I suspect Jaire is gone after the season. I also suspect that like Rasul and Jerry Gray, he realized he was working for an idiot (Barry) and lost respect for him. And since MLF hired Barry and then decided to keep him, that 'stupid' stink is on MLF as well. Whether moving players out of Green Bay and getting a new DC will get that stink off of MLF for the players IS the question going into next season.

Jaire's behavior was totally unacceptable! I cannot even fathom another player behaving like this. Hugely wrong walking out there to begin with but then to have the audacity to call the coin toss it's mind boggling regardless if he has lost respect for the coaching staff. Not a leader and speaks of extreme immaturity. Illustrates why the players do not vote for him to be Captain. Reminds me of the whole Za'darius Smith situation where you have an incredible talent but immature personality with bizzare behaviors. Other players may not say anything but they certainly won't vote for them to be their captain and team leader.

This behavior will be a stain on Jaire's career long past retirement. If the Packers lose to the Vikings it is going to be ugly but Jaire has no one to blame other than himself. I too imagine Jaire will hold this against the Packers rather than accepting responsibility meaning one way or another he will push for a trade, or simply won't resign once contract is up. Be a shame if Packers play well but lose & knocked out of playoffs because of Jaire's immature & selfish behavior.

Someone as talented but as mentally jacked up as Jyree needs a coach with a Parcellsian attitude and demeanor to keep him in check, and his talent directed to what he delivers on the field, not what he says in the Pressers after the games.

"That'll cool your ass down!" would have gone a lot further with someone like Jyree than this word salad - “I think there’s a lot of lessons along the way from everybody involved and hopefully we learn from them, and I think we will. I think there will probably be better communication moving forward.”

If you can coach up the most talented defensive player in the history of the league by grinding on him every day to get better, as Parcells did with LT, then grinding on Jyree with a coarser grit might be what's needed to refocus his ass.

JA is a knucklehead. He's always been a knucklehead and does knucklehead things. What he did against the Panthers was a knucklehead move. Not a slap in the face of MLF or Gute or the Packers. He didn't pee on the statue of Lombardi at Lambeau. Let's stop overreacting. Gute is sending a clear message that things have changed since 12 departed. Ja will serve his one game and be back against the Bears and he'll be back next year and yes, he will still be a knucklehead, but he will learn that there is a line not to cross.

"There’s absolutely no reason why we should be discussing communication in late December."

I hear you, Corey, but as a senior manager it often struck me how often I had to repeat so many things. I wasn't so naive as to believe I could say it once and expect it to hold, but there were times I couldn't believe I was being paid to craft new words for the same message so often. Eventually I learned to keep teaching... even though it seemed herding kittens sometimes. Lots of parallels to coaching.

Picture LaFleur's pre-game speech. "Oh, yeah, one last thing guys. If you're not a team captain don't go out for the coin toss. That's a captain's job. Oh, and tie your shoes."

They're not toddlers. "Don't put that in your mouth, Darnell!"

Everyone should listen to McGinns absolutely scathing assessment of Jaire's play against Carolina, went back and watched...Jaire is avoiding contact. Move on, trade him.

Granted Jaire's actions were wrong. But, was it an imperative going into weak 17 to hurt the team in order to move on? Other coaches might have handled this different. For one thing the problem has been festering and should have been handled much earlier in the locker room behind closed doors. Perhaps a serious one on one conversation might have been more productive. Good God we are in a playoff hunt with two games to go! Once Vince Lombardi said "winning isn't everything ...it's the only thing". Lombardi could give a good tongue lashing when needed. His players both feared and loved him. Above all they respected him. I do not think management today has that respect from the players. I think it is management that has become the Achilles heel for the Packers.

Trade him. - Don't wait , move on.
His attitude clearly has been his problem.
And Now it's a Team problem.
The packers showed their appreciation
with a new contract.
You don't need to read between the lines.
The secondary played better without him.
And his roll as a leader in the secondary
just blew up.
So much for winning.

This team must change its secondary.
And now is the best time to do it.
Trade him.
This won't go away with a new DC.

Cory, where have you been, what cave have you been hiding in all week? Was your power out, no TV and no computers? You're Way off base.
Yes, Alexander backed LaFleur into a corner by blatantly and visibly 'cheating on a test' and then coming up with a failing score when he did hand it in. But, contrary to your suggestion, LaFleur did NOT tear it up.
Instead, he stayed sitting in the corner with his nose against the wall and cowered silently for two days.
Then, on the third day he took the 'cheated' test and ran to the Assistant Principle with his tail between his legs, crying "What'll We Do. What'll We Do"? The assistant principle tore it up!
LaFleur is too much of a coward to do something, or anything without 'permission' from above. His refusal(s) to fire Barry and bench Alexander immediately after the coin toss are testament to that, and two examples of why the Packers' present day culture is what it is.
His balls are in his golf bag.

