Micah Parsons Backs Matt LaFleur amid Packers Rumors About Hot Seat, Contract After Bears Loss

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur received a ringing endorsement from one of his star players amid ongoing speculation surrounding his future with the team.

Per ESPN's Rob Demovsky, Packers star edge rusher Micah Parsons made it clear that he wants LaFleur to remain his coach in 2026 while speaking to reporters on Monday.

"I reached out to him when I started seeing this, and I said, 'Man, when I agreed to come here, you were part of the reason why I came here, I want you a part of this and I love you and I think you're a great coach,'" Parsons said. "And he appreciated those words, and we had a brief conversation, but Matt, I think he's a great guy and I just think he cares so much, like he cares so much about the players."

The Packers disappointingly lost Saturday's NFC Wild Card game against the Chicago Bears 31-27 after surrendering an 18-point lead. LaFleur, who is entering the final year of his contract, immediately faced questions about his job security but made it clear that he wants to remain Green Bay's head coach.

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Demovsky noted that Packers president Ed Policy said last June that he would prefer not to have a lame-duck coach, further fueling the uncertainty surrounding LaFleur's future. However, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Monday that the team is expected to attempt to retain him with a contract extension.

Packers star quarterback Jordan Love also gave his head coach a vote of confidence after Saturday's loss, saying, "I definitely think Matt should be the head coach. I've got a lot of love for Matt, and I think he does a good job. And that's it."

Green Bay's struggles have been due in part to losing Parsons to a season-ending torn ACL in Week 15, as the team proceeded to end the year with four straight losses. The star edge rusher said Monday that he hopes to be recovered in time for one of the first three weeks of the 2026 season, and he said he wants LaFleur to be there when he makes it back to the field.

"You can get spoiled with a good coach and good people, and you don't realize until they're gone and I don't want to be at that point where we realize like, 'Damn, we let such a great coach go,'" Parsons said. "Because at one point the players -- you talk about do your job, right? You talk about coach, I mean this team put up what, how many points do they score? Twenty-seven? Twenty-seven points in a playoff game. I always told you, if my team puts up 21 points, we should win that game.

"We put up 27 points and we miss six, seven on special teams, that's 34 points and you're talking about, you want to get rid of a coach. At one point players have to have accountability and that's something that I'm challenging us as players that we need to take, we need to have accountability. How do we let that game go?"