There's speculation that Bill Belichick might become our DC. On top of that, there's further speculation that MLF might object to that due to feeling threatened.

Obvious solution: HC Belichick, with Al Harris as DC? Or maybe Belichick can be his own DC as well as coach ST? Seems like handling all that in his first year in a new organization could be too much all at once. MLF as OC with Stenavitch back at O line coach makes sense on paper, but the NFL doesn't seem to support demotions even when they're obviously good ideas. And I'm not suggesting either would accept the demotion, regardless of Belichik being here or anybody else.

Something's got to change ...

The Joe Barry soft defense has them ranked 31st in plays per drive. (Zach Kruse on X) How can any player be expected to play soft an entire game and then be expected to turn up the aggression and get stops in the 4th quarter when physically exhausted? The org has brought in players on all levels of the D that displayed aggressive in your face style of defense, and our coordinator asks them to play reactive.... Its mind boggling that Barry cant see this, that MLF cant see this..... And if the problem is communication over the last 3 years, SIMPLIFY WHAT YOU ARE ASKING THEM TO DO! Not much simpler in defense than aggressive in your face man coverage.

Bill Belichick is a fantasy, MLF not leaving and either is Barry, we all know this.

"We can all be mad and grind our teeth at this defense but the fact that it has been allowed to continue is the fault of head coach Matt LaFleur."

YES, YES, and YES!!!

Just like 2021 when he kept Mo Drayton knowing full well it could cost the Packers in the playoffs. They lost the game 13-10 on a night the Packers Special Teams cost them 10 points.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing this dude take ALL the blame. MLF's favorite thing is to take responsibility. "I've got to be better" or "It all starts and stops with me, that's on me". You know what Matt? I don't care OR believe you anymore.

I don't think you fired him because you're a pussy. You're too weak to do the RIGHT thing RIGHT now, just like you were in 2021. IMO LaFleur should be FIRED as soon as the Bears game is in the books. He's continued to show he is NOT the right man for the job.

The Packers can and should fire the entire coaching staff, with the possible exception of Bisaccia and perhaps 1 or 2 others. But I'm wondering whether a small market team like Green Bay can attract top coaching talent, or whether a coaching change would just be a matter of recycling mediocrity. I can't imagine that they would be able to attract somebody of Bill Belichick's caliber.

Hi, Bill Belichick would not be a fantasy he to some extent wore his welcome out in New England... And money and fresh opportunity talks. I think his age is a negative though...and the fact that he has a shot at one or two of the top collage QBs in the draft would make him want to stay there...

Well, apparently the Chargers didn’t worry about that after firing both head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco,

Ok Cory lets follow the Chargers Blue Print then.
I'm all for it. Because it all starts at the top.!!

The point on "communication" is exactly the right answer.

But Fire everyone anyway.
Because all the progress,
really might not be enough.(short Lived)
And who got us into the cap problems in the first place.
Start looking at the Big picture.
The Defense has always been a problem since 2011.
And until A New Defense direction becomes the answer.
It's on the offense. And we do have a offensive minded coach.

The downfall and weakness of Matt is that he hasn't proved he can fill a staff, especially on special teams and defense. When those two units are consistently ranked at the bottom of the league and are actual reasons why you lose games, you're the problem.

You're not bringing in the right people and that's a reflection on Matt. On defense, you have players that are aggressive and have the right attitude. From Jaire and strap city to Nixon who at times is too aggressive returning kicks, to Gary who rushed back because he loves playing football so much. You have the right ingredients, but we're constantly afraid of the big play instead of trusting that you're players will make the right play, if must be so draining to be a defensive player in that scheme.

That's essentially what the Barry system is. We'll let you walk up and down the field because we don't want to give up the big play. How about imposing your will and trusting your players because he's not putting them in position to succeed. Again, this falls on Matt and for him to say yesterday that he's NOW going to spend more time on the defensive side of the ball was crazy to hear. What has he been doing after the consistent breakdowns, the most 200 yard rushing games in the league, playing off on 3rd and short?

