Earlier this season, people were raving about how much better the Green Bay Packers' defense looked, but following a porous effort in the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers, some are having second thoughts.
Count Packers head coach Matt LaFleur among that group, as LaFleur is not 100 percent sure that defensive coordinator Mike Pettine will be back in 2020, saying that the team was “still working through everything,” per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk.
Green Bay's defense was a strange case in 2019.
On one hand, the Packers did a great job of getting key stops, as they allowed just 19.6 points per game, which was ninth-best in the NFL. On the other side of the coin, however, Green Bay ranked 18th in yards allowed, and its run defense was a big problem, as it finished 23rd in the league in that category.
The Packers' shaky run defense was on full display against the 49ers, as running back Raheem Mostert punctured Green Bay for 220 yards and four touchdowns in a 37-20 San Francisco victory.
LaFleur did say that he thought the defense did some good things during the regular season and that the entire team—not just the defense—was at fault for the loss to the Niners, but also said that he didn't think the defense had a great energy in the defeat.
The Packers won 13 games and captured the NFC North division title this year, locking up a first-round bye. They then defeated the Seattle Seahawks in the Divisional Round before falling to the 49ers.
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