Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur is typically pretty buttoned up with his public remarks, but he made waves this preseason when he said Jordan Love is a better pre-snap quarterback than four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers. LaFleur knew then that Rodgers, who won the final two of his four league MVPs under LaFleur (2020 and 2021), would get mad about his remarks, and the Packers head coach was right. This week, Rodgers called LaFleur a clown for that comment, saying his ex-head coach probably said that because he changed too many of LaFleur's play calls at the line of scrimmage.
"He's probably still mad I changed too many of his plays," Rodgers said, laughing on Wilde and Tausch on ESPN Wisconsin. "Big statement when you had a guy win back-to-back MVPs. Guess I wasn't doing too much at the LOS [line of scrimmage].
He says some things from time to time that are funny, and then he [goes] 'oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that!' He's backing up his quarterback. I'm sure J-Love is real good at the line of scrimmage, but c'mon man." Rodgers has every right to be mad after leaving the Packers as their all-time leader in passing touchdowns with 475 while winning four NFL MVPs and a Super Bowl title as Super Bowl XLV MVP. Rodgers also became the NFL's all-time leader in passer rating and touchdown-to-interception ratio during his time with the Packers.
When Rodgers won consecutive MVPs to kick off the 2020s, he did so in LaFleur's Shanahan-tree offense, which featured staples such as under-center formations, zone blocking and heavy doses of play-action passing and motion. LaFleur's offense is the polar opposite of the Packers' predecessor Mike McCarthy's West Coast offense, which Rodgers grew up in and spent 13 seasons mastering. Rodgers' affinity for McCarthy's offense is one reason he said he decided to suit up for the Pittsburgh Steelers again in 2026.
The Packers lined up in shotgun formation 52.8% of the time from 2006-2018, the third-highest rate in the NFL. Rodgers, one of the all-time greats at pre-snap audibles and quickly identifying mismatches on his own, has often called the West Coast offense "the most beautiful offense in football." He appreciates its simplicity, with the quarterback going from one route progression to another and much more of the decision-making resting on the quarterback's shoulders instead of his coaches'. LaFleur's Shanahan-rooted scheme is designed to simplify a quarterback's job in a different way.
Similar formations help the passer diagnose the defense more easily, with the run and pass looking the same while the offense relies on motion and similar under-center looks before the snap. It took Rodgers a year to acclimate to LaFleur's scheme in 2019, throwing for 26 touchdowns and four interceptions while totaling just over 4,000 passing yards in Year 1. Rodgers took off with LaFleur across the 2020 and 2021 seasons, taking home those back-to-back MVPs with Green Bay going 26-6 in his starts.
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