After the Green Bay Packers blew an 18-point lead against Chicago on Saturday, the rumor mills have been in overdrive about head coach Matt LaFleur being shown the door. But if it were up to running back Josh Jacobs, he’d want to see LaFleur commanding the locker room the next season as well.

“I think he [LaFleur] has become a great leader since I’ve been here, and I think he cares a lot about this program and the people in the building. I see him put in extra work every day, and I know what he means to the players,” Jacobs said after a disappointing end to their season.

“Speaking for myself, I’m gonna stand firm on wanting him to be the head coach and wanting to figure something out with him.”

LaFleur is under contract through the 2026 season, but last June, Policy mentioned that he would not want to have a lame-duck coach. That said, the coach was also not willing to answer questions about his future with the team.

“Those conversations will be had in a very short period of time,” he said after the game.

As of now, it is unclear how the Bears game will impact his tenure, but what we do know is, the coach is spending his time having discussions with players, his staff, and trying to analyze what went wrong in their second straight opening-round playoff loss.

If he returns next season, he would most likely hire a new defensive coordinator. He expects Jeff Hafley to bag a head coaching position.

LaFleur would not answer whether special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, or any other coaches on his staff, would return.

The contract decision won’t be a secret, like last time

When LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst last received contract extensions in the 2022 offseason, it happened quietly and behind closed doors. This time, that kind of discretion won’t be possible, especially in the wake of the loss to the Bears.

Back then, the contract extension news was not out until the training camp in July that year. Since the extension made complete sense, it is not known why the then-team president, Mark Murphy, kept it a secret, but the situation is completely different today.

Policy has replaced Murphy and might not take a similar route. After all, a historic collapse on LaFleur’s resume doesn’t look good.

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While the Packers have gone 76-40-1 in the regular season under LaFleur and also made it to six playoffs out of seven during his time as the HC, the team never reached the Super Bowl. They have also not reached a conference championship game since the 2020 season.

Matt LaFleur on the script getting flipped in the second half of the Bears game

Some thought the Packers blowing a 16–6 lead late in the fourth quarter against the Bears in Week 16 was as bad as it could get. Turns out, that was just a preview. The wild-card loss somehow managed to be even more deflating, and that’s exactly why Matt LaFleur didn’t dodge accountability afterward.

“When you are in complete control of the football game, and the script gets flipped from the second half, it was a lot of self-inflicted things. We had opportunities to put them away, and we couldn’t get it done,” the head coach said during the post-game press conference.

He wasn’t exaggerating.

Green Bay entered the fourth quarter up 21–6. Fifteen minutes later, they were walking off the field with a 31–27 loss. Chicago outscored them 25–6 in the final frame, and every phase contributed to the collapse. The offense stalled, the defense couldn’t get stops, and special teams added to the chaos.

In the third quarter alone, the Packers had four possessions and managed just one first down. Momentum was slipping, even before the scoreboard reflected it. Defensively, they couldn’t contain quarterback Caleb Williams, who threw for 361 yards and two touchdowns, repeatedly extending drives when Green Bay needed a stop.

Special teams then took center stage for all the wrong reasons. The Packers did push the lead to 27–16, but kicker Brandon McManus missed the extra point. After Chicago cut the deficit to three, he followed it up by missing a 44-yard field goal on the next drive. That sequence turned the game around.

By the time the Bears sealed it, the damage was complete. Chicago now moves on to host a divisional-round game at home. As for the Packers and LaFleur, the season ends here.