The Future of Matt LaFleur, and The Badgers Show Improvements Over Michigan

In this week's episode of The Wisconsin Sportscast, in the wake of the Packers loss to the Bears on Saturday night, there is just one name on every Wisconsin sports fan's mind: Matt LaFleur. As of recording, he is still with the team and discussing his future. Around the league there are nine openings for head coaching positions, and a lot of Packers fans wish there were 10. But Oates asks a real question before jumping right to firing: can you upgrade from Matt LaFleur? Especially with the amount of competition out there right now, a true upgrade might be out of the Packers pay range. A solution that works for both Lucas and Oates? Give LaFleur a one year contract extension. That way next year he isn’t a lame duck coach and he will have to really prove that he deserves to be there. The Packers have about two or three years to get over this hump, given the contract position for a lot of key players on the team. If it isn’t LaFleur, someone will need to figure out how to get them there and winning playoff games.

Saturday’s loss to the Bears was exactly like their loss last year in Philly, a dominating first half and a complete fall apart in the second. The phrase of the day is “lack of adjustment.” Sure, it’s a cliche thing for sports fans to say when their team does badly, but when even the players are saying it after the game it starts to mean something. On defense they just shut down, and on offense the offensive line was unable to adapt to the changes that the Bears made after halftime. Part of the issue is that LaFleur is so caught up on calling plays on offense that he forgets to pay attention to what’s happening with the rest of the team. His nose is so buried in his iPad that there was even footage of him sitting on the bench while his defense was on the field going over plays. Maybe LaFleur needs a real offensive coordinator who he can let call plays instead, if he’ll give it up. After all, it seems likely he’ll be replacing his defensive coordinator anyways.

Finally in college basketball, the Badgers scored a huge win over the previously-undefeated Michigan Saturday night. Now as of recording they had not played Minnesota, but on Saturday the team was really able to showcase their improvements as a team. There were a lot of new guys on the floor to start the season, and those new guys took some time to learn the systems in place. But now it looks like they’re starting to get it and are open to being coached. If they can beat all the talent that Michigan has, then their ceiling just skyrocketed.

The Wisconsin Sportscast with Lucas & Oates is a Cap Times podcast produced by Nate Wegehaupt. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.