Despite a calamity of errors from his special teams on Sunday night at Lambeau Field, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said he is not considering making a change at coordinator.
He dismissed the possibility without hesitation when asked immediately following the Packers’ 45-30 win over the Chicago Bears.
While his job may not be in jeopardy come Monday morning, Maurice Drayton’s group had nothing short of a nightmare of a night in primetime.
The Packers special teams allowed 213 return yards in the first half, including a 97-yard punt return for a touchdown and two kickoff returns of at least 40 yards. Mason Crosby had a kickoff go out of bounds, and Malik Taylor muffed a kickoff return out of bounds at the 5-yard line. Overall, the Packers gave the Bears starting field position of the 40-yard line or better four times in the first half, and Chicago used the short fields to score 27 points.
The second half was only slightly better.
Corey Bojorquez produced a 22-yard punt, Amari Rodgers had a muffed punt return negated by penalty, and Marquez Valdes-Scantling muffed an onside kick recovery.
Thanks to NFL rules, the Bears weren’t allowed to advance the muffed punt or the muffed onside recovery, or both could have resulted in touchdowns. On the muffed punt, a penalty on the Bears gunner for going out of bounds negated the play entirely.
The Bears finished the game with 259 return yards on five kickoff returns and three punt returns. Grant’s 97-yard touchdown was both the first punt return for a touchdown in the NFL this season and the 10th longest punt return in NFL history.
It’s hard to remember a more thorough collapse from the Packers special teams in recent team history.
Drayton, who is in his first season in a lead role, replaced Shawn Mennenga as the Packers special teams coordinator in 2021. The promotion of Drayton from assistant to coordinator has done nothing to solve the team’s consistent issues in the third phase.
One bright spot on Sunday night was the field goal operation. Crosby hit his only field goal attempt and all six of his extra points. Sunday night marked the first time Crosby hasn’t missed a field goal in a game since Oct. 28. The veteran kicker has missed an NFL-high nine field goals and an extra point this season.
The Packers are rarely rash with coaching decisions, especially firings. LaFleur will give Drayton more time to get his group fixed, but he’s running out of time and the stakes are only getting higher. Drayton has four more regular season games to iron out the wrinkles before the Packers enter the win-or-go-home tournament known as the NFL playoffs.
Making a change at coordinator wouldn’t guarantee improvement, but LaFleur is risking the Packers’ Super Bowl hopes if the Drayton’s special teams end up becoming a fatal flaw in the postseason.
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