Packers' Matt LaFleur: I expect 'electric' Soldier Field atmosphere
GREEN BAY, Wis. — The most raucous Matt LaFleur has ever seen Soldier Field was his first game ever as Packers’ head coach.
The Bears and Packers played the first game in the NFL in 2019 — rather than the defending Super Bowl champion — to honor the 100th anniversary of the league.
Matt Nagy wore George Halas’ fedora from the team bus to the locker room. The Bears, who had lost the year before on the “double-doink,” were a trendy breakout team.
“I think back to that atmosphere, how crazy,” LaFleur said before practice Wednesday morning. “Just the anticipation for the game. It was a great atmosphere.”
Saturday will be better.
“I think it’s gonna be electric just like that,” he said.
The Packers won the 2019 opener, `10-3. Amazingly, the Bears have employed four coaches since LaFleur took over — Nagy, Matt Eberflus, interim Thomas Brown and now Ben Johnson. The Bears hadn’t beaten the Packers at Soldier Field since 2019 — until last month, when they recovered an onside kick, scored in the final minutes of regulation and won in overtime when Caleb Williams threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore.
LaFleur expects a better result — and better weather — Saturday night.
“It can’t be any windier than it was last time we were there,” he said. “The one ball [quarterback] Jordan [Love] threw into the end zone took a right on him. … You have to battle the elements."