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Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer
GREEN BAY, Wis. — If ever Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur would shake up his coaching staff before the end of a season, this seemed like the most likely moment, given that the team’s perennially inconsistent defense got torched by Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield on Sunday.
But it wasn’t.
In fact, LaFleur indicated that oft-criticized defensive coordinator Joe Barry would remain as the defensive coordinator and playcaller for at least the remainder of the season.
“Yeah, that is the plan,” said LaFleur, who in his five seasons as head coach has never made an in-season coaching change.
Less than 24 hours earlier, LaFleur did not want to discuss the possibility of any changes after Sunday’s 34-20 loss to the Buccaneers during which Mayfield threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns.
“If I thought that was the best solution today, then we’d make that decision,” LaFleur said Monday. “But when you’re having basic communication problems and you’re supposed to be in a certain coverage or a certain rotation and we’re not getting that communication, that’s what’s so disappointing to me is the fact that it was poor communication.
“And it always starts with us. It starts with myself, and it goes to all our assistant coaches. So obviously the coaching wasn’t up to the standard and our performance on the field definitely showed that as well.”
To that end, LaFleur said he planned to spend more time with the defense this week leading up to Sunday’s game at the Carolina Panthers.
The Packers (6-8) will likely be in a must-win situation during each of the final three games to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Although LaFleur blamed much of the issue on poor communication, he didn’t completely absolve Barry of issues with his game-plan and playcall decisions, especially when it came to how much cushion the Packers gave Tampa Bay’s receivers.
“I know there’s some [calls] that Joe would like to have back, in particular some of those third-and-3-to-4-yard plays where we’re playing soft zone and they can easily get a free completion, just like there were a couple of calls I’d like to have back in the red zone,” said LaFleur, who calls the offensive plays. “And that’s football, but hopefully we can learn from that and not make that same mistake twice.”
It became evident early on Monday that LaFleur would not make a change because Barry held his regular day-after-game meetings with the defense.
“We can’t play the blame game; that’s exactly what we just ended the meeting on,” cornerback Eric Stokes said. “We’ve got to find solutions. There’s no reason to play the blame game; the blame game ain’t going to get us nothing. We’ve got to find solutions because it’s on to Charlotte next week. So yeah, we’ve got to look back in the mirror. We can do everything. Just line up and play ball.”
Barry, who was hired in 2021 to replace Mike Pettine, came under fire last season in large part because of the Packers’ inability to stop the run. It’s been a problem this season, too, with the Packers having allowed more than 200 yards rushing in four games. But Sunday, it was almost all on the pass defense, despite five sacks of Mayfield.
But there were also times this season, especially when the offense struggled early in the year, when LaFleur praised Barry’s unit for keeping the team in games. Only two weeks ago, the Packers had cracked the top 10 in scoring defense. Now, they’ve slipped to 17th in points allowed per game.
“Because I’ve seen us execute this stuff before,” LaFleur said when asked why he’s not making a coaching change. “So, it’s unfortunate that it happened at this time of the year in such an important game. But I’ve seen us execute it earlier in the year or in previous games.”
