GREEN BAY, Wis. — Matt LaFleur is trying to let go of his anger about things he can’t control. In his office on a Sunday morning in early August, the printer did not count as one of them.LaFleur, the Green Bay Packers head coach now entering his eighth season in the role, wanted to print his practice scripts and call sheets for that day, but the machine was glitching. Nobody was around to help troubleshoot the problem. So LaFleur started yelling at it.“I was livid. I couldn’t get anybody to help,” he said, laughing.That, LaFleur admitted, was ultimately a waste of energy. He made fun of himself — “I didn’t respond the right way this morning,” he cracked — but in truth, he’s been thinking a lot about this topic over the last few months.“I don’t think I get as pissed off as I used to,” he said. “… I’m just like, ‘All right, am I in control of this? Or not?’ … I think a little bit more like that (or at least try to) with a lot of things. … That has helped me, when I know I can’t control it.”Tucker Kraft back in action at Packers training campJourdan Rodrigue and Rachael TindeLaFleur has sometimes given the impression that he always has to be right, that he always has an answer or a rebuttal. His quickness can translate to excellent problem-solving on the field (just look at what he did with backup quarterback Malik Willis, helping the third-round pick-turned-backup become a QB1 again with the Miami Dolphins). But like most NFL coaches, LaFleur will admit that his acuity can also be a gateway to anger or frustration when things don’t go how he plans.I expected a typical conversational path with LaFleur when we sat down that day, one that had very little to do with him and instead was a careful deflection back to the smart scheming and planning for the season ahead. But he was different. LaFleur began talking about what he can and cannot let go of. His shoulders slumped briefly, and he looked away.This was grief, sudden and relentless.Cristina Ulbrich, wife of Atlanta Falcons defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich — the couple, longtime friends of LaFleur and his wife, Bre — had died just a few days earlier from cancer. She was 48.LaFleur had planned to attend her memorial service, flying privately so as to quickly make it out of one long, work-intensive training camp day and return before another started. As the plane he commissioned prepared to take off, the crew found a mechanical issue, and he got stuck. He ultimately had to return to the Packers’ facilities while Bre traveled separately and made it in time to support Ulbrich and his family. LaFleur said he felt terrible about missing the service. How jarring, to pivot right back to football as a friend was laid to rest.“All the sudden, I’m back in meetings,” he said, wincing. “I’m like, ‘It’s out of my control.’”Cristina — her illness, her passing, how Ulbrich must feel — keeps coming into LaFleur’s mind. He pictures the hurt in Ulbrich’s face. LaFleur, his younger brother Mike (the Arizona Cardinals’ first-year head coach), Ulbrich and Tennessee Titans head coach Robert Saleh, plus their wives and kids, have been friends for years, bonded by various coaching jobs and connecting friendships, and by the unrelenting grind of football. LaFleur, 46, has known loss before. But this was different. Cristina was one of them. She was part of the fabric of their peer group, intertwined with the peaks and valleys of their football lives as much as their family lives.“It’s different … when it’s somebody your age,” LaFleur said quietly. “She was a rock star. I think about it every day. I worry about ‘Brich.”LaFleur gestured around his large office. “It puts all of this stuff a little bit more in perspective,” he said, “… you can’t take it for granted, that’s for sure.”The barely controlled chaos of an NFL head coaching job during a day of training camp was on full display in LaFleur’s office. One wall is actually a giant dry-erase board, covered in hand-drawn plays. Another features a massive screen that is a backdrop for the large, curved double monitors on LaFleur’s desk, surrounded by scribbled-on practice script cards and play call sheets.The computer screens all had a different tab open, from emails to film clips to roster notes and more. LaFleur suddenly remembered he had forgotten to eat lunch between meetings, practice and interviews, so his assistant brought him a bowl of raw vegetables.LaFleur keeps his phone in his office, and throughout that day he checked for updates from Saleh as the two discussed how to support Ulbrich in the coming days. Another group chat that includes longtime friend and former boss Kyle Shanahan provided updates on Shanahan’s health as he recovers from his July car crash.Bre even stopped by with their oldest son after practice to say hello. The office may be all football, all the time, but there’s a lot of life happening there too.Despite LaFleur’s moments of grief and worry, he also seemed … calm.At least, he was calmer than expected for a man who had just experienced a season like the one the Packers had in 2025. Many, many things went sideways for LaFleur and his team despite beginning the year with such optimism and expectations.New team president Ed Policy and longtime general manager Brian Gutekunst made bold moves in the 2025 draft by selecting Matthew Golden at No. 23, the first receiver taken by Green Bay in the opening round in over two decades. They were bold again in their trade for elite pass rusher Micah Parsons right before the season began, sending multiple first-round picks plus defensive tackle Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys. These would be the “new Packers,” they seemed to express — built solidly out of NFL history and tradition but now willing to take bigger swings. With both