Packers fans are venting, and it’s easy to understand why. Green Bay has dropped seven of its eight games since Micah Parsons got hurt, and the skid has included a blown double-digit lead in the Wild Card round against the Chicago Bears, a blown lead to the Minnesota Vikings in Week 1, and a blowout loss in the home opener.
The only win in that stretch came in overtime against the ever-struggling New York Jets. Put that together with five straight losses to end last season, and it’s no surprise the fan base is ready to push Matt LaFleur and GM Brian Gutekunst out the door.
But the growing chatter about Mike Tomlin doesn’t hold up. The idea is built more on frustration than reality, and even if it were possible, it wouldn’t fix the Packers’ problems.
Tomlin is under contract to do TV this season, and while there may be a clause that allows him to return to the league, that part is only speculation. The Steelers also didn’t fire him; he stepped away on his own.
That matters, because even if Tomlin wanted back in, Pittsburgh would still control his contract. Green Bay wouldn’t be able to simply hire him as a free agent. A trade would be required, which means giving up assets for a coach who isn’t even available in the usual way.
And from a football standpoint, the fit doesn’t make sense either. LaFleur deserves heat for his big-game failures, his tendency to get too cute, and his rough clock management, especially when his team is ahead. But replacing him with Tomlin would just swap one coach with serious questions for another.
Tomlin’s résumé comes with a Super Bowl ring, but the recent results are hard to ignore. The Steelers spent years living in that middle ground of .500 seasons and first-round playoff exits, and it has been almost a decade since Tomlin’s last playoff win. Even longer than that, Pittsburgh hasn’t looked like a real contender.
Some will point to Tomlin’s reputation as a culture builder and a coach players respect. But that image doesn’t exactly line up with every player who passed through Pittsburgh, including Antonio Brown, Ben Roethlisberger, Chase Claypool, Le’Veon Bell, or James Harrison.
The bigger issue in Green Bay isn’t the defense. It’s an offensive line that has been borderline amateur, a running game that isn’t pulling its weight, and a quarterback who has improved but still leans on his gunslinger instincts and hero-ball tendencies when the pocket and the clock start closing in.
Tomlin is a good coach, but he also got a long leash because of one Super Bowl years ago, much like Mike McCarthy did. Packers fans knew exactly how they felt about McCarthy, and there’s no reason to chase his defensive mirror image now.
Even if the rumors were real - and they aren’t - Tomlin looks like the last coach Green Bay should be eyeing once it eventually moves on from LaFleur. And that move may not even come this season, since the team just gave LaFleur an extension.
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The backdrop here is a linebacker room that could use some steadiness, especially with a young group still trying to find its footing. Pratt spent part of the offseason as a coaching assistant, which only added to the sense that a reunion would not be a wild idea, but a practical one if Cincinnati wants more veteran leadership in the middle of the defense. [Read more 🡒]
Andrei Iosivas Rumored Relationship Just Sparked A Very Relatable Bengals Complaint
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What has resonated most with Bengals fans, though, is a complaint that feels almost too familiar in an NFL town: Duddy said she has been frustrated by losing friends because of trades. It is the kind of side effect that comes with the leagues constant churn, and it has only amplified the attention around a relationship neither the Bengals nor the people involved have confirmed publicly. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Have A Growing Dexter Lawrence Concern Officials Arent Fixing
Through the first three games, Dexter Lawrence has already become a problem teams are trying to solve with extra bodies and creative protection plans, and the Bengals have noticed how much attention the disruptive defensive tackle is drawing. Opposing offenses have leaned on double teams to slow him down, a sign of how quickly he can wreck a game when he gets free.
The bigger concern came from the Steelers, who used a blocking technique that involved grabbing and lifting Lawrences leg, a tactic that appears to run afoul of NFL holding rules and carries obvious injury risk. Lawrence and the Bengals have raised the issue, but the lack of a flag has left the door open to whether other teams will try it too, and whether officials will eventually step in before it becomes a wider problem. [Read more 🡒]