At the NFL Honors almost a week ago it was announced the Cleveland Browns' Head Coach, Kevin Stefanski had won the AP Coach of the Year award with a total of 165 votes. Stefanski tied with Houston Head Coach DeMeco Ryans in vote total, however, since Stefanski received more first-place votes than Ryans, Stefanski was awarded the honor. Stefanski deserved the honor as the Browns managed to win with four different Quarterbacks in the 2023 season and make it to the divisional playoffs with a quarterback that wasn't even on the roster until mid-December in Joe Flacco. 

But what was most surprising to me in the voting portion, was the lack of love for the Packers Head Coach, Matt LaFleur, who only received two third-place votes. This was good enough for 9th place in votes received. 

Do I believe LaFleur should have won the award? No. I am fine with Matt LaFleur not taking home the hardware. But I do believe he should have received more votes than he did. Other coaches that placed above LaFleur in voting were Detroit's Dan Campbell with 33 votes, SF's Kyle Shanahan with 26, Ravens' John Harbaugh with 26, Rams' Sean McVay with 21, Steelers' Mike Tomlin with 5, and Indy's Shane Steichen with 4. I believe LaFleur should have ranked above at least three of these coaches. 

If you ask me, the coach of the year should be a coach that overcomes the odds. Has success despite possible low talent on their roster or injury woes. 73 of the votes handed out went to coaches with rather experienced or vastly talented rosters. With the talent of the 49ers roster and the fact that they were NFC Super Bowl favorites from week 1, is it truly a surprise Kyle Shanahan was successful? With Lamar Jackson at the helm and a very talented defense, did anyone count out John Harbaugh? Even Sean McVay is a Super Bowl-winning head coach with Matthew Stafford at QB. Perhaps he'd be considered if the Rams won more than just one game without Stafford. 

More votes should've gone to those below those coaches.

LaFleur deserved more votes

Let's look at this past season. What exactly were the Packers facing? Oh, I don't know, a new starting Quarterback after having a legend at the helm for the last 15 years alongside the youngest roster in the entire league. Let's not mention that with that young roster, out of the top 8 pass-catchers, only two of them had more than one year of NFL experience. And that experience was only one year. 

The season started with a big win over rival Chicago but then went downhill. At one point, the Packers were sitting at a 3-6 record with those on the outside saying they should look to draft a Quarterback in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. Many said that the odds were stacked against them, and they'd better consider tanking on the season to perhaps get a better draft position to build the roster. Despite those odds, if you asked Matt LaFleur about the current state of the team, he'd repeat the same positivity that they were still in a good place and had all the confidence in the world in their current roster. 

He was right, the young Packers finished the season with a 9-8 record that was good enough to earn them the 7th seed in the NFC playoffs. They then defeated the 2nd seed Dallas Cowboys dominantly before narrowly losing to the eventual NFC Champion 49ers in the divisional round. Let's not forget that the Packers did defeat the Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs 27-19. 

That doesn't happen without Matt LaFleur doubling down on his confidence in Jordan Love. On his confidence in the roster in general. 

Most of all, Matt LaFleur began catering to his team's strengths not as he wanted them to be, but how they were.

Coach the team you have

During the rough patch of the season in early October, I had my frustrations with Matt LaFleur. I believed LaFleur to be coaching hypothetically and not necessarily catering to the strengths he did have with the current roster. I felt that he was focused too much on what should beat a specific defense in theory, and not how his team could beat that defense. Once LaFleur got that worked out, suddenly we saw success. Suddenly, players who were struggling were producing, and at a high level. 

Maybe it took some time to see how the team would gel under Jordan Love. Maybe it took some time for Jordan Love himself to gel. Regardless, this team saw an unprecedented turnaround and that deserves a lot of credit. 

Before this season, Matt LaFleur was often snubbed on Coach of the Year honors mainly because, as many say, he had Aaron Rodgers. Those with opinions that matter don't understand that coaching can carry a quarterback from the bottom to the top very quickly. Look at one of the top Packers examples in Brett Favre. Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren knew that Favre had talent, but he was very raw at the time of the trade. Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren didn't care and gave him a shot. The rest is history. Why you ask? Cause Mike Holmgren began mentoring Favre on what he needed to be great, and he got there. 

Hopefully next season the true coaching talent of Matt LaFleur is on full display to ensure he is a much higher runner for the award next year. Until then, Go Pack Go.