Again this is a reflection on Matt and if he wants to be stubborn and keep the ineptitudes that are Barry and Rich, unfortunately he'll be out of a job soon as well.

There are 3 games left. Does it really matter if Barry is gone yesterday or in 3 weeks? Not really. Getting rid of Barry and promoting a guy who isn't ready for the next step won't do much to help the team.

I want Barry gone as much as anyone. I have been wanting him gone since before the Bye week. I was willing to give him 1 last chance but I wanted him gone. I wanted them to go get Jim Leonhard. I wanted them to bring him in to make his subtle changes and by now the defense would be humming.

People always ask why Leonhard? People always bring up "well you only want him because he was UW's coach". No I want him because he is a damn good DC. He took players and made them better. His scheme was a good one as well. I remember watching a game when they blitzed Leo Chenel up the middle. The offense has no solution so Leonard stuck with it. He blitzed Chenal up the middle repeatedly and he ended up having 3 sacks and like 5 tackles for a loss that game. Under Leonhard they ranked 1st in total defense 2 times. They also ranked 5th, 8th, and 41st. In PPG they finished 3rd, 43rd, 10h, 9th, and 4th.

Since taking over as DC in 2017 how many defensive players were drafted high? From 2018-2023 they have had Nick Nelson DB (4th round), Zach Baun LB (3rd round), Leo Chenal LB (3rd round), Keeanu Benton DL (2nd round), Nick Herbig LB (4th round).

Since taking over Leonhard had 1 year where the defense ranked lower then top 10. Since taking over he had 1 player drafted in the 2nd round. 2 players in the 3rd round, 2 players in the 4th round. Constantly having top 10 defenses and they have had 5 players drafted in the 4th round or higher. That to me says everything you need to know about the coach Leonhard is.

I have said I want LaFleur back. But he is starting to dangerously walk the line to where he is going to to get pulled down with his DC. He needs to get a new DC after the season. If he doesn't make the move it will be the end of him in GB.

Things really went south for MLF after he brought Barry back, for this season. He had a chance to rid the team of the most ineffective DC, IMO, in our team's history, but instead, re-signed him and now here we are. The problems we have on D are due to Barry's stupid schemes but all the derison is now on MLF's shoulders. MLF brought Barry back. Anything Barry does to screw up our D is all on MLF. If MLF wants to redeem himself and not go down with the ship, he had better fire Barry quickly, or his time in GB will be history, as well.

"If that’s why Jaire Alexander is sitting out, I actually understand. I’d like to see him play, but with the way this vanilla defense plays, why would a top defensive player want to play for Barry?"

This is what I've feared for the last couple seasons. Dings and bruises become injuries.

At least on O they have Love to rally around and the young guys can't get enough. You see receivers and tight ends limping off the field every play and they're right back by the coach trying to get back in there.

Like two completely different cultures on the same team. Just that neither culture promotes mean and nasty enough to be consistently successful.

If there was any question of whether or not MLF is Head Coach material, yesterday's press conference removed all doubt, he's NOT!
He's proven multiple times that his buddy Barry is more important to him than the Green Bay Packers organization, and now his players. How many defensive players will go to work happy today after he threw them under the bus? I wonder how Gutey feels about that.
Fine, Matt, you created this mess, you and Barry can ride the same bus out of town. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. It's a huge privilege to coach the Green Bay Packers, and you fucked it up!
He and his entire staff should be fired immediately following the final game of the season, no mater how they finish.

The fault has always been with LaFleur as a Head Coach. That’s the context that matters, because that’s what he’s here to be. It is not really relevant whether he’s a good OC, and that isn’t an area where he’s regularly out coached opponents anyway, despite a Hall of Fame QB and strong rosters around Rodgers too at times.

Instead LaFleur’s choices and approaches to practice, player personnel and most obviously coaching undermined those teams and continue to frustrate this one. Barry’s retention isn’t isolated, it’s part of a pattern that’s repeated through out his reign. Barry is not the only current example. The O Line issues are recurrent and regressing not improving. Alternatives are resisted not tested. Just falling back on preference.

