\u201cHe\u2019s got to be the best I\u2019ve been around in terms of protections and adjustments, and rarely does he get out-schemed.\u201d<\/p>\n
— Matt LaFleur, Aug. 10, 2026, on NFL Network<\/p>\n
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron Rodgers<\/a>. Jared Goff<\/a>. Matt Ryan. Between those quarterbacks, they have five NFL MVPs and three Super Bowl appearances.<\/p>\n Throw in Kirk Cousins<\/a>, Robert Griffin III and Marcus Mariota<\/a>, and you see a group of Matt LaFleur-coached QBs who have had more success than failure — which is why on more than one occasion LaFleur was given the opportunity to recant his statement about Jordan Love<\/a> being the best he has been around when it comes to protections and adjustments at the line of scrimmage.<\/p>\n Each time, whether it was in the moment on the NFL Network set during Packers training camp or in his next news conference, LaFleur held his ground.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s truly how LaFleur feels about his quarterback, then perhaps the 2026 season will prove transformative for the Packers\u2019 offense — because in Love\u2019s three seasons as the starting quarterback, LaFleur has been about as run-heavy of a playcaller as there has been in the NFL.<\/p>\n LaFleur has called designed runs on 43.8% of his plays since the start of the 2023 season. Only two teams, the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> (45.7%) and Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> (44.8%), have been more run-heavy by design.<\/p>\n Put that up against LaFleur\u2019s four seasons with Rodgers, when the Packers ranked higher than 15th in designed run percentage only once (ninth in 2020), and it\u2019s fair to wonder whether LaFleur is really ready to turn Love loose in 2026.<\/p>\n The quarterback thinks so.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely believe Matt fully trusts me,\u201d Love said.<\/p>\n This summer, LaFleur let Love do something he had never done before: call the offensive plays for one of the backups in a preseason game. There was Love with the headset on and the call sheet in hand during the second half of the preseason finale against the Arizona Cardinals<\/a>, telling Kyle McCord<\/a> what to run.<\/p>\n \u201cJust to hear his demeanor on the headset and how calm, cool and collected he was throughout the entire game, especially in those critical moments,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a surprise to me because that\u2019s what we see on the field too.\u201d<\/p>\n TRUST DOESN\u2019T DEVELOP overnight. Sometimes, it doesn\u2019t develop in a season or two — even for Rodgers.<\/p>\n While Rodgers sat for three years behind Brett Favre, it took another three for him to feel like he had earned coach Mike McCarthy\u2019s trust.<\/p>\n \u201cMe and Mike got to that, but it wasn\u2019t early,\u201d Rodgers recalled recently. \u201cIt was years of working through things and having success.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I felt like by the third year, he trusted me enough — because that was our fifth year together — that if I said something, it wasn\u2019t just [that] I was trying to push back against them, or I was trying to do some sort of measuring. It was because I firmly believed that this is what was going to help us win or be the best on this play.\u201d<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean it was always congenial.<\/p>\n Sometimes, Rodgers said, McCarthy would let things slide.<\/p>\n Other times, it would turn contentious.<\/p>\n Rodgers recalled times when McCarthy would call him into his office on a Monday morning with a list of 10 plays that Rodgers had changed in the previous game — and for each and every one of them, McCarthy wanted to know why.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d talk it out, and he\u2019d see my side and I\u2019d see his side, and we always kind of met back in the middle,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cI think that was the beauty in the success that we had, it was a lot of push and pull. He gave me the latitude. I proved that I deserve latitude and could make it work. And when I went too far, he would rein me back in.\u201d<\/p>\n It didn\u2019t take as long for LaFleur to trust Rodgers. He was a first-time head coach, and Rodgers had a pair of MVPs, a Super Bowl title and 14 years of starting experience to his credit. The 39-year-old coach was only four years older than his quarterback.<\/p>\n Even so, there was the early issue of whether LaFleur would allow Rodgers the freedom to change plays willy-nilly like he could under McCarthy. In fact, to audible or not to audible was the dominant story in the early months after LaFleur was hired in 2019.<\/p>\n Rodgers had a good year in 2019 with 4,002 yards, 26 touchdowns and four interceptions. He followed that up with MVP seasons in 2020 (4,299 yards, 48 TDs, five INTs) and 2021 (4,115 yards, 37 TDs, four INTs).<\/p>\n He credited the offseason of 2020, when COVID restrictions forced all meetings to go virtual, for helping he and LaFleur to connect on another level.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the biggest jump for us was in the \u201920 offseason, when we had all those phone calls and Zoom calls,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cYou start to take that ownership of the offense and tell them exactly what you want. As a young player, it\u2019s natural where you feel like I can\u2019t maybe put my stamp on this one or push too hard, there\u2019s still that balance of the authority figure and the peer relationship.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s the beauty in the league, is that you are peers. There\u2019s still that hierarchy, and you have to respect that, but the more you can use your voice to tell them exactly what you want when you want it, the smoother it ultimately goes.