Ja Morant, Aaron Rodgers, Kyrie Irving, Jaire Alexander-all too self-important for team sports. No matter what the cap implications, a player like that needs to go.

Morant is still acting out, Rodgers is in process of poisoning his current team with his ego, Alexander is less toxic but has the same arrogance, lack of self-awareness.

Couldn’t agree more Cory. A significant mistake and distraction the team does not need. GPG.

The team management group was forced to bench him, this wasn't one man's decision. It had become increasingly obvious based on the number of penalties accrued (even for the youngest team in the NFL) that accountability was lacking and it started last season with Walker's actions that only drew lip service. A good indication was when MLF went off on Wyatt for lining up off sides multiples times on the sideline - but it ended with a hug which makes it hard to get your point across. Prior to that the only time MLF was animated on the sidelines was flapping his hands asking for more crowd noise. Where the Hell is - "What The Hell Is Going On Out There".

To me, after watching, I do not understand why Jaire was playing in the first place. He didn’t look like he was ready physically. In many ways that’s a bigger question about what’s going on.

After the coin toss there’s another level of questions about why he was not benched immediately but also kept in. In the end though I don’t know that we lose by not playing a one armed Jaire. I’m more worried about how we deploy whomever.

100% agree team first, especially on defense. The defense was performing better with the "backups". If we can generate some pass rush and keep <insert QB name here> in the pocket, we can win. Go Pack Go.

PS Barry needs to move along. Really tired of seeing teams easily convert on 3rd and 12. I mean cmon man!

The above discussion is a good one (except for the personal and political attacks); and it points to the biggest problem on our team.

I can't find the words to express how strongly I agree with this article and with Lafleur's actions.

I don't know the ins-and-outs of the collective bargaining agreement but I suspect that Jaire will lose one game paycheck for the suspension. Sportrac says his annual salary is $21 million, so losing 1/17th is more than a million dollars lost. BTW-his dead cap if cut would be around $27 million. I doubt the Packers will cut him, instead just look for a team that can absorb his contract and work a deal.

Who knows they might just kiss and make up.

Got rid of one head case, seems like another one has reared his head!

I don't think our culture is fixed just because we gave Jaire a little slap on his pee-pee. He is a symptom of a bigger problem in LaFleurs' leadership style - he's just not tough enough to be a HC. Thank god Gutes came in to show some balls finally. Think what you want, but I don't think that you can teach tough leadership to LaFleur. I'd like to be wrong in that regard.

But back to Jaire specifically. He's not anywhere near the player he was. Call it physical injuries or a general sickness between the ears, keeping him around doesn't feel like a good, long term solution. Regardless of whether he's let go or traded, he's simply a bad investment. And usually, it's better to cut and run asap from bad investments.

I would rather see us dumping all the big/non-productive salaries next season and look ahead to 2025 when you-know- who retires in Jul 2025. We have an up and coming QB. Lets not waste him like we did with Rodgers with all sorts of historical mistakes that we won't address (and yes, that most certainly includes Barry). We have a solid foundation for our rebuild. Let's not take half-assed measures - by keeping malcontents on the team - to impede it. GPG

We all know the suspension was not due to the coin toss silliness.

We have all worked for incompetent bosses from time to time. Do we talk about the incompetent boss with co workers? Do the comments reach the boss's boss? When the boss's boss ignores the festering problems, do the problems get better or worse over time?

The entire situation is due to MLF indecision and Murphy's Management by Committee that enables delayed decision making on difficult issues.

Really….MLF culture matters? After his jackass coin flip nonsense MLF quickly reacted to honor his line in the sand culture is the imperative. After letting him then go out there and represent that high Packers culture that drives important decisions, they let him play THE WHOLE GAME! WTF!

I’ve coached 40 years HS level and it would have taken me two seconds to say you’re done! Go to the locker room and we’ll talk after the game. I know because that’s exactly what I did!

But protect the culture MLF had to have someone help him find his culture days later and implement the culture preserving suspension. Yah…spare me about how important that MLF lead culture really is!

for me deja vu all over again. one d back high draft pick playing poorl making errors, gets benched calls out coaches and is gone. not too much later another high pick on defense pulls same trick, get off losing team, and he is gone. the team the lions.
jairre may he trying to follow douglas out the door. he wants stardome. imo

Let’s give disciplinary credit where due… who benched Alexander? Gute or MLF?