What’s changed is that the inevitable dynamics of dysfunction are manifesting. Problems not addressed magnify. Competitors identify and attack them, players feel it, confidence wanes. Personnel are fitted more to maintain the fiction than ability. The gap widens, the myths become more entrenched.

Yesterdays statement contains no positive justifications. Just claims that it has t always been this way (but not denying that similar nadirs have occurred, both earlier this season and in prior years). This is just stated to be due to some errors of judgment that can’t happen again. Unfortunately, this too has been stated emphatically before. Most recently on Monday night in New York, but as far back as November 2021.

This is a classic case of a leader who has been exposed and who is now left with no defense but to dig his heels in because we got here because he lacked the vision and leadership necessary to avoid this. The emperor is indeed naked. He had been for years, it’s just now not the odd voice crying out where’s his clothes?

LaFleur is done. He is not a Head Coach. His termination will come. The only questions are how long those who made the mistake of hiring him will take to face the inevitable and how much damage is done to players and the shape of the personnel choices we will be making while they dither. This roster will still develop mirroring this regime and that regime will shape young players. That’s a lot of picks and a lot of existing talent to risk on a doomed regime.

For the next 3 games, the defense will know their DC is the proverbial a dead man walking. Can we expect business decisions are going to/have been made? MLF seemed surprised at yesterday’s presser when no one had more questions. Hmmm.

Mgt in the front office needs to go as well. There is plenty of blame to go around, and it all starts at the top. The team is in a downward spiral, they'll be lucky to win another game this season. Then the Axe will fall. Time to rebuild the team and front office.

"Linebackers on speedy receivers, two defensive linemen in obvious running situations and defensive backs giving a six yard cushion on short yardage situations."

None of the above has anything to do with communication problems on the field, rather they are blatantly poor defensive calls by Barry. Yet Lafleur throws his players under the bus to protect his DC by alleging "poor communication on the field". I wonder how long it will be before LaFleur loses this locker room?

Even short timer Murphy has to realize he has a problem after this fiasco. No coach can survive losing the locker room and LaFleur just may have with this piece of public stupidity. LaFleur could have continued his Green Bay coaching career by firing Barry. Instead he may well have ended his career here trying to save his friend.

This reminds me of the Amari Rodgers punt return situation last year. LaFleur continued to trot that kid out week after week fumble after fumble to the point that even he (Rodgers) didn’t want to be out there. His confidence was clearly destroyed and MLF continued to put him out there week after week after week, fumble after fumble after fumble.

Meanwhile, Nixon, an All-Pro returner, sat right in front of MLF the entire time on the bench.

I think it’s more than fair to question MLF’s inexplicable inability to adapt and change/do what needs to be done. He really has no cutting edge that I think coaches need to win in this league.

Cory, I agree. MLF shed Barry at the end of the year. He needs to take it a step further.
Get the defense staff in and fire a warning directly at them.
1. Start coaching fundamentals. Apparently they are not on colleges.
2. Tell the you want to see killer instinct drilled everyday.
3. Aggressive basic SHOULDER PAD tackling!!!
That is just for starters.
New DC better subscribe to your directives on a daily basis. If not move on.

MLF likes consistency, like how the defense has consistently sucked during his tenure.

Cory there’s no need to crawl up the reporting structure to find the one(s) responsible, just fast forward to Mark Murphy. He’s the ultimate responsibility. If we keep saying oh_well the board will never remove him before retirement then they won’t, but if we call for changes at the top now then maybe he is forced to hand the football control to a GM and just organizes the 2025 draft until he retires. Call for the rotted head to be cut off before the fish is too rancid to eat.

It would be immediately satisfying to see Joe Barry fired. I understand that's not going to happen, and if we take the emotion out of this whole clusterf*ck, there's no reason not to let LaFleur and crew trip over their dicks and stumble their way through the end of the season. Humiliating losses to the Vikings and Bears should bring the LaFleur Era to a close.

