Can LaFleur and Love take the next step in 2026?
Mike Florio and Chris Simms explain why 2026 is a "big year" for the Packers, who have not gotten over the playoff hump with head coach Matt LaFleur and quarterback Jordan Love.
Video Transcript
Jacobs led the league in rushing in 2022 with the Raiders, 1,653 yards.
Yeah.
Last year he had 929 in 15 games.
He had some nagging injuries, ultimately missed two games because of it.
And I'm looking back at the Packers last year.
Remember when they got started?
They beat the Lions right out of the gates, 27 to 13.
Yep.
They beat the Commanders on the first Thursday night game of the year.
Now, we thought the Commanders were gonna be a lot better than they ended up being, so that win wasn't as impressive in hindsight, 27 to 18.
And then you get- Yeah the mini bye, you go to Cleveland, and you lose.
Mm-hmm.
And then Michael Parsons goes back to Dallas, and you have that tie game- Yep that the Packers shoulda won.
Right.
And then they had the early bye, and they won a few games in a row after that.
But yeah, there are some games here where you look at it and it's like, oh my God, you lost to Carolina at home.
Yep.
You lost to the Eagles, and you scored only seven points.
Only seven, yep.
They went through that stretch where they had 20 total points in two games.
Mm-hmm.
They, they did play with their food against the Giants and the Vikings.
They beat the Lions on Thanksgiving, which is objectively impressive, but the Lions weren't the Lions they're used to last year.
No, and all those fourth down conversions they had.
And then it just, I mean nine- Yep n- nine, eight, and one, and barely getting in.
That's the thing, point I made late in the year as we were speculating on the future of Matt LaFleur because there was a period of time where we really didn't know which way it was gonna go.
And once they extended his contract, Ed Policy acted like why was there even a question?
Well, there's a question 'cause this guy was dangling.
Right.
We didn't know.
Right.
We didn't know.
Mm-hmm.
All you had to do was come out and say, "Oh, he's not gonna be fired after this season," even though I said before the season, "I don't like lame duck arrangements.
He's either gonna be extended or..." Essentially, and he didn't use these words, but the message was he's either gonna be extended or he's gonna be fired.
So if you don't say he's safe, we don't know what's going on.
But for three straight years, Chris, they have gotten the seven seed.
Yes.
For three straight years.
If we go back to the days before the 14 team playoff field, Matt LaFleur would not have a job right now.
He has been saved by this expansion from six to seven playoff teams per conference, period.
Period.
He would not be there with s- three straight non-playoff appearances.
Yeah.
They would not have tolerated that by now, and that would've been enough to push him Now, now look, if you, the, if you know that only the sixth seed gets in- Yeah I don't know that you end up getting the sixth seed, but.
The changes things.
Yeah, I know.
You're right, right.
Right, right.
It does change things, but three straight seven seeds is not, is not ideal because there was a time when that would've been three straight non-playoff appearances, and that can result When you have a league where 10 out of 32 coaches were changed out last year, three straight non-playoff appearances can easily get you out of a job.
No, totally.
Well, and then l- you know, it started i- in, in such a more hopeful manner, right?
Where, the, the, the first year they got in was the year they, they won and beat Dallas in Dallas, right?
Where Jordan Love and them came out and bombs away in the wildcard game and upset the Dallas Cowboys, blew 'em out, right?
45 to 17 or 20 or what, something like that.
Then the next week they go in the divisional round to play the number one seed San Francisco 49ers, and they got 'em on the ropes.
I mean, they outplay the 49ers.
They outplay 'em.
Brock Purdy was shaky, right?
All that.
Jordan Love threw two late interceptions, and that pur- that cost them the game on a game where they were, they were the better team that day.
So you thought from that point right there you went, "Ooh, they're officially in the window here.
Like, they're, they're about to be a real problem in the NFC.
They are legit."
They should've been in the NFC championship game against the d- Lions that year.
They blew it.
