Packers right tackle Zach Tom missed the final four games of the team’s season and his offseason will include surgery to repair the knee injury that kept him off the field.
Tom told reporters at the team’s facility on Monday that he suffered a partial tear to his patellar tendon in the team’s Week 14 loss to the Packers. That was a particularly painful day for the Packers as defensive end Micah Parsons also tore his ACL that Sunday.
It will be an extended recovery time for Tom, although probably not as long as the one that Parson faces heading into next season. Tom will likely be shooting for a return to action during training camp.
Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, center Elgton Jenkins, and tight end Tucker Kraft will also be in rehab mode over the coming weeks and months. Getting all five players back to top form would be a good way for the Packers to avoid another early exit in the postseason next year.
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When Bears coach Ben Johnson screamed “Fuck the Packers! Fuck them!” in the locker room after Saturday night’s win, some questioned whether it was an appropriate way for an NFL head coach to comport himself. Johnson made clear today that he doesn’t like the Packers, and he doesn’t care if anyone doesn’t like that.
Johnson said his boss, Bears owner George McCaskey, supports him in disliking the Packers, and Chicago fans support him as well.
“There’s a rivalry that exists between these two teams, something I fully recognize and am a part of. I don’t like that team. George and I have talked and we’re on the same page,” Johnson said.
Johnson said winning in the playoffs means a little more to the Bears when it’s against the Packers.
“The opponent in and of itself, it means a lot to this city, the organization,” Johnson said. “We know how big it is when Chicago plays Green Bay.”
Johnson said before the game that he was motivated by “noise” coming out of Green Bay before the game. But it’s the noise coming from Johnson that has turned the Bears-Packers rivalry up a notch.
Micah Parsons is targeting a return to play early in the 2026 season, though he admits it’s unlikely to be Week 1.
Having suffered his ACL tear in mid-December, Parsons told reporters on Monday that he’s more likely to be playing in Week 3 or Week 4, which means he’s not trying to start the season on the physically unable to perform list. That would keep him out for at least the first four games.
“I think so far, they say I’m flying [through rehab] — so whatever that means,” Parsons said, via Matt Schneidmann of TheAthletic.com. “But there’s a timing standpoint they want. But I don’t think I’ll be on [PUP], I’ll say that, to start the season. I think lofty, I’d be saying Week 1. But realistically, probably like Week 3, Week 4. Just to make sure and just getting back into football, practicing hard, getting ready to sustain, take my body through what I go through. So, I think it’s just more that.”
Parsons added that he’ll have to get pretty comfortable in practice before he’s able to get back on the field so that he can play as he’s used to playing.
Despite playing 14 games with 13 starts, Parsons was named a first-team AP All-Pro for 2025. He finished the 2025 season with 12.5 sacks, 12 tackles for loss, and 26 quarterback hits while also registering a pair of forced fumbles and one pass defense.
The negotiation of NFL coaching contracts can be a game of high-stakes poker. Currently, the Packers and coach Matt LaFleur are sitting at the table, cards stacked face down, and preparing to begin the bidding.
Unless and until the Packers announce that LaFleur will be back for 2026, there’s a chance he won’t be. And leaking to multiple reporters that there will be talks on an extension does not mean that a mutually-agreeable extension will be finalized.
The Packers literally hold the cards. LaFleur’s seventh season finished in major disappointment. The Packers could keep him for a lot less than they would have paid if they had made it to the Super Bowl for the first time in 15 years.
There’s some potential benefit to the Packers in slow-playing the talks. LaFleur, if available, would be a viable candidate for one or more of the eight existing vacancies. As the jobs start to fill, LaFleur’s leverage will be reduced.
From LaFleur’s perspective, there should be a clear urgency in getting to the Green Bay bottom-line number quickly. If he refuses it, the Packers will have to choose whether to let him finish out his current deal (new Packers CEO Ed Policy has said he doesn’t like lame-duck arrangements) or cut the cord.
Of course, if the Packers will be looking for a head coach, there’s value in reaching an agreement or an impasse sooner than later. As the other jobs fill, their options for a new coach will begin to dissipate.