I enjoyed the Rodgers revival and all the wins that surge brought, but there have been consistent CHTV posters with a clearer vision than mine of what this team was and is now. Since '61 has been on point from the get-go; LaFleur was a bad hire, and the organization needs a full 360 eval to save it from a self-propagating wave of BS. I'm not sure how that happens given the Board that's in place, and the structure under which it operates. Are the Packers a financial success? Of course! That's a given regardless of the product on the field.

I have no faith in Matt LaFleur or the inept yes-men that surround him. Some of these guys are still playing with pride, and as if their jobs depend upon it. After the Bucs loss, it'll be interesting to see who mails it in the rest of the season, and if the team quits on LaFleur.

Somebody turn this ship around, please.

Can the current Board be trusted to choose a competent President, HC, GM with integrity (2025)? I can easily see Murphy and cronies manipulating the process. I wish fans would take more proactive stance as there is trouble in Paradise... but we only focus on Barry.
And Barry may stay because there is little real push-back.

Yawn. When things get FUBAR, have to crash & burn to renew

2024 (8 year 2+0+2+4 =8) on deck

8 is the number of money, power, and KARMA

Fill in the blank as to how this (quintessential?) karmic story plays out

In the grand scheme of things, nice guys don't get paid!!!

We knew this when MLF kept Barry on after last season. MLF now knows this was a poor decision and the team has suffered because of it. Whatever hope or vision he had for this defense has been shattered. If he keeps Barry for another year, then this article would be appropriate and should be written. MLF will do the right thing and let Barry walk at season’s end.

PackerNation Calm Down! After 24 hours of watching the tapes, Lafleur has cracked the problem. Apparently, he is quoted by Spoff as revealing ""Basic install, like Day 1 install and we have self-inflicted communication errors and guys quite frankly not in the right spot," Oh and the problems weren't just on defence..... So there you have it. And we all thought it was the appalling, substandard coaching from the incumbent pretenders.... You really couldn't make this stuff up. It's one thing to really screw up on your personnel choices that have proven to be incompetent time and time again. But when you start treating your fan base like they're stupid.... Oh dear Matt, this isn't going to end well...... for you.

All the talk about canning MLF is off. This is a rebuild year what with the cap hits preventing the team from doing anything in free agency. It has a very young roster and young rosters will make mistakes. We new all this coming into the season -- have patience, etc. -- but when the team came close to being a playoff contender, then suddenly our expectations rose (of how well this young, cap-strapped team SHOULD be playing NOW).

Play this out. If MLF were canned after this year, what intelligent HC candidate would consider the job? You'd be hired for ONE YEAR...then you know a new GB President would be replacing retiring Murphy. Would the new GB President keep Gute or replace him? Do I roll the dice the new GM would want me as HC - inheriting a HC that s/he didn't pick themself or might have philosophical/personality clashes with? Would I want to work for that GM? Will GB's new President re-structure the front office -- as HC, then what would my reporting structure be like and input into player personnel with the new GM.

Sentiment has to be that change comes from the top down. The new President/CEO decides on the command structure of the team...and the GM. The GM decides on the HC. Administrative/coaching eyes around the league know GB changed up it's management/reporting structure a couple years ago. They will want to 'wait and see' if it stays, reverts to what it was, or something new before jumping into a Green Bay situation.

Why would anyone (HC) want to jump into a situation that may be completely changing in a year+ -- not knowing where or how you'd fit in with the new setup??

"As dumbfounded as you are, that's how I felt watching it"... Does any of the Packer media-minders ever tell Lafleaur that he's saying this stuff out loud? I mean are these the utterings of a coach in control?

It's disgraceful to the legacy of this team that a thoroughly egotistical HC can throw his 53 players under the bus to save the job of his friend! LaGoof is loyal to one person but not the other 53 players? Is that loyalty? Thats not what the the concept of team is about. That's not what leadership is about!

FIRE LAGOOF AND DINGLE BARRY!

Ok it is obvious this is "playoff" football from this point forward. Given how well MLF has prepared and coached his teams in the playoffs and last year against Detroit ("playoff football" then too) in week 18 how well do you think the Pack will do?
Yeah, not a very promising prospect.

