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...
Javon Hargrave Already Has Packers Fans Worried About His Role
Javon Hargraves first game in a Packers uniform did not exactly settle the conversation about how Green Bay plans to use him. In the season opener, he was on the field for 30 snaps and finished with one tackle and no pressures, while the defense rotated through a by-committee approach up front. Karl Brooks got the start at defensive end over Hargrave, a wrinkle that was hard not to notice for a player many expected to be featured more prominently.
It is still far too early to make sweeping judgments about Hargraves fit, but the early usage does suggest his role may be more limited than some fans anticipated. For a defense that wants to keep fresh bodies on the line, the Packers may simply be spreading the workload around, yet Hargraves opening-night deployment left plenty of room for questions about how central he will be as the season moves forward. [Read more 🡒]
Packers Just Sent A Clear Message About O-Line Depth
The Packers continued adding layers to their offensive line group by bringing in Cordell Volson after a workout and signing him to the practice squad. Volson arrives with some NFL experience behind him, having been drafted by the Bengals and spending this offseason with the Titans before he was cut loose as they trimmed down to their final roster.
Green Bays move also finishes filling out the practice squad while underscoring how much the team has leaned on outside help to round out its depth. For an offensive line that always needs insurance over the course of a long season, the addition is a reminder that the Packers are still sorting through options and keeping competition alive behind the top group. [Read more 🡒]
Tucker Krafts Message Will Split Packers Fans After That Collapse
Tucker Kraft did not spend much time sugarcoating the Packers ugly opening-week loss, but he also did not sound rattled by it. The Green Bay tight end acknowledged the mistakes that piled up late, even as the defense gave up a barrage of fourth-quarter points and the offense let a game slip away to Minnesotas backup quarterback, a result that only sharpened the sense that last seasons playoff collapse is still hovering over this team.
Still, Kraft drew a firm line between embarrassment and belief, saying the Packers are the best team in the NFL and insisting their only real enemy is themselves. It is the kind of message that will land differently depending on how much patience a fan has right now, but it also fits the early-season reality in Green Bay: there is time to fix this, yet the margin for more self-inflicted losses is already looking thin. [Read more 🡒]