Reports: Packers plan to retain Matt LaFleur
Team president Ed Policy and Packers head coach Matt LaFleur are expected to meet this week to work out a new contract, according to multiple reports.
LaFleur has one year remaining on his current deal with the Packers, who bowed out of the playoffs on Saturday night in Chicago when the Bears rallied from 18 points down to send Green Bay home in the wild-card round.
At his end-of-season press conference Sunday in Green Bay, LaFleur said he spoke with Policy on the way home from Chicago and expected to meet with him Sunday night or Monday. He made clear his hope was to stay with the Packers as speculation mounted he could be a candidate in Miami or Baltimore.
"This is one of one. I love this place. I love the people," LaFleur said. "I love our players, the locker room, everybody in our organization. This is a unique place. The community has been outstanding. I grew up in the Midwest, and it's got the same type of vibe that I grew up in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Unless you're from here, you don't understand how friendly everybody is. ... I've lived other places, so I think this is a unique place, and it's a special place. My kids love it here, my family loves it here."
Policy told Packers shareholders at their annual meeting this summer he would prefer not to enter a season with a coach on the final year of his deal.
LaFleur and the Packers went 9-3-1 and were in position to compete for the No. 1 seed in the NFC when Green Bay lost pass rusher Micah Parsons to a torn ACL at Denver. They finished the season with five consecutive losses.
"We're not where we want to be," LaFleur said after the loss to the Bears. "I know we fought through a lot of adversity this year. Unfortunately, we didn't do enough to overcome that adversity. That's all of us collectively."
He has a 76-40-1 record in Green Bay and has reached the playoffs in six of his seven seasons. Green Bay went to consecutive NFC Championship games in 2019 and 2020 but is 3-6 in the playoffs overall under LaFleur, 46.