Benster and D Pick Your Games -- Matt LaFleur Has No Good Argument To Be The Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers Edition

At 5:30 on Sunday, I was thinking that the Packers were looking good, and that any criticism I had was going to be nit picky. But then 4th quarter Matt LaFleur struck again, and this can't keep happening. 

And yet it does.

We will talk about that later. Also, some of my fellow Packers fans need to admit that those 3 calls that gave the Vikings first downs on that drive were not the reason that the Vikings won. That unfairly diminishes the Vikings coaching staff for making adjustments and the Vikings players for executing better. 

Surprisingly fair-minded of you!

I also have to give props to Ben Leber for going on KFAN and being willing to explain why Packers fans were upset about those 3 calls. Once again, Packers fans can't blame the officials for those 3 calls because the Packers have to stop putting themselves in a position where a judgement call can cost them the game. 

If the moment calls for a boot on the throat, LaFleur needs to stop wearing sensible shoes.

Old Dude is selling Florsheims again! Well, I don't have time for that, because I am feeling the HYYYYYPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! and ready to pick some games. Watch me work.

Akron Zips (-23.5) vs. Minnesota Golden Elite Rowers of the Boat It was obvious that the Gophers didn't come out of the gates strong against the Mississippi State Bulldogs last week, and the Gopher fans quite rightly were upset at what they saw. Contrary to what you may think, I can and have given Fleck praise despite being a huge Badger fan. But it is obvious that once the Gophers had to hurry up and pass the ball more, Fleck's style isn't built for that. I still think the Gophers will win 8-9 games and likely win a bowl game, but they need to play better. The good news is that Akron isn't a good MAC team, and this should go as a classic MACrifice game that we all know and love. Row Row Row Your Boat Elitely 41, Zips 17. 

Peej has his limitations as a coach. Kamario Taylor was very impressive, but he's not coming back to Minneapolis this weekend. Zip ties all around. Minnesota 34, Akron 10.

Eastern Michigan Eagles (+23.5) vs. Beloved Wisconsin Badgers In the interest of full disclosure, I only saw part of the first quarter and the last two minutes of the Badger game because of a family engagement. That being said, the Badgers did look good but still have some things to work on. One thing that I do like is that the Badgers are starting to look better running the football, and the defense let the Leathernecks move the ball but did stiffen up in the red zone. Eastern Michigan is historically not a great school in the MAC, and this should be another game where the Badgers can build some confidence going into Big Ten play. Once again, Fickell is going to need to get to 8-9 wins and likely win at least one of the Hawkeyes and Gophers games to keep his job. Badgers 40, Eagles 10. 

The Badgers are still very much a work in progress. They should have destroyed Western Illinois but they didn't. I'm looking to see better execution overall this time. Wisconsin 38, EMU 17.

  LSU Bayou Bengals (-3.5) vs. Ole Miss Rebels So my initial plan for this week was to do A Very Special Comment dunking on Lane Kiffin for the slimy way he left Ole Miss and how LSU has assembled a really nice threesome of coaches that are easy to dislike between Lane, Kim Mulkey, and Wiretap Will Wade. 

Lotta slime in the ol' Bayou, that's for sure.

But now Kiffin has to go back and face the music and a fanbase who rightfully should be mad at how he nearly derailed the Ole Miss team he built, while napalming every bridge in Oxford. By the way, I am not a fan of Ole Miss and hate the SEC, and yet even I would have been okay with the Rebels winning the national title as a rebuke to Kiffin. LSU is going to be good, but something tells me that Kiffin will come up short this weekend and Ole Miss will get the vengeance they want. I just hope that the Ole Miss fans don't do something stupid or hurt anyone. Rebels 62, Bayou Bengals 41. 

Ole Miss fans are actually somewhat genteel, but if they add a little extra hooch to their elegant tailgate highballs, it could get interesting. LSU has better talent and on a neutral field they'd win, but this won't be neutral. Ole Miss 34, LSU 31.

Minnesota Vikings (+4.5) vs. Bear Down Chicago Da Bearz Still Suck Well, the Vikings are feeling a lot better. Thanks to a great fourth quarter, they are in a good spot. As Mrs. D aka Mom points out, being 1-1 at worst for the Vikings is still a pretty solid place to be given that the Lions looked really bad on Thursday.  The interesting question for me that the Vikings are going to face is what happens if Carson Wentz goes into Chicago and outplays Caleb Williams. Do you think that some Vikings fans would argue that Wentz should get the nod over Kyler Murray, assuming that Murray is healthy enough for next week? As for the Bears, they lit up the scoreboard like a pinball machine, though my fantasy team would like Colston Loveland to get the ball some. Obviously this will be a tight one, but I like the Vikings to keep up the momentum. Vikings 27, Bears 24. 

