Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur had some big shoes to fill when he was tabbed as the successor to Mike McCarthy to man the sidelines for the green and gold. McCarthy had overseen some very successful campaigns as the leading man for the Packers, but two consecutive losing seasons ended up being his undoing.
But, the McCarthy era was a very successful one for the franchise. Green Bay had a regular season record of 125-77-2 with McCarthy at the helm, winning the NFC North six times and making the playoffs on nine occasions.
His 125 victories are second only to Curly Lambeau and his .618 winning percentage is fifth in Packers’ history. On those nine playoff trips, the Packers went 10-8, including a Super Bowl victory to cap off the 2010 season over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
LaFleur hasn’t found as much postseason success as McCarthy has, going 2-3 in four seasons, but the team has found plenty of regular season success. In his first three seasons as head coach, the Packers won 13 games in each of them. That streak came to an end in 2022, as the Packers went 8-9, but he still has a win percentage of .712 and a record of 47-19.
Despite that hiccup, LaFleur is someone that many people believe to be one of the better head coaches in the NFL. However, Trevor Sikkema of PFF isn’t one of those people. He recently released his top 10 list of head coaches in the league and LaFleur was not among them.
Sikkema has Andy Reid at No. 1, followed by Bill Belichick and Mike Tomlin. Sneaking in at No. 10 is Brian Daboll of the New York Giants, who led the team to a playoff appearance in his first season on the sidelines.
While Daboll’s first season was a massive success and Giants fans love what he has done for the franchise, it was a bit surprising to see him on the list. Some more sustained success, as LaFleur has had with the Packers, and no one would question his standing but landing on the list after one season over Green Bay’s head man was certainly a snub.