Deflated after Packers' loss, Matt LaFleur dodges job talk - ESPN

CHICAGO — Matt LaFleur could not have made it much clearer: He wants to remain the Green Bay Packers coach.

But after blowing an 18-point lead in Saturday night's NFC wild-card playoff loss to the Chicago Bears, LaFleur declined to say whether he expected to return next season for an eighth year.

«With all due respect to your question, now's not the time for that,» LaFleur said shortly after the Packers' 31-27 loss. «I'm just hurting for these guys. I can only think about what just happened, and there will be time for that.»

LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst each have one more year left on their contracts. First-year team president Ed Policy said before this season that he would prefer not to have a coach or general manager go into a so-called lame-duck year.

That ramped up the pressure this season, which began with a 9-3-1 record only to see the Packers lose five straight games to end the season, although in one of those games — the regular-season finale — they rested most of their starters.

LaFleur has a 76-40-1 regular-season record and has led the Packers to the playoffs in six of his seven seasons, but Green Bay has not reached a Super Bowl during his tenure and has not been to a conference championship game since the 2020 season, the second of back-to-back appearances in LaFleur's first two years.

Three times after Saturday's loss, LaFleur was asked about his job security, and each time he said it wasn't the time to discuss it.

However, he explained what the Packers' job means to him.

«It means everything to me,» LaFleur said. «This is the greatest organization in the world, in my opinion. It's very humbling. I'm certainly disappointed right now, disappointed mostly for — well, not mostly — I'm