The Green Bay Packers’ Week 1 collapse didn’t just reopen old wounds. It put Matt LaFleur’s extension right back under the microscope.
For a franchise that just watched another late-game meltdown, the optics are rough. LaFleur now has one postseason win since Aaron Rodgers left and Jordan Love took over, and that’s not the kind of recent résumé that makes January’s decision to re-sign him look especially sharp. In a league that lives almost entirely in the present, accomplishments fade fast, and Green Bay’s top decision makers are staring at the consequences of betting on a coach who had not fully earned that security.
The playoff loss that came before this latest stumble was ugly enough on its own. The Packers went out after holding a double-digit lead against a hated division rival, and that kind of finish has gotten plenty of coaches shown the door.
Instead, Green Bay chose to extend LaFleur in January. Now the same type of collapse has shown up again in the first week of the 2026 season, making the timing of that move look even stranger.
What makes this worse for the Packers is the pattern. Fans have now watched the team unravel in each of its last two games, and Sunday’s version was the more alarming one.
It came against a team expected to be near the bottom of the NFC North, and that opponent was forced to rely on backup quarterback Bo Nix. Even with that setup, Green Bay still couldn’t stop the slide.
There isn’t much to defend in the coaching here. When a team keeps falling apart like this, questions about leadership are going to follow.
And when that coach was just handed an extension after a playoff collapse, those questions get louder. For Green Bay, that January decision now looks less like stability and more like a choice that may end up costing the organization even more.
In Other News...
Lions Fans Had Another Reason To Be Furious During Bills Loss
The Lions had enough to process after a 41-31 loss to the Bills on Thursday Night Football, but the broadcast gave frustrated Detroit fans one more thing to notice in real time. Buffalo moved to 2-0 with the win, and Josh Allen did plenty of damage with five total touchdowns, yet the scoreboard on the screen briefly told a different story.
During the telecast, a graphic error incorrectly listed the Bills at 3-0 and the Lions at 1-2, a mix-up that was especially annoying for a fan base already watching its team absorb a costly defeat. It was the kind of small mistake that usually gets brushed off, except in a game like this it only added to the irritation as Detroit tried to make sense of a night that got away from it. [Read more 🡒]
Bills Had Dan Campbell Fuming Before This Game Was Even Settled
The Lions had enough offensive production to keep themselves in the fight at Highmark Stadium, but the bigger issue was how quickly the game slipped away. Jared Goff threw for 327 yards and four touchdowns, yet Detroit spent most of Thursday night chasing Buffalo after the Bills built a sizable lead behind a string of Lions mistakes and a defense that never found steady footing.
Dan Campbell was left visibly frustrated by the way the night unfolded, with the Lions piling up 10 penalties and taking repeated blows up front as Goff was sacked four times. Even with the late push, Detroit could not turn the score into a true comeback, and the loss served as another reminder that the margin for error shrinks fast when the discipline and defensive execution are not there. [Read more 🡒]
Lions Fans Had One More Reason To Hate That Primetime Loss
The Thursday night loss in Buffalo was already a rough one for Detroit, and it came with an extra annoyance for Lions fans watching at home. The Bills beat the Lions 41-31 in a game that pushed Buffalo to 2-0, while Josh Allen piled up five total touchdowns and kept the home side in control through the prime-time showcase.
Still, the broadcast itself gave the night a strange aftertaste. A graphic error briefly flashed the Bills as 3-0 and the Lions as 1-2, and that was enough to set off a wave of social media chatter about a supposed Week 3 script leak. It was just a mistake, but for a fan base already dealing with a frustrating result, it only added another layer to a night they would rather forget. [Read more 🡒]