Communication is very important. But actions speak louder than words. LaFleur has shown he is not willing to make changes to his coaching staff, even when the people in charge have shown they cannot handle their duties. Most glaringly, of course, Barry. But also, Bessacia has not added the spark to the ST's everyone thought he would. Stenavich has been promoted beyond his capabilities, but is retained, while his replacement, Butkus, has shown he has a tough time coaching guys to do their best. And who, exactly, is in charge of choosing the starters on the OL? The last two to three years, it seems the team always has at least one "weak link" on the line. It becomes obvious, becomes glaring, and becomes embarrassing. And then, after four or five weeks of the lineman doing his best, but not capable of excelling at a pro level, he is replaced, and the line improves immediately. Is someone playing favorites? Are there personality clashes? Or simply stubbornness? It seems the defense is quietly rebelling against its inept DC, and might very well be playing below their abilities (Alexander being the most obvious) to try to get Barry fired. And although we are all positive Barry is gone at season's end, remember, we all thought that last year. Oops. Will LaFleur once again choose coaches over players?

Wonder if the Alexander problems had any thing to do with the trade of Douglas and Alexander not playing and the coin toss incident.

Warned CurdNation during the epic losing stretch (~week 7) that established vets on this team would revolt, with Alexander specificially singled out. Strong personalities NEED leadership--but leadership must earn their respect in order for them to fall in line. These are the necessary warrior personalities--the difference makers on the team that excel in life because they're not afraid to fail...they welcome any and all challenges. What Jaire did was inexcuseable and should have consequence, but IMHO, this is just his plea of "making the obvious known" from an internal perspective: leadership is as scarce as snow in WIsconsin these days--f^cking do something about it. Can't mince words here, we b!tch day in, day out on CHTV about how much of a p^ssy MLF is, how Barry has to go, etc...truthfully, I applaud Jaire. Give me 11 clones of him and you could have an ~Antonio Brown~ ticking time bomb. GIve me a dozen clones of him with superb coaching that demands and deserves respect, I'll give you a Super Bowl winning defense.

Lafraud didn’t prove shit. He should of sat Alexander immediately after coin toss debacle

I can't remember the exact season or the name of the rookie involved, but it was during William Henderson's time with the Packers. Henderson verbally jacked up the rook on the way out to the practice field in training camp, telling the kid to tuck in his jersey, that there was a right way to do things on this team.

The elected captains for the Carolina game were Aaron Jones, Quay Walker, and Eric Wilson. I can see Walker and Wilson keeping quiet when Alexander joined them for the coin toss. You know, out of respect for an older veteran player, but I'm a a little surprised Jones didn't tell Jaire to take his ass back to the sideline. Jaire needs to own that behavior, and I know it wasn't Jones' day to chaperone. Still, a leader like William Henderson would have shut that shit down.

If you've ever played a team sport you understand how disrespectful Jaire's behavior was to his teammates and coaches. It was a violation of trust. You just don't do that.

Alexander is most likely still hurt and therefore not able to tackle well. Which makes his benching a "so what" gesture. Combined with Campbell's comments on his injuries, and the succession of repeated injuries on the team, I wonder about the Packers' culture regarding medical care. Gute is no genius. He's jettisoned veteran leadership repeatedly leading to dissension. This draft class is looking pretty good, but it had to be, based on so many previous duds.

One thing is certain. Fans are very divided on this issue. My guess is so is the locker room. Actions should be judged by there consequences. In other words, what will be the best outcome for the Packers? I don't like management making Jaire "the enemy" Let's be honest. This season is over. I will always root for the Packers, But, realistically the best outcome would be for the Packers to lose the next couple of games and move up in the draft. In terms of Jaire; hopefully in time they can kiss and make up. Emerson once said the best way to defeat the enemy is to make them your friend. I think we definitely start looking forward to next year. That said Barry needs to go. The whole defense needs a fresh start.

Jaire is a player that needs a strong coach to keep him focused and Barry is far from one and LaFleur is scared of his own shadow to enforce any type of punishment, Proof being it took Gutekunst stepping in to put things right. Thank the good Lord Murphy is gone after this year, he was a good business man making GB money but hopefully the next President can be a great leader as well. We need someone to step in and demand greatness from his staff.

There is so little urgency it's putting me to sleep. I'm not even angry anymore.