I don’t buy for a minute that Jaire is not playing because of an injury. It might be just enough to make it legal to be declared in the injury report. But it’s sure not enough to keep him from playing. He must really hate Barry and they have to keep it under wraps. If so Jaire will be traded after season. Barry will be gone and ML just took a hit with his team in not confronting Joe not gonna change anything Barry.

I surmise too that it is also a reluctance to fire a DC giving impression that GB is not a favorable place to attract asst coaches. Too bad that it will take until 6 pm on the day of last game Barry’s desk will be empty.

Hey we know this situation is nothing new, its not like wow this is just happening. I have a dam good memory and was thinking of a game similar to the Bucs game just a few years ago and the tv analyst Troy Aikman said " Gee I've never seen a defense give up so much passing yardage", They must have given up X and it was only the third quarter, so Lefluer has looked the other way for a long long time. I wonder if Barry is really Gutts boy and LeFleur doenst want to embarasse his boss more then appease the fans.
Also we can all recall this defense hasnt been able to stop the run for years now and more teams run at the packers then any other team they play. Which I always thought was a big mistake considering the big chunks of yards they could have had passing.
Ya this is on LeFleur and he has to go too.

The issue with keeping Barry, is he knows he's a dead man walking. What kind of effort do you think he's going to put in these last few weeks. Why not let someone else run the show for the remainder of the season. It would probably give the players a bit of a lift getting rid of him. Not firing him, just shows MLF is soft. He is not demanding accountability. MLF says communications are the issue, well, who the hell is responsible for coaching that?

This defense has been inept at zone defense since the day Barry first came. They can't pass off a receiver to save their souls. I know you can't run man all the time, but you can a lot of the time and be very aggressive in zone, by banging the receivers at the LOS.

Its hard to blame lafluer without knowing if murphy is pulling the strings.

What I do know is that am inept special teams coach was hired in 2021 and that unit costs them a spot in the nfc championship game

What I do know is a clown was hired as a defensive coordinator and is three years im and now players sre turning on the coaching staff. Is this lafluers hire or murphy pulling the strings

Either way i really hope jordan an the offense keep growing and excelling I do hope bryce youmg drops 5 tds and 450 yards on us and then i want to see murphys face

I don’t think the problem is Barry. I think it’s the personnel. Until the D can field 11 first rounders there is a clear talent gap. We can achieve that with three end of season Ls and a couple trade ups in this springs draft. /s. Give me some Al Harris. GPG.

The blame for this embarrassing defense falls 100 percent on Matt (Pepe) LeFleur. As incompetent as Joe Barry may be, he reports directly to Pepe.

The buck stops with the Head Coach. As the Boss, you are responsible to identify, address and solve problems within your organization.

The defense has been a problem for Pepe's entire tenure. Hiring Barry with his track record of poor defenses was a huge blunder. Keeping Barry for a second year compounded the problem. Then bringing him back for a third year borders on insanity.

Firing Barry now doesn't absolve LeFleur of any responsibility for the continued defensive failures.

As other commenters have pointed out, Barry isn't Pepe's only collosal personnel error. He's made quite a few.

I've seen enough of this movie. I think there's talent on this roster, they need new leadership to bring it out.

It happened in Denver this year. It took half a season but they look like a different team under Sean Payton.

Time to purge Pepe and his entire coaching staff.

Can we all simply agree that this is not the coaching staff that should be leading the Green Bay Packers. They can't even lead themselves. Clean house and let's stop wasting time. MLF,Barry, and the rest are dead men walking and any talk about continuity and waiting til season's end is delusional. Players that are supposed to be mentors to the younger players appear to be checking out. That is a shame. players want to be led if the goal is clear and they believe in the leader. That is not what we have here by a longshot.

I can hold my nose and live with JB for 3 more games not one more season. There are logical arguments for waiting. May take a house cleaning to fix our defense. Bottom line it is MLF's defense from the start and he needs to fix it by next season or go away.

So sick an tired of every time camera looks at Lafleur his head is buried in play chart. But now after 3 years with a terrible defensive coach he’s gonna now help out with the defense. Really. After his press conference Monday I’m done with him to