on a Dan Quinn defense.
Last year, expectations were greater. And, as the season went along, the passing game appeared to regress. Ask the Packers about this and you won’t get the same answer, even though the numbers say otherwise.
Why, though, entering his third year, is there more pressure on Love than LaFleur?
Sample size and franchise sustainability. LaFleur will be entering his seventh season in Green Bay. The Packers have missed the playoffs only once in the first six years. He’s found success with Rodgers and Love at the under center.
Fans are antsy for the Packers to get back to a Super Bowl — as is to be expected from any successful franchise — but there’s not a sense of desperation, certainly not of the variety that would have LaFleur on the hot seat. He’s done nothing but win in Green Bay. At some point, the Packers may reach a window with LaFleur where they expect a title for him to keep his job. That time is not now.
Love has a mostly good, albeit limited, track record; however, we still don’t know his ceiling. Year 3 will be pivotal in evaluating his potential as a Super Bowl champion rather than a talented mid-tier starter. Confidence is running fairly high in Love, but some unknowns remain.
The way his passing game looked at the end of last season has left a smidge of doubt. LaFleur noted in early June that injuries to Love, combined with an eye-opening number of dropped passes, significantly impacted his performance last year.
I think there’s like a narrative out there for whatever reason that he wasn’t as productive as the year before. Well, he missed significant time. He missed the better of three games. Really, it was Indy. It was Tennessee. He went out in Jacksonville and then he went out in Chicago. So, you know, three games is a significant amount of time and you’re not going to produce as much from a numbers perspective … and also, let’s be honest — we’ve talked about this — we did have a lot of drops last year.
All are valid points. It’s also true that the Packers invested more in getting weapons around Love by using a first-round pick on wide receiver Matthew Golden and a third-rounder on Savion Williams.
For what it’s worth, Love seems to be handling the pressure fine when he spoke to The Athletic.
I mean, what is a step back is what I’d ask? You know what I mean? Everybody has different opinions, things like that. You gotta block that stuff out. It’s all about the goals of the team at the end of the day. I’d say we won more games than we did the year before. That’s why I ask people, what is a step back?
The goals Love speaks of should be sky-high. Green Bay has punched a ticket to the playoffs in each of Love’s first two seasons at the helm. The next step is to get the passing game back up to speed and make a push deeper into January — and hopefully February.
LaFleur plays a part in all that, of course, but his abilities are more of a given at this point. In six seasons, LaFleur has shown that he’s a damn good coach and one who wins at a high level. This year is Love’s turn to prove he can be the guy for the Packers and put any doubt to rest.