By admin 
Every NFL head coach begins a new season with concerns about their team, while feeling pretty confident about other parts. Here’s a look at 2026’s biggest challenge and smallest concern for Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur.
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Biggest Challenge: Overcoming the Loss of Micah Parsons and Josh Jacobs
The Packers won’t be the only team starting the season without key pieces of their roster. However, Green Bay’s situation is different from most, needing to somehow overcome the loss of integral players on both sides of the ball: edge rusher Micah Parsons and running back Josh Jacobs.
Filling the void left by players of Parsons’ and Jacobs’ caliber would be difficult for any head coach to maneuver around. However, those are the cards that have been dealt to LaFleur, and he somehow must make the most of them.
Parsons, still recovering from offseason ACL surgery, will be out of action for at least the first four weeks of the season after being placed on the PUP list. Realistically, though, he’s likely to miss more time than that.
On the flip side, Jacobs’ situation couldn’t be more different. On September 10, he agreed to a plea deal in Brown County Circuit Court after pleading no contest to two misdemeanors, including battery and damage to property. But his status with the NFL remains the same, with “no timetable” for disciplinary action, according to the league.
LaFleur can’t replace Parsons or Jacobs, but his job will be to put the Packers in the best position to weather the storm without them.
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Smallest Concern: Quarterback
Out of all of the positions on the field, quarterback is probably the last position that keeps LaFleur up at night. Entering his fourth season with Jordan Love as his starter, he may be more confident than ever in the 27-year-old.
While the Packers have come up short in the postseason, they’ve finished with winning records in each of Love’s three seasons starting under center. LaFleur recently praised his quarterback’s growth, but isn’t surprised by his steady rise.
“To watch where he came from to where he is now, I don’t know if anyone would have guessed that he could come that far, and that’s a credit to him,” LaFleur said. “I think it was a benefit not having to be rushed into it, and you build up a bunch of scars. It’s not a surprise to me in regard to how even-keeled he stays throughout the course of a game — you have to make split-second decisions, and some of these looks are really tough.”
Last season wasn’t Love’s best production-wise as a starter, but he showed promising signs, tallying career-highs in completion percentage (66.3) and passer rating (101.2). While he will have some obstacles to overcome, Love could be in line for a breakout in 2026.
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This story was originally published September 10, 2026 at 9:21 PM.