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Rob Demovsky
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Micah Parsons believes he can be back on the field within the first month of next season, and he wants Matt LaFleur to be his coach again when he does so.
The Green Bay Packers defensive end, speaking for the first time since he tore the ACL in his left knee on Dec. 14 against the Denver Broncos, said he spoke with LaFleur after Saturday’s NFC wild-card loss to the Chicago Bears when speculation began about LaFleur’s future in Green Bay.
«I reached out to him when I started seeing this, and I said, ‘Man, when I agreed to come here, you were part of the reason why I came here, I want you a part of this and I love you and I think you’re a great coach,'» said Parsons, who thinks he can play by Week 3 or 4 next season. «And he appreciated those words, and we had a brief conversation, but Matt, I think he’s a great guy and I just think he cares so much, like he cares so much about the players.»
Sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Monday that the Packers are expected to try to work out a deal in the coming days to keep LaFleur.
With a 76-40-1 record in seven seasons, LaFleur likely would be a strong candidate for other openings if he and the Packers decided to part ways.
The Packers have been the No. 7 seed in the NFC, the last wild-card spot, the past three seasons and have won just a single playoff game — against Parsons and his former Dallas Cowboys team in the 2023 season. Despite six playoff appearances in seven seasons under LaFleur, the Packers have not won the NFC North since a streak of three straight division titles in LaFleur’s first three seasons (2019-21).
«I think he belongs here, man,» receiver Jayden Reed said. «The past three years I’ve been here, I’ve been in the playoffs every year. He’s created a winning atmosphere here. I think he’s a great coach. I don’t really have any opinions of others in that situation. I feel pretty good about him.»
Players spoke to reporters on Monday after LaFleur led their final team meeting of the season. Multiple players said LaFleur did not address his future but gave no indication that he did not plan to return.
Receiver Christian Watson said LaFleur’s message was to «embrace each other, embrace the position that we’re in regardless of the result.»
Said tight end Tucker Kraft: «I think Matt’s an outstanding head coach. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’ll remain here as a Packer. I think a lot of that talk is pretty silly.»
The Packers did not win a game after Parsons went down, losing five straight games (including the playoffs) to end the season. They also finished the season without Kraft (torn ACL), two starting offensive linemen — center Elgton Jenkins (broken leg) and right tackle Zach Tom (who said he needs surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon) — and defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (broken ankle) among 15 players on injured reserve.
Still, they led the Bears by 18 points before giving up 25 points in the fourth quarter of the 31-27 loss.
«You can get spoiled with a good coach and good people, and you don’t realize until they’re gone and I don’t want to be at that point where we realize like, ‘Damn, we let such a great coach go,'» Parsons said. «Because at one point the players — you talk about do your job, right? You talk about coach, I mean this team put up what, how many points do they score? Twenty-seven? Twenty-seven points in a playoff game. I always told you, if my team puts up 21 points, we should win that game.
«We put up 27 points and we miss six, seven on special teams, that’s 34 points and you’re talking about, you want to get rid of a coach. At one point players have to have accountability and that’s something that I’m challenging us as players that we need to take, we need to have accountability. How do we let that game go?»