\u201d<\/p>\n Rodgers believes that Love, after three years as the starter and three straight playoff appearances (1-3 record), has reached that point.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is his fourth year starting now,\u201d Rodgers said. \u201cI think with every year you get a little more confidence. Obviously your body of work is a chip on your shoulder to kind of use at any time, to say, \u2018Look, I\u2019ve done this. I\u2019ve made plays. I\u2019ve won in the playoffs. I\u2019ve played at a high level.\u2019 It just comes down to the communication part.\u201d<\/p>\n IT MAY BE a false — or at least misguided — premise that LaFleur hasn\u2019t turned Love loose yet.<\/p>\n Despite his run-heavy playcalls, LaFleur hasn\u2019t made Love into a dink-and-dunk quarterback. In fact, it\u2019s the opposite. When the Packers have passed, they\u2019ve aired it out. Since 2023, Love has the third-highest average air yards per attempt (8.3) in the NFL, right behind the Baltimore Ravens<\/a>\u2019 Lamar Jackson<\/a> and Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>\u2019 Trevor Lawrence<\/a>, both at 8.4.<\/p>\n And when the game is on the line, Love has delivered his share of comebacks. He has led eight fourth-quarter comebacks since becoming the starter, tied for most in the league during that span, according to ESPN Research.<\/p>\n If that\u2019s not evidence that Love is ready to take on more in the offense, then maybe this is: The only players with a better QBR than Love\u2019s mark of 67.1 among quarterbacks who have made at least 40 starts over the past three seasons are the Buffalo Bills<\/a>\u2019 Josh Allen<\/a> (70.3) and Jackson (68.5). Both Allen and Jackson have won MVPs in that time.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s not a place on the field that\u2019s a weakness for him,\u201d former quarterback and 2002 NFL MVP Rich Gannon said of Love. \u201cI just think there\u2019s three or four plays typically that you\u2019re watching a Packers game, you go, \u2018What the hell is that? What happened there?\u2019 And that\u2019s really what he\u2019s got to get cleaned up.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not talking about a guy that has eight or nine of them, but there\u2019s a couple, and he just has to eliminate some of the inconsistency.\u201d<\/p>\n To that end, LaFleur wanted Love to focus on one specific fundamental this offseason: footwork.<\/p>\n Love was raw coming out of Utah State in 2020, and not having a normal offseason before his rookie year because the pandemic slowed his development. In 2023 and 2024, his first two seasons as a starter, Love\u2019s accuracy was an issue.<\/p>\n Last season, Love posted his highest completion percentage (66.3) in any season as a starter, college or pro. LaFleur believes that number could go even higher.<\/p>\n \u201cI think one of the things he\u2019s been really focused and conscious of throughout the course of the offseason and on his own in the summer is just trying to play with as much balance in the pocket as he can,\u201d LaFleur said, \u201cknowing that there\u2019s going to be times you get moved off the spot.<\/p>\n \u201cBut can you maintain that balance? Because I think one thing you see from, I\u2019d say a majority of quarterbacks in the league, when they are balanced in the pocket, they\u2019re going to be more consistent and more accurate over time.\u201d<\/p>\n WHEN THE PACKERS have asked more of Love, he has usually delivered. After his second season as the starter, LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst urged Love to become a more vocal leader.<\/p>\n Love accepted the challenge and was voted a captain before last season.<\/p>\n From leadership now comes ownership. Ownership of the offense, that is.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s where Jordan Love<\/a> can really take the next step,\u201d said Gannon, who visited Packers training camp in August. \u201cAt the end of the day, it\u2019s on you. … If he can become the CEO of that operation, taking more ownership and accountability and [making] sure that every play has an answer.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he\u2019s at the point now where we\u2019re not at Level 1. When you\u2019re a freshman in college, you have 100 level classes. Now he should be at a 400 level where he\u2019s at. And when you look at how good Matt is as a play designer and schemer and playcalling, that\u2019s the next step to get to that level.\u201d<\/p>\n Statistically, Love\u2019s best stretch of football came at the end of his first season as Green Bay\u2019s starter. Over the final eight games of the regular season, Love completed more than 70% of his passes with 18 touchdowns and one interception.<\/p>\n During that stretch, when the Packers were 6-2 after a 3-6 start, LaFleur\u2019s designed run rate was 40.6% (which ranked 14th in the NFL)<\/p>\n Two weeks before Love went on that run, LaFleur urged Love to \u201cshut his mind off and let it rip,\u201d while also acknowledging he needed to do the same as a playcaller.<\/p>\n Last season, the Packers ranked fourth in designed run percentage 44.2%, but that was with running back Josh Jacobs<\/a> for all but two games last season. With Jacobs placed on the commissioner exempt list on Sunday after being charged with two misdemeanors last week, the Packers might have no choice but to rely more on the passing game.<\/p>\n On the third day of training camp this summer, LaFleur was in a playful mood to start his news conference. A day earlier, his younger son, Ty, was in the locker room pretending to be a reporter and asking players questions.<\/p>\n LaFleur wanted to know what kinds of questions his 13-year-old was asking.<\/p>\n A reporter jokingly said, \u201cHe was asking if you guys should run the ball more?\u201d<\/p>\n LaFleur then asked, \u201cDo you want us to run the ball more?\u201d<\/p>\n