So then the next year happens, and that's where we start to get, i, you know, the inconsistency I think that we're both talking about here.
Where, yeah, Jordan Love has moments where you go, "Man, that's top five, top six quarterback football" and stu- and stuff right there.
But then there's some moments where you go, "Wait, you can't miss that throw or make that decision there.
And damn, that's, that's the third three and out in a row."
and so there's been that aspect that just feel The, the wide receiver position's been a little bit all over the place and hasn't maybe delivered to the capacity we think it should.
Injuries, of course, with Christian Watson and, and, and, Jaden Reed last year.
I've heard all of that.
So they've been a little unlucky, but have not been able to find, yeah, you know, what do you wanna say, mojo, momentum to where you feel like in these last two, three years that they can just go through a stretch and be dominant.
We know they're good, it's just they don't always show to be dominant, and they haven't shown us a style of play late in the season the last two years especially to make us think that, "Oh wait, they can make a run."
We've gotten to the playoffs the last two years and kind of been like, "Well, you know, maybe they win the wildcard game, but they're not going any farther than that."
And, that's just, that's not good enough, and their team is better than that, and that's where they gotta feel a little unfulfilled.
Matt LaFleur is 76, 40, and 1 in the regular season since becoming the head coach in 2019, and they have had only one losing season, 8-9 in 2022.
They would be riding four straight years of no playoff appearances but for that seven seed in the NFC.
But his first three years were incredible now.
Yeah.
He had, oh, Aaron Rodgers 13 and 3, 13 and 3, 13 and 4.
NFC championship loss to the Buccaneers, a game that they arguably should have won.
Should have won, yeah.
And may have won the Super Bowl the following week in what would've been a rematch of the first Super Bowl before it was even called the Super Bowl, the AFL-NFL championship game between the Packers and the Chiefs.
Yeah.
That could have happened, that should have happened.
So post Rodgers, it has been good but not great.
And the question is where is the Jordan Love ceiling?
Is there still more that he can do by way of consistency and improvement to get there?
Or, and-Again, I, hey, we, we, we, we have to balance out the guys we personally like with our assessment of the skills relative to the skills of others.
There's a point where you just kind of are what you are, and that's okay.
But it's not gonna elevate you into top five, top 10.
I mean, you know, we were doing the exercise last week, top five quarterbacks, and the consensus, Alan Mahomes, Burrow, Jackson, and the question is who's number five?
Yeah.
You didn't mention Jordan Love.
No.
And we were like trying to figure out who's, who's that, who's that fifth one?
Jordan Love's name didn't come up as the fifth one.
No, he's not there right now.
He had the possibility to be the fifth one.
He could be, could be, but based on what we've seen so far, you know, there's, there's only five top five quarterbacks.
Yeah, right.
And I don't know, he may not even be top 10.
That, who knows?
Yeah, he's close.
No, you're right.
but, uh- It, it is.
Yeah.
It's, it's exactly right.
You're saying the right thing.
You know, again, there's moments that we see it and we go, "Wow, that, that's incredible," right?
He looks great.
But then there's these other moments where they're not as efficient and, and let's be real too, Mike, let's just go back into the last two years too.
We've had moments of going, "I, I don't know, I think their offense looks better with Malik Willis."
So I think that, now Malik Willis, I think has star talent, we know that, but yet there was moments that we all thought, "Whoa, man, I don't know, are they more dangerous with him out there?
They Look at him.
Holy cow, throw, run, unbelievable scramble," whatever it may be.
So yeah, I think this is a big year for, for Green Bay, definitely.
And then, you know, not on top of that, okay, we got Josh Jacobs, but you know, by all due count- accounts here, we're not gonna have Micah Parsons early in the year, and if we do have him, he's not gonna be 100% ready to go just kicking ass like we know he normally does.
So yeah, they got some things here and some new young players that they're gonna depend on that are definitely different than the last few years, and they're gonna be interesting to see how it plays out.