The point for now is this. No deal is done until it’s done. Both sides need to know whether a deal can be reached, sooner than later. LaFleur needs to know whether he’ll take the best offer the Packers make, or hold firm with a plan to coach the last year of his deal. And the Packers need to know whether LaFleur will reject the best offer, so that they can decide whether to embrace a lame-duck season or turn the page.
Negotiating an extension doesn’t guarantee an extension will be finalized. Not finalizing an extension doesn’t guarantee LaFleur will be back. Until a cheese puff of yellow smoke emerges from the chimney at the world headquarters of Green Bay Packers, Inc., it’s still possible that the Packers will be looking for a new coach, and that LaFleur will be looking for a new job.
The Packers blew a huge lead in Chicago on Saturday night, but it doesn’t look like that will cost head coach Matt LaFleur his job.
LaFleur said on Sunday afternoon that he expected to meet with Packers CEO Ed Policy soon to discuss his future with the franchise. The 2026 season is the final one on LaFleur’s current contract and Policy said last June that he is “generally opposed” to having coaches working on the final year of contracts.
Avoiding that would leave an extension or a parting of the ways as the two options to move forward. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports on Monday morning that the Packers are expected to go the extension route and are going to try to work out a deal to retain LaFleur in the coming days.
LaFleur has gone 76-40-1 over seven seasons as the Packers’ head coach. The team has gone 3-6 in the playoffs, including first-round losses in the last two years.
General Manager Brian Gutekunst is also heading into the final year of his contract, so the Packers may be hammering out multiple deals in the near future.
After last night’s loss to the Bears, there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding head coach Matt LaFleur’s future with the Packers.
As has been widely noted, LaFleur is about to enter the last year of his contract. That puts new team CEO Ed Policy in a position to make a choice about LaFleur, who has been the club’s head coach since 2019.
In his Sunday press conference, LaFleur continued to say that his job status is not his current focus before noting a meeting with Policy will come soon.
“We’re fresh off this loss. My sole focus is on our players, our team, and just trying to find ways to get better,” LaFleur said. “We talked briefly on the plane, and there’s going to be a time where we’re going to get together — either later tonight or tomorrow sometime.”
LaFleur was twice asked if he would be willing to coach next season on his current contract, and both times reiterated it wasn’t his focus. LaFleur did, however, positively characterize his relationship with Policy.
“He’s been great, he’s been super supportive,” LaFleur said. “Yeah, I can’t say enough great things about him.”
After seven seasons, LaFleur’s accumulated a 76-40-1 record in the regular season with a 3-6 postseason record. Is LaFleur still the man to get the Packers over the top?
“I don’t think those are questions for me,” LaFleur said. “Like I said, I think my sole focus is just trying to find solutions to some of our issues and why things went awry yesterday. It’s disappointing. I’m as disappointed, obviously, as all you guys, as our fans, as everybody in our organization because we had plenty of opportunities to slam the door shut and we didn’t get it done.”
And LaFleur is still planning on being Green Bay’s head coach in 2026, telling reporters “of course” he wants to continue in his job.
“This is one of one,” LaFleur said. “I love this place. I love the people. As much as you guys drive me nuts sometimes, I love you guys. I love our players, the locker room, everybody in our organization.
“I mean, this is a unique place. The community has been outstanding. I grew up in the midwest and it’s got the same type of vibe that I grew up [with] in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. So, people are just — unless you’re from here, you don’t understand, I think, how friendly everybody is. And it’s nice no matter who you are, you’re walking down the street, and people say hello to one another. I’ve lived other places, so I think this is a unique place, this is a special place. My kids love it here, my family loves it here.”
Still, LaFleur knows there are things he and the team as a whole need to do differently to reach more postseason success.
“I think we have to look at everything — from how we train, to how we practice,” LaFleur said. “These are conversations that I’ve already had with some of our people. And just trying to find, maybe, different ways to do things. But those are all the conversations that are ongoing right now — just taking all the data we have, comparing it to other teams, whatever it may be.”
We’ll see if LaFleur’s shot to do that will be with Green Bay or potentially elsewhere in 2026.
A bad ending to the Packers season isn’t dimming interest from other teams in their defensive coordinator.
According to multiple reports, the Cardinals, Dolphins, Falcons and Raiders have all requested interviews with Jeff Hafley. The Titans had previously made a request, so it’s a total of five teams with eyes on Hafley being part of their head coaching search.
