Minutes after a big loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, head coach Matt LaFleur decided not to make big proclamations about the future of the Green Bay Packers. He left the door open to make changes after a bad defensive performance, saying he would watch film before making a determination.

He watched it, it was as bad as you could expect, but changes weren’t made. Communication, according to LaFleur, was the biggest issue.

"As dumbfounded as you are," LaFleur said when asked how the communication could be so bad. "That's how I felt watching it."

LaFleur knows making sure communication is good is a big part of the coaching staff job. However, he decided to be more active on the defensive side of the ball instead of firing coordinator Joe Barry.

“If I thought that was the best solution today, then we'd make that decision," LaFleur pondered.

But it’s difficult to understand what LaFleur is trying to accomplish at this point. It’s evident that Barry can’t extract the most out of the defensive talent the Packers have, let alone elevate it.

To every reason given to keep things as they are, there are solid counterpoints. So let’s go through them.

It's a communication issue

LaFleur pointed out how communication, especially in the secondary, has been an issue.

"Basic install, like Day 1 install and we have self-inflicted communication errors and guys quite frankly not in the right spot," LaFleur said. "That's tough to watch and it happened. It wasn't just on defense."

But if several players have had problems with it over the season with such basic concepts, it’s not only on the players. It’s mainly on the coaches. And LaFleur knows that.

"When you're having basic communication problems and you're supposed to be in a certain coverage or a certain rotation and we're not getting that communication, it always starts with us," the coach added. "It starts with myself and it goes to all our assistant coaches. So obviously the coaching wasn't up to the standard and our performance on the field definitely showed that as well."

Being a teacher and capable of making the players execute what you want is a big part of a coordinator’s job. If LaFleur, an offensive playcaller, will have to be more involved on the defense to make it happen, that’s everything you need to know.

Lack of interim options

LaFleur has had big-time issues hiring assistants, a topic that we have already explored here. And that doesn’t apply only to coordinators, but to position coaches as well. And when they hired Joe Barry to replace Mike Pettine, most of the position coaches were retained.

Now, Barry hasn’t had success and there isn’t an obvious choice to replace him on an interim basis.

But at this point, a change seems necessary. With Barry, the plans have been bad and badly executed.

"The game plan going into it (the Bucs game) was to play a little bit more two-shell, to try and alleviate some of the explosive plays," LaFleur mentioned. "Obviously that didn't matter."

The Packers need fresh air. It might be with experience, with Jason Rebrovich or Kirk Olivadotti, or with a higher ceiling of a coach like Ryan Downard. If the chosen one didn’t work out, it’s not a big difference from what has been done anyway.

Lack of talent

A frequent point from people defending Joe Barry is that the defense doesn’t have as much talent as previously expected. But that’s hard to believe when most of these players have already played at a higher level than they are doing now.

Rashan Gary hasn’t been as effective, Jaire Alexander is playing (when healthy) the worst football of his career, Eric Stokes and Darnell Savage regressed, De’Vondre Campbell came down to Earth.

"I've seen us execute this stuff before," LaFleur said. "It's unfortunate that it happened at this time of the year in such an important game. But I've seen us execute it earlier in the year or in previous games."

There are teams producing more with less talent, and that’s evident when you watch a Minnesota Vikings game. Brian Flores was available on the market the last two offseasons, and he’s extracting a lot of value from a mediocre defense at best in terms of talent level.

It’s hard to split success or blame, but Brian Gutekunst can’t cut the entire defense and build it again to see if Barry works out. The only viable path is to hire a new defensive coordinator, and if it doesn’t work again, then you have more data points to make better decisions moving forward.

Contract

Barry’s deal with the Packers is expected to expire after this season, so it could make sense to let it run out before actively making the decision to fire him. But if the determination is made, why would they wait? The Packers are still in the playoff race, and it doesn’t seem like Barry gives the team the best chance to succeed.

They will pay his salary anyway, so make whatever decision is best for the defense.

Job attractivity

The Packers have fired two defensive coordinators in the last six years, so there’s a school of thought saying that if they fire a third one, the job won’t be as attractive to potential options. Well, there are only 32 of these jobs available, Matt LaFleur has to be able to find a good option. Previously mentioned Brian Flores took a linebackers coach job with the Pittsburgh Steelers last season, Jim Schwartz worked as the Tennessee Titans senior defensive assistant for two years before getting the Cleveland Browns DC job.

It’s just a matter of wanting to make a change, finding a good system and a good teacher. Someone will be tempted by the opportunity to get his defense to a better place, and the bar isn’t high.

Continuity

At this point, the main reason for the Packers to keep Barry is continuity. They don’t want to make in-season changes. But what’s the point of giving continuity to something that hasn’t worked for three years? If the Packers make a change and things get even worse until the end of the season, they would have more information about other things that are wrong, but that wouldn’t mean Barry is the best option.

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