The Vikings defense is built on speed. Soldier Field is the worst grass field in the league. The weather forecast is calling for rain and I expect it to be a slow track. If ol' Caleb has more than a half-second to throw, he'll beat the all-out blitzes. This could be a shootout, but on a slow track I think da Bearz wear the Vikings down. Bears 28, Vikings 23.

Glorious Green Bay Packers (-3.5) vs. New York J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS The bottom line is that the Packers need to figure out how to close games, and it is obvious that they need to protect Jordan Love better. The fact that Love was able to play as well as he did given that he had Vikings in his face every time he dropped back was impressive. The Jets are still an NFL team.

Are you sure about that?

Yes, I am sure of it. Don't you have some pills to take? Ahem. This game isn't going to be as easy as people think, especially because the Packers have struggled going out to the Meadowlands and seem to play tough games there. What would really help is that if the Packers get a double digit lead in the 4th quarter that they close it out and I don't have to come back here and question if this team can close out games. Also, I hope that that horrible turf at MetLife doesn't cause a major injury. Packers 24, Jets 10.

That turf is a concern. So are the Jets. They do have talent and the Packers have to be seeing ghosts after what happened last week. That mean old Flores will not be in the building on Sunday, but the Packers had better be ready. I do think they bounce back. Packers 28, Jets 20.

And now, it is time for A Very Special Comment. That title certainly is very strong, but by this point Matt LaFleur has demonstrated that he is in a space where he isn't measuring up to the standards that the Packers have. He isn't the only one to blame, but at this point the case against him isn't criticism, it is just facts that everyone is seeing. The Packers since the 2021 season haven't hosted a playoff game, which is hard to believe, but they are certainly in danger of being the longest gap between home playoff games in my lifetime. 

You know what? You should really watch this:

You're spoiled, right?

I know, old dude. You remember lots of bad things in the past. The 70s Packers, Three Mile Island, Skylab falling from the sky, Brezhnev's monolithic eyebrows. I get it. But back to the matter at hand. The Packers haven't won a division title since 2021, and have seen their playoff seeding go from being the 1 and 2 seeds early in LaFleur's tenure to being 7 seeds. Going into that horrible playoff game against the 49ers, LaFleur was 2-2 in the playoffs. Since then has now gone 1-4, with late leads not being taken care of in 2021, 2023, and 2025. The Bears and Lions have started to win more consistently against the Packers in the past couple of years. The Packers are also on a 6 game losing streak, which is the longest losing streak since the Lindy Infante era. 

Oh, I remember Lindy Infante.

That's right, not even Ray Rhodes or Mike Sherman ever had that bad of a losing streak and those are the two weakest head coaches the Packers have had since Mike Holmgren was hired. LaFleur's losses have started to follow a trend, where there have been a rash of penalties, a team that is unable to close out leads, and seeing at least one unit be inconsistent and the team being unable to respond to adjustments that the opposition has made after halftime. And if you are mad at me, I am just stating facts. 

Yes. Yes you are.

And Sunday featured all of those things. The Packers struggled on offense, they committed a bunch of penalties, and failed to respond when Flores and KOC made adjustments, blew the lead, and then melted down when facing adversity. Once again, everything I said is factual. What makes it frustrating is that LaFleur once again made a coaching mistake with his decision in regards to the 4th and 1 call. I personally don't mind the idea of being aggressive in wanting to go pick up one yard, and don't even mind running a sneak. But what really frustrated me was that he and Stenavich weren't on the same page regarding the call. I would have either had someone to push Love across or have had Kraft take the snap given that he played quarterback in high school and was also a bigger body. As great an offensive line coach as Stenavich is, he isn't the right fit as an offensive coordinator, and I question that he would be able to call plays should LaFleur give that duty up. 

Which is why LaFleur hasn't delegated the duty.

What should have happened in the offseason would be for LaFleur to move on from Stenavich and get an offensive coordinator who was capable of calling plays and who would have been willing to challenge LeFleur to get better. I get you can't blame the coaches when players make mistakes, but at the end of the day LaFleur keeps putting the players in a position to fail, and he isn't a young head coach anymore. In fact, he is the most senior NFC North head coach. However, Gutey deserves some of the blame for Sunday. It has become obvious that his like for getting athletes with high RAS scores has made the offensive line worse. During the peak of the Aaron Rodgers era, a lot of people forgot the the Packers had an experienced and good offensive line that by and large protected Aaron and allowed him time and gave the running backs holes to run through. 