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said on Sunday that he anticipates Hafley landing a job with one of those teams.
Hafley finished his second season in Green Bay with Saturday night’s loss to the Bears. He was previously the head coach at Boston College and worked for the 49ers and Buccaneers earlier in his career.
Starting this week, former Ravens coach John Harbaugh will attack the interview process with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind. And with leverage the NFL hasn’t seen in decades.
Harbaugh has multiple options for his next stop. He’s being selective. And he could end up having even more choices, based on what happens in Green Bay and (if the Bills lose today) Buffalo.
He’s in position to request a very large salary. He’s in position to seek control over the roster. He’s in position to ask for the team to let him hire a General Manager, even if it means firing the one they currently have.
That doesn’t mean everyone would do it. But it only takes one who is sufficiently desperate to give Harbaugh what he wants. And if Harbaugh gives a little on one term, he could get more on another.
Harbaugh also has another potential play, one that we addressed on PFT Live after the Ravens moved on. He could take a year off and work in TV, like Sean Payton did four years ago. It would make Harbaugh the odds-on, A-list candidate throughout the next season, hovering over every hot seat as the next coach, if the current coach gets fired.
If Harbaugh decides to wait, the hot spots for 2027 would be (possibly) the Jets, the Bills (if they don’t make a change this year), the Bengals, the Colts, the Chiefs (if Andy Reid decides to retire), the Cowboys, the Commanders, the Buccaneers, the Panthers, and the Saints.
Either way, Harbaugh’s effort to explore his next coaching job starts soon. And he could decide to take a job now, or to take a job later.
After Bears coach Ben Johnson delivered a four-letter message to the Packers in the locker room after Saturday night’s win over Green Bay, Johnson took to the podium to explain that his team perceived disrespect in advance of the third ever playoff meeting between the hundred-year rivals.
“There was probably a little bit more noise coming out of their building up north to start the week, which we heard loud and clear, players and coaches alike,” Johnson said.
Johnson didn’t specify the noise. And if there was any, it wasn’t loud enough to rise above the noise of a noisy week of NFL news.
As noted by ESPN.com, Packers receiver Christian Watson and cornerback Keisean Nixon said they wanted to face Chicago in the playoffs. Also, Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley told reporters during his midweek press conference, “We are not going to be done, so I will see you guys next week.”
Whatever it was, Johnson and the Bears saw it, and they milked it.
“It definitely got us riled up,” Bears safety Kevin Byard III said. “It got us amped up for the game.”
The point is this. They can act like they don’t listen. But they do. They all do. And for any players or coaches who may create some noise, it’s the NFL’s version of the Miranda warnings.
Anything you say can and will be used against you.
With 1:48 to play on Saturday night against the Packers, the Bears had a first and 10 on the Green Bay 25. There was no reason to try to score a touchdown on the next play. Which made it the ideal time to go to the end zone on the next play.
Coach Ben Johnson called a fake screen, with three receivers lined up to the left. Quarterback Caleb Williams pumped toward receiver Luther Burden III. Receiver DJ Moore slipped behind a defensive back who bit on fake. And Williams found Moore for the game-winning touchdown.
“It’s perfect call,” Williams told reporters after the win. “We ended up throwing a screen earlier in the game. And so it sets it up, you know, to the same side. And then, being able to have that play call that we worked for, I think, the past three or four weeks and, you know, just didn’t use it in those other games and then in the right moment, at the right time, Coach calls it, just as he does. And the guys did a great job selling it. Obviously, DJ made a great catch, just put the ball out there for him to go out there, make a catch for us, and go win a game.”
Williams knew the play was going to work, based on what he saw before the snap.
“Yeah, once we lined up, actually knew that we were about to hit it, just off the demeanor of the guys on the other side of the ball, just had a feeling that that was going to be the one,” Williams said. “And like I said, the guys did a great job. O-line did a great job blocking. The guys did a great job over there selling the fake and then and then obviously DJ going up the sideline.”
By calling the play with that much time left, Johnson also showed plenty of faith in the defense to keep the Packers out of the end zone. And while it got a little too close for comfort, it worked. The Bears kept the Packers from scoring, and the fake screen touchdown ended up being the difference in the most compelling postseason game in Chicago Bears history.
