Following Sunday night’s 40-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, in which the defense allowed an unprecedented 363 rushing yards, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur did not consider firing defensive coordinator Joe Barry.
According to LaFleur, the Packers missed over 20 tackles. However, he doesn’t think the scheme is to blame for most of those.
“It was by far our worst tackling performance that I’ve seen here,” said LaFleur.
Green Bay’s head coach then went on to say that there was a long conversation on Monday related to the scheme, including different structures they are presenting to the offense and implementing different run mechanisms to try to make it more challenging to run the football. The Packers have to do something different, with their next opponent being the number one rushing offense in the Chicago Bears.
When asked if he would consider changing from Barry as the defensive play caller, LaFleur immediately shut down the notion.
“We’re not going to go down that road,” he said. “Again, if I thought there was an issue there, then I would make the change, but we work as a staff, and collectively, we’re in this sucker together.”
LaFleur hired Barry in 2021 to replace Mike Pettine, who was a carryover from the previous regime. In his first season, Barry’s defense finished ninth overall in total defense and 14th scoring defense. This season, Green Bay has fallen to 16th in total defense and 22nd in scoring defense.
These numbers look even worse when compared to the talent Barry has to work with. On paper, the Packers would appear to have the personnel of a top-10 defense. However, the combination of poor execution from the players and a scheme failing to put players in the best position to succeed has resulted in a disastrous defensive unit.
LaFleur did not rule out the possibility of firing a coach midseason, stating that you are always going to do what is in the best interest of the team. However, despite their 4-8 record, LaFleur is not ready to make any drastic changes to his staff.
“It’s never just one person. It starts with myself, and then it goes to our assistant coaches and then our players. We’re all in this together. If I felt confident it was one person, then I’d pinpoint it.”
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