The Packers haven't been good at evaluating offensive linemen in the past couple of years, and Gutey should have invested more resources into the offensive line. Ed Policy has already made the first mistake of his tenure as president. January would have been the right time to let LaFleur go. After all, LaFleur was the right head coach when he was first hired, and did a great job in navigating the transition from Rodgers to Love. Most Packers fans would have understood that LaFleur had taken a few steps back, and a fresh voice would have been warranted. 

In fact, Policy could have tried to trade LaFleur for a draft pick or two or let him go to the TV studio or booth for a year. But instead he doubled down. That has been a trend for the last two head coaches. Mike Sherman didn't help himself as a coach with his work as a GM, but he stuck around a year too long after stalling out in the playoffs. Mike McCarthy also probably stuck around a year too long, but Ted Thompson didn't want to fire him after the Run the Table team covered up flaws and Aaron's collarbone injury derailed the 2017 season and McCarthy had a Super Bowl title that earned him some grace even if it might have been misplaced. LaFleur doesn't have a Super Bowl title or have coached the Packers in a Super Bowl. 

The biggest problem I have with the Packers leadership is that they tend to hold the standard of rather let someone go a year early than a year late to the players and players alone. It is the same problem that the Steelers had where they let Mike Tomlin stay around too long despite a downturn in his playoff record. The difference is that Tomlin had earned that grace with a Super Bowl and his streak of winning seasons. The point is that the Packers are in a win now window because they traded for Micah Parsons. Matt LaFleur is in danger of wasting that window, but Policy ultimately made it clear that he thinks the downturn LaFleur has had is okay. It isn't okay, and Sunday proved that the same things happen over and over again. 

 Enjoy your football this weekend. Ben out.

Benster and D Pick Your Games -- Are The Vikings In A Tougher Place Than Most People Think Edition

Welcome back, and while what happened to the Badgers last week was a hard watch in the 2nd half, a Very Special Comment would be unfair considering that the Domers look like a team on a mission. 

Catholics are fond of mission trips, even to exotic Lambeau.

 As for the Vikings, they have made a lot of changes and decisions that I ended up talking to someone I trust who can answer those questions for us. 

I suspect I know the fount of wisdom in this case.

 I am feeling the HYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEE! and ready to pick some games. Watch me work.

 Mississippi State Clanga (+1) vs. Minnesota Golden Elite Rowers of the Boat I have to give the Gophers credit for scheduling a sneaky good non conference home and home with the Bulldogs, and will give the Bulldogs credit for being willing to travel up north. College football can benefit from teams deciding to do at least one interesting non conference game a year besides the cupcake games, and this will give some direct SEC vs. Big Ten comparisons on the field to start the season off. I also have been critical of the SEC not playing 9 league games in the past, so I will give the SEC credit for going to 9 conference games. As for the game, I think that the Gophers looked good last week, and Drake Lindsey looks like he is going to be the best quarterback that PJ has had in his time with the Gophers. The Bulldogs look like they are going to be a middle of the pack SEC outfit, and think that the Gophers are going to play well and get a good non conference win. Row Row Row Your Boat Elitely 27, More Cowbell 21. 

It pains me to say it, because ol' Peej drives me nuts, but the guy can coach and he's done a good job of establishing a consistently competent and often very good program here. The Gophs have talent on both sides of the ball this year and a number of guys with NFL ability. If Lindsey turns out to be one of those guys, the Gophers could make some noise in the conference. Gophers 24, Mississippi State 21.

  Western Illinois Leathernecks (+39.5) vs. Beloved Wisconsin Badgers I will give the Badgers credit for hanging in there until Colton Joseph threw the pick 6 last week, but obviously we all knew that beating the Irish would be difficult. I will say that I did see something that looked like Wisconsin football. The bottom line is that for Luke Fickell to keep his job, he needs to win 8-9 games and beat at least one if not both of Iowa and Minnesota. I will say that Shawn Eichorst being AD makes me nervous given what he did with Nebraska, and hope that I am wrong. Western Illinois is your typical tuneup game, and I think that the Badgers should have a get right game. Hopefully it is a low stress game. Badgers 49, Leathernecks 0. 

If the Badgers don't breeze in this one, the voices will be getting louder. For now, all quiet on State Street except for faint rumbling. Wisconsin 42, Western Illinois 7.

Glorious Green Bay Packers (+1.5) vs. Minnesota Vikings So the Vikings ended up deciding to give Kyler Murray the keys to the quarterback position and put JJ McCarthy in the third string role. Given that the Vikings had a busy offseason full of questions about how they would line up against the Packers, I decided to bring in an expert who follows the Vikings. 

