The Green Bay Packers, now 6-8, are coming off of their second-consecutive loss to a team that they very well could have beaten. Their 34-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home at Lambeau Field is just the latest in a long three-year stretch of frustrating defensive performances. It was so embarrassing to behold that even The Onion, a well-known satire publication, poked fun at Joe Barry and the defense afterwards.
During a press conference on Monday, head coach Matt LaFleur told reporters that Barry would continue as the Packers defensive coordinator for the remainder of the season. He did state, however, that he himself would be taking a more active role in the defensive game planning in an effort to eliminate what he calls “communication errors.”
Additionally, two Packers defensive players were asked about the defense’s meeting with Barry today. This is what they said:
#Packers had their defensive meeting this morning with Joe Barry. His message to the defense, according to Eric Stokes: “All the explosive plays, that shit will get you beat.”
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) December 18, 2023
Quay Walker on if Joe Barry addressed the defense today: “Yeah he did, but I’m not gonna get into all that.”
— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) December 18, 2023
These comments, in addition to LaFleur saying later “What’s disappointing is when you go out there, and it’s basic concepts — doesn’t matter what phase — but basic install, Day 1 install, and we have self-inflicted communication errors and guys not in the right spot. That’s tough to watch,” highlight something very wrong with the Packers:
They are approaching this whole system of accountability all wrong.
Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers Are Approaching the Joe Barry Question All Wrong
While LaFleur admitted that there were some calls that he and Barry “would like to have back,” he also continued to blame the players for the defense’s shortcomings. His reference to their not implementing Day One installs and communications is an indictment on both the players and the coaches.
After 14 games, though, there needs to be less blame on the players and more on Barry and the coaches. The same mistakes keep happening week after week after week. This is not a player issue; it’s a coaching issue.
It is a comparable situation to that between a teacher and their students. A teacher will spend weeks teaching students a particular unit, and at the end of the unit there is a test. If one student out of 30 fails the test, it is a good indication that the teacher, overall, did a good job teaching the unit. The student’s failing of the test, in this instance, is likely not a teacher problem.
But if the teacher spends weeks teaching the unit, and 10 or more of the students fail the test, it is probably because that teacher did not do a good job of teaching the unit. In this instance, a good teacher will go back and figure out what they themselves did wrong and try to re-teach it so that everyone can understand it.
If one Packers player or one position group was the reason for the defense’s issues, one could look at it as a player problem as opposed to a coaching problem. But that isn’t the case. The entire defense has struggled all year. Sure, there are individual players that shine no matter what (as is the case with students in a classroom), but the overall product on the field has been below average at best.
This situation, therefore, cannot be pinned on the players. At this point in the season, it is not a player issue. It is a coaching issue. It is the coaches’ job to teach the players the communication, plays, and schemes. If they have not been mastered by Week 15, which they clearly have not been, there is no one to blame except coaches.
And of course, the main defensive coach is Joe Barry. This is his product, and because he is LaFleur’s handpicked man, it reflects on the head coach as well.
If the Packers want change, the coaches need to do some serious self-reflection.
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