Matt LaFleur's success in Green Bay is directly tied to Aaron Rodgers
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur inherited a perfect situation when he took the job in 2019. Aaron Rodgers was the quarterback and the Packers were clearly underachieving in the final years under Mike McCarthy.
He has since gone 13-3 in his first two seasons and already holds an 11-3 record so far in 2021. Two trips to the NFC Championship Game to is not a bad way to begin a head coaching career.
A recent stat highlighted just how special LaFleur's start has been as a first-time NFL head coach.
Below is a complete list of NFL head coaches since 1970 to win more than 10 games and a division title in each of his first three seasons:
Matt LaFleur. https://t.co/X8vR1JVMru
He is now the first NFL head coach since 1970 to win at least 10 games and a division title in each of his first three seasons. But it would be foolish to ignore the main reason why LaFleur is having so much success in Green Bay.
Matt LaFleur has Aaron Rodgers to thank for all his Packers success
Rodgers embraced the new offense in 2019 and finished with 4,002 yards and 26 touchdowns. That earned him a Pro Bowl selection and a trip to the NFC Championship Game, where the Packers fell to the San Francisco 49ers.
2020 was even better as both LaFleur and Rodgers were forced to deal with unnecessary drama after the decision to draft Jordan Love with the team's first-round pick.
LaFleur could have had a huge problem on his hands, but Rodgers showed up and won the NFL MVP award with 4,299 yards and a league-leading 48 touchdowns. They once again advanced to the NFC Championship Game, only to have some questionable coaching decisions lead to a 31-26 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It would be unfair to totally discount the work LaFleur has done. He revived a team that was flailing under McCarthy's leadership and he has gotten the best out of Rodgers once again at the age of 38.
Sooo much credit here to LaFleur and the play calling/play designs paired together…
This Packers offense with Rodgers & Co and LaFleur is a beautiful marriage of talent and scheme! twitter.com/aaronnagler/st…
A similar discussion came up when talking about Bill Belichick and Tom Brady.'s time together with the New England Patriots. Who made the other one better? Or was the partnership equally beneficial in nature? In retrospect, it appears that Belichick and Brady both brought the best out of each other.
The difference in Green Bay is that instead we saw a rookie head coach pairing up with a veteran quarterback. So it would be a major stretch to say that LaFleur, at this point in his career, has played a major role in Aaron Rogers' overall success.
Rodgers won a Super Bowl without LaFleur and is now trying to win one with him before he potentially leaves town this offseason.
We will never know LaFleur's true potential as a superstar coach until Rodgers is playing elsewhere. But we suspect he is hoping that reality does not set in for at least a few more years as he tries to advance beyond the NFC Championship Game and into the Super Bowl.
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