LaFleur and Gutekunst coming due for contract extensions, it felt like the organization had dared the perennially winning head coach and GM to go bolder, too.But then, both Parsons and tight end Tucker Kraft, who was quickly ascending and bringing the Green Bay offense along with him, got hurt. Other key role players did too. A 5-1-1 start became a 9-7-1 finish (and let’s not even talk about that tie).Quarterback Jordan Love also got banged up and had to sit out a game at the end of the season before the team’s underwhelming playoff exit in the wild-card round to the rival Chicago Bears. LaFleur, who has the third-best winning percentage among active NFL head coaches, at times drew the ire of Packers fans for his situational decision-making and for what looked like confusion in a crowded and inconsistent receivers room. In the offseason, defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley left for the head coaching job in Miami, and respected special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia resigned.It was “a weird year,” LaFleur admitted, with a lot of change — some of which he could control, some of which he couldn’t. As he nears a decade as a head coach, LaFleur thinks he’s learning to accept that.“I think my perspective has changed a little bit, just on life in general,” he said. “The older you get, all you can ask of anybody is just do the best you can. … If you’re doing the best you can and it doesn’t work out, I can still look myself in the mirror and know I did everything I could. I feel like that about everyone in the building.”In the spring, the Packers parted ways with receivers Romeo Doubs in free agency and Dontayvion Wicks via a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles. The remaining receivers and Love have felt more clarity within their group, plus Kraft figures to be back by Week 1 if not sooner. Parsons could return in October.LaFleur also hired former Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon as his new defensive coordinator. He and Gannon had never worked together, but from their interview, LaFleur said, he “knew (Gannon) was a good person and knew he knew ball.” They hit it off quickly once Gannon arrived in Green Bay, and now LaFleur has found himself delegating more to Gannon and leaning on him for advice. A head coach sometimes takes a risk when hiring a former one as a coordinator; big personalities accustomed to being the leader can clash. No issues there, LaFleur said.“He’s been better than I could have ever envisioned,” he added. “I love the guy. I love how he holds (players and coaches) accountable. But he doesn’t have an ego. That’s fun to work with.”Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst and head coach Matt LaFleur talk during an August practice. (Tork Mason / USA Today Network – Wisconsin)LaFleur has also embraced more of a hands-off approach with his offensive assistants — at least so far. Earlier in the offseason, he declared to reporters that the offense would “strip everything down and start like it’s Year 1 all over again.” That has in part meant trusting his coaches to help infuse new ideas into an offense that now has seven years of work behind it, and trusting them to be honest with each other about the concepts they should scrap. They went over the entire library concept by concept in the spring.Love said that LaFleur has emphasized developing plays that can work universally against more coverages rather than attempting to force a defense into the coverage the Packers want.“I think he’s done a great job of evolving. I think for him, he just wants me to be comfortable,” Love said. “He’s always asking, ‘Tell me what you’re comfortable with? Tell me what you’re not comfortable with?’ Because at the end of the day, (he says) ‘You’re the one running the plays. I can call it, but if you don’t feel comfortable running it, it’s not going to be a good play.’”Now in training camp, LaFleur doesn’t always feel the need to hover over offensive meetings. Maybe he recognizes he isn’t the only one in the building with answers.“I think for Matt, as a head coach, you’ve got so much on your plate,” Love said. “Matt is the type, as the play caller, where he wants to be in control of what’s going on and put us in the best situations. There are some times where you have got to just sit back and say, ‘Hey, I’ve coached the guys as much as I can.’”Perhaps the years with Love as his quarterback have impacted LaFleur beyond the field. Love is an elite problem-solver — LaFleur raves about his protection calls and adjustments at the line of scrimmage, and his ability to smooth out a complex play for others — but his process is serene.“He’s so cool. He’s so f—ing cool,” LaFleur said. “In fact, I like it when he bites back on me sometimes. But it doesn’t happen often. … He’s a pretty level-headed dude. (And) what’s cool about him is to see the success he’s had, he hasn’t changed. … His knowledge is off the charts, he’s got great recall. I can’t tell you how many times I can call something (bad) and he’ll fix it. He’s just on that level now.”The season will bring new tests, but for now, delegation has its perks. LaFleur has found more time to spend with his players throughout the day, and this offseason he hosted a few team leaders at his home. “I value time a hell of a lot more than I used to,” he said. “Whether it’s with players, the meetings … It goes so fast. I don’t want to waste time.”After that Sunday’s practice, players peeled off their pads and dumped extra gear into the large laundry carts waiting along one sideline. Many welcomed their family members to the field. Kids ran around on the grass with each other, laughing as their parents watched and cheered them on. Before heading back to his office, a grinning LaFleur joined them.