Packers head coach Matt LaFleur sounds off on Aaron Rodgers

The Green Bay Packers saw their great season come to a stunning end last night at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, as the visiting squad shocked their hosts with a walk-off field goal as time expired to advance in the NFL postseason and send Green Bay into an uncertain offseason. 

Of course, speculation immediately began as to the future plans of potential 2021 NFL MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who's status to play the year with Green Bay was in doubt before he ultimately decided to take the field. 

For head coach Matt LaFleur, he admitted to being "numb" in the same way that Rodgers did, but he remains hopeful that the NFL MVP will be back on the field for the Packers later this year. 

“I sat down and talked to Aaron today for quite some time,” LaFleur said. “I think we’re all a little numb to the situation right now. I would say that what we talked about I’m definitely going to keep between him and myself, but we’re hopeful that he’ll be back next year, obviously.

“This guy has done so much for such a long period of time for this organization, for this city, for this team. I want to be respectful of his process. Whatever he needs to go through to make the best decision for himself, and certainly we would love for him to be a Packer until the day he decides to retire.”

LaFleur then offered this reasoning when asked why Rodgers didn't live up to his MVP-level caliber of play against the 49ers. 

“From what I saw, he was under an immense amount of pressure, and it’s hard to play that position when you’ve got pressure in your lap the whole game,” LaFleur said. “I thought there were a lot of things he did great. I really did.

“Unfortunately we hold him to such a high, high standard, just like he holds himself to that high standard. But ultimately, like we’ve said many times, the quarterback will get too much blame when things don’t go right, and too much credit [when they do]. But ultimately, this is a team game, and the game we played the other night is the epitome of it takes all three phases.”