Brian Gutekunst sent a loud message when the Green Bay Packers made the blockbuster trade for Micah Parsons. The Green and Gold’s sense of urgency to win a championship in 2025 was at an all-time high.
However, it seems that Matt LaFleur might not have gotten that memo.
Green Bay heads into Week 11 at 5-3-1, sitting third in the NFC North and holding the seventh seed in the NFC. Technically, they’re a playoff team right now. However, with the way LaFleur has been calling games lately, they’ll be lucky to make it to Week 18 still in the mix for a postseason spot.
The Packers scored only seven points at home against the Philadelphia Eagles, going scoreless through the first three-and-a-half quarters. Through the third quarter, LaFleur had called five runs and four quarterback dropbacks on second-and-six or longer — a 56% run rate, despite the team averaging only 2.4 yards per carry.
On second-and-seven or longer, they ran the ball on 75% of their plays, gaining just 1.7 yards per carry. As a result, Green Bay faced an average of 9.1 yards to go on third down through the first 45 minutes, their longest average in any game this season.
On their opening drives this season, Green Bay ranks 30th in scores and 26th in points per drive. Their offense has faced 18 third downs on opening drives — the most of any team in the league. It’s a result of LaFleur trying to establish the run even when the offensive line can’t generate any push.
The Packers have run the ball 133 times on first down this year, averaging just 3.86 yards per play. Meanwhile, they’ve thrown it 109 times, averaging 8.23 yards per play. It’s hard to understand why LaFleur keeps leaning on the run when his quarterback has been one of the most efficient in every advanced metric this season.
Green Bay’s lack of tempo and under-center play-action concepts is killing this offense. When you watch the games, it’s obvious that neither LaFleur nor Jordan Love trusts the offensive line.
On Monday night, there was a play where Love had Romeo Doubs wide open over the middle, but he flinched at the pressure and scrambled for a minimal gain instead. If they don’t trust the offensive line, fine — but that’s exactly when you adjust, add extra protection, and give your $55 million quarterback enough time to make a play.
Romeo Doubs ends up working wide open in the middle of the field.
Love feels Aaron Banks getting beat here and starts to bail just as the DT trips down.
This feels like one of those plays where the protection issues sped Love up a bit. We've also seen Love throw this so … pic.twitter.com/oqd50dXiOt
— Peter Bukowski (@Peter_Bukowski) November 11, 2025
Green Bay’s offense has simply become too predictable. Late in the fourth quarter, facing fourth-and-one from their own 45-yard line with under 1:35 to play, the broadcast picked up Eagles defensive lineman Moro Ojomo shouting “inside zone this way” multiple times before the snap. Sure enough, the Packers ran inside zone, and they stuffed Josh Jacobs.
The Eagles knew what the Packers were running before they even finished lining up. pic.twitter.com/Lsp7NNbpTV
— CheeseheadTV 🧀 (@cheeseheadtv) November 11, 2025
“I think it’s a call that we called a couple times, going fast throughout the game,” Love said after the game. “They probably heard the call or were guessing. There was a D-lineman saying some stuff. I still thought we had a light box. We can try and run it right there.”
Green Bay got another chance after Nick Sirianni’s decision to go for it on fourth-and-six didn’t pay off. But that call said everything — Sirianni was daring the Packers to move the ball into scoring range, and they couldn’t.
LaFleur’s poor decision-making goes beyond play-calling. After Philadelphia failed to convert on that fourth-and-six, Green Bay managed to pick up a few yards before LaFleur sent out Brandon McManus — who is just three for nine on field goals outside the red zone this year and still working his way back from a quad injury — to attempt a 64-yarder in 27-degree weather. Unsurprisingly, the kick wasn’t even close.
MCMANUS MISSES THE 64-YARD POTENTIAL GAME-TYING FG 😱
EAGLES HANG ON! pic.twitter.com/LOMJiwJV3d
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 11, 2025
The Packers also continue to use Doubs as a punt returner when they need him for receiver depth. They are missing Jayden Reed and Matthew Golden, with Christian Watson only a couple of games removed from injury. It’s a reckless approach that risks further setbacks for one of their few healthy receivers.
Being down Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed, while Watson is only a couple of games back from injury, I’m not sure having Romeo Doubs as the punt returner is the wisest strategy.
— Felipe Reis Aceti (@Aceti_Felipe) November 11, 2025
Green Bay’s tape against the Carolina Panthers and Cleveland Browns, and the first halves against the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers, doesn’t help LaFleur’s case, either. The stubborn insistence on repeating the same mistakes — the constant screens and horizontal plays — is just unfathomable. Why take the ball out of Love’s hands when he’s been their most efficient player this season?
As I mentioned before, LaFleur and Love clearly have trouble trusting the offensive line, and I can’t blame them for that. But at some point, you have to adjust.
Don’t get me wrong — Matt LaFleur is one of the best coaches in the league. If the Packers were to fire him, he’d have a new job the very next day. Still, Ed Policy declined to extend him before the season. If things fall apart down the stretch, is it really so unfathomable that LaFleur doesn’t return in 2026? Maybe it’s not so crazy anymore.
“I don’t think it’s far-fetched to say Matt LaFleur is coaching for his job the rest of the season,” The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman wrote after the game.
For the first time in his tenure, LaFleur’s seat might be at least somewhat warm. The Packers have a brutal schedule ahead, and things aren’t about to get any easier.
“I’ll leave that for everybody else to decide,” LaFleur said regarding whether he thinks he will be coaching for his job going forward. “I’ll just focus on the day-to-day and try to do — I feel like you’re always coaching for everything in this league, you know?
“That’s just my mindset. It’s always been that way. You can’t ever exhale. You gotta always be pushing. That’s just my mindset, and that will be my mindset ’til they tell me not to coach anymore.”
Since Matt LaFleur took over, the Packers have consistently finished as a top-10 offense in weighted DVOA. He’s managed to do it with two different quarterbacks and completely reshaped rosters. One rough month shouldn’t define his tenure or cause us to forget what he’s built.
Still, if the offense continues to sputter like it has lately, his job security will quickly come into question. Packers fans should hope LaFleur finds a way to steady things, because there’s no realistic replacement who would give Green Bay a better shot at competing for a championship in 2026.