Jan 13, 2026
3 min read
Micah Parsons and other Packers players said Monday that they want Matt LaFleur to return as the team's head coach next season.
GREEN BAY, Wis. - Micah Parsons believes he can return to the field in the first month of next season and wants Matt LaFleur back as his coach when he does.
The Green Bay Packers defensive end, speaking for the first time since tearing the ACL in his left knee Dec. 14 against the Denver Broncos, said he spoke with LaFleur after Saturday's NFC loss to the Chicago Bears when speculation began about LaFleur's future in Green Bay.
"When I started watching this, I turned to him and said, 'Man, when I agreed to come here, you were the reason I came here, I want to be a part of it and I love you and I think you're a great coach,'" said Parsons, who hopes to play until next season 3 or 4. I think he cares too much to play.
LaFleur has one year left on his current contract, leaving his future unclear since Packers president Ed Policy said last June that he would prefer not to have a disabled coach.LaFleur reiterated his desire to stay in Green Bay.A source told Adam Schefter on Monday that the Packers are expected to try to make a deal in the coming days to keep LaFleur.
With a 76-40-1 in seven, May be a strong day to be a strong candidate to unlock if he declined to separate ways.
The Packers have finished seventh in the NFC, the back of the wild card, over the past three seasons and have won just one playoff game — against Parsons and his former team the Dallas Cowboys in the 2023 season. Despite six division titles in seven seasons under LaFleur, the Packers have yet to win the NFC North since a streak of three straight championships at LaFleur in his first three seasons (2019-21).
"I think the guy's here," Jayne Riff said."I'm having a good week, I'm not having a good game.
The players spoke to reporters Monday after LeFlore led his final team meeting of the season.Several players said LeFlore did not address his future, but gave no indication that he did not plan to return.
Receiver Christian Watson said Lafleur's message was, "Embrace each other, accept where we are, no matter what the outcome."
Said Tucker Kraft: "I think Matt's a tremendous coach. There's no doubt in my mind that he's going to be here as a Packer. I think a lot of this talk is pretty silly."
The Packers haven't won a game since Parsons retired, losing five straight (including the playoffs) to end their season.They also ended the season without Kraft (torn ACL), two starting offensive linemen -- center Elgton Jenkins (broken leg) and right guard Zach Thome (who said he needed surgery to repair a torn patellar tendon) -- and defensive end Devonte Wyatt (broken ankle) among 15 injured players.
However, they led the bears by 18 points before dragging 25 points in the fourth quarter in a loss of 31-27.
"You can screw up a good coach and good people and you don't know it until they're gone, and I don't want to be in a place where we're like, 'Wow, we let a great coach go,'" Parsons said. "Because at some point the players -- you're talking about doing your job, right? You're talking about the coach, I mean this team scored, how many points did they score? Twenty-seven? Twenty-seven points in the playoffs. I've always got youhe said, if my team scores 21 points, we should win this game.
"We raised 27 points and we lost six, seven on the team's importance, it is 34 points and those who have talked about, he wants to get rid of the coach. Some of the players have to be accountable and those who are what I challenge us as players to take, we have to be accountable. How do we let this game go?"