Mrs. D, a/k/a Mom, is a Vikings fan as longtime readers know. When I asked her about what she thought about the Vikings offseason, she mentioned she thought that it was a good idea to have McCarthy be the third string quarterback and get to learn the position better. She is also hoping for a successful season which she says is winning a playoff game. 

You should listen to your mother.

Well, I do, but I've learned to tune out the Geritol Fan when necessary.

I'll allow it.

My take on the Vikings is that they need to win a playoff game, because it is hard to believe that KOC has yet to win a playoff game. I get the sense that his seat is slightly hotter than people around here want to admit. As for the Packers, I think LaFleur is going to need to really improve on some things. I personally think that LaFleur has taken a step backwards, and the same mistakes keep piling up. Call me arrogant, but the Packers are an organization that expects to win Super Bowls. The nature of the Josh Jacobs suspension isn't known at this time, but I assume he will be suspended and he deserves to be suspended because of the choices he made back in May. I'm worried about the Packers being banged up along the offensive line against Brian Flores, but on the flip side I think that Jonathan Gannon knows exactly what to expect from Kyler Murray, given their history together in Arizona. Packers 25, Vikings 22. 

It's a good test for both teams. Kyler Murray has never had a better supporting cast than now and he will certainly have his moments. The danger the Vikings face is they have three quarterbacks on the roster and they all have significant injury histories. I thought the team picture they took was particularly interesting: 

Kyler, Carson and 9 on the march, wobbling a bit

 I also wonder if the running game will have enough juice to keep the Packers from going all out on the pass rush. Without Josh Jacobs, the Packers have a similar issue, so this could be a game with a lot of balls in the air. Jordan Love has seen plenty of the Vikings and he's smart enough to anticipate the tricks that Brian Flores will have. Will it be enough? Vikings 27, Packers 24.

 Enjoy your football this weekend. Ben out.

Benster and D Pick Your Games-------Vikings And Lions Grudge Match Edition

It is incredible to think that either the LOLions or the Vikings could win 14 games this year and having to be a wild card team. 

There's never been anything like this in NFL history. And considering how often the NFC North has been suspect, it's amazing.

Meanwhile, the Packers are trying to determine if they are going to fly out to Los Angeles or Philadelphia. I would prefer to face the Rams, but will take my chances with the Eagles. 

Neither is a picnic lunch, but what are you gonna do?

Well, I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I am ready to pick some games and am feeling the HYYYYYYYYYPPPPEEEEE! Watch me work.

Bear Down Chicago Da Bearz Still Suck (+10) vs. Glorious Green Bay Packers The bottom line for the Packers is that they lost last week because they once again dug themselves too big of a hole in the first half to overcome. Given that the NFC North race probably deserved to come down to a Vikings Lions showdown among themselves, I am not as mad as I could have been. Playing the starters is something that I agree with, especially because the Bears are going to be playing hard. Lest we forget, the Bears literally came within one hand of a dramatic comeback the last time. This won't be an easy game, but the Packers should win. Packers 32, Bears Still Suck 10.

The Bears will come hard, but there's a stench of death around that team that wasn't there when they played the Packers in Chicago earlier in the year. Packers are going to be motivated. Not sure some of the mercenaries on the Bears will be. Packers 28, Bears 16.

Minnesota Vikings (+3) vs. Detroit LOLions So it all comes down to this as it should be. The winner of this game gets the road to New Orleans coming through them, and the loser gets a tricky trip to the NFC South winner next week. The Lions won a back and forth game back in October, and rest assured they need the bye. Remember, the Lions got hit with an early bye, and have a bunch of injuries. I asked Mrs. D, aka Mom if she would feel confident beating Tampa if disaster strikes. She indicated that she would be fairly confident as a Vikings fan. This game is going to have a lot of hype to live up to, but I think it will. The magic of 1998, 2009, and 2017 seems to be coming back to the Twin Cities, and I think that the Vikings are going to take a gigantic step forward on Sunday. Vikings 39, LOLions Gonna LOLions 36.

The Lions are so nasty and the game is in Detroit. We'll find out a lot about the Vikings in this one. I think they are better situated to win in a lot of ways, but I don't know. I could see something weird happen to tip the balance to the home team here. So that's how I'm going to pick it. Lions 34, Vikings 31.

Yeah, sorry about not picking the Gopher road game. By the time this goes up, you will know if PJ is going to get mayo dumped on him. 

He did get the mayo bath, and it was glorious.

Coulda been worse, coulda been Chipotle queso

In my defense, I was watching the Badger basketball team take Iowa out to the woodshed. You love to see it, and you especially really hate to see Frantrum take a giant L. Enjoy your football this weekend. Ben out.