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GREEN BAY Marquez Valdes-Scantling Jersey , Wis. (AP) — Matt LaFleur has never been in charge of an NFL team before, and until last year had never called plays for one either.On Wednesday, he took over the Green Bay Packers, who have missed the playoffs two years in a row — and a team with a two-time MVP quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, whom LaFleur must help to get back to playing his best.“I briefly spoke to (Rodgers) prior to accepting the job,” LaFleur said during an introductory news conference at Lambeau Field.“That’s kind of how I had an idea that maybe I was in the running for it.”According to team president Mark Murphy and general manager Brian Gutekunst, LaFleur was by far the best of the other nine candidates who interviewed for the job after longtime head coach Mike McCarthy was fired on Dec. 2, with four games remaining in his 13th season in charge.“Obviously we cast a fairly large net, much larger than the 10 people that we interviewed,” Murphy said. “Went through the nine (interviews) and quite honestly, no one really stood out. There were a lot of strong candidates, but there wasn’t one that just jumped out at us.“Matt was our last candidate, and we’d heard great things about Matt through our vetting process. A lot of the coaches and others that we talked to talked about his background, his experience. So were really excited going into it.”Murphy, Gutekunst and executive vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball then emerged from LaFleur’s interview Sunday in Nashville even more excited — and agreeing that they had their man, despite having planned to host a second round of interviews.After sleeping on it, they offered the job to LaFleur on Monday, and he arrived in Green Bay on Tuesday night to sign his contract.“It’s always been a dream of mine to be an NFL head coach, but to be the head coach of the Green Bay, it is surreal,” LaFleur said.LaFleur comes to the Packers after one season as the play-calling offensive coordinator of the Tennessee Titans, a job he took a year ago because he knew he needed to “challenge myself.”He’d spent the 2017 season as the Los Angeles Rams‘ offensive coordinator under Sean McVay, and Murphy said he believed LaFleur would have been “the hot candidate. He’d be flying all over the country talking to everybody.”Instead, the Packers were the only team to interview LaFleur for a head coaching job since the season ended.“It would have been easy to stay in L.A. You look at the roster and you look at the success they’re having there this year, it certainly could have been easy to stay there Jimmy Graham Color Rush Jersey ,” LaFleur said, referring to the Rams, who’ll face the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC divisional playoffs on Saturday night.“I took the risk because I knew that I needed to get out of my comfort zone and grow as a coach.”Meanwhile, it’ll be vital for LaFleur to find a comfort zone with Rodgers, who is coming off a down season by his standards. Although he threw only two interceptions in 16 games, he also threw only 25 touchdown passes, the lowest full-season total of his career. He also completed only 62.3 percent of his passes, the second-lowest rate of his time as a starter, and finished with a 97.6 passer rating, well below his 103.1 career rating.Rodgers also played all season with a left knee injury sustained in the season-opener against Chicago and left the season finale with a concussion after three offensive series as the Packers finished 6-9-1.It’ll be up to LaFleur to get Rodgers back to the MVP form he showed in winning the award in 2011 and 2014, and in rallying the Packers from a 4-6 start in 2016 to a berth in the NFC championship game that year.The Packers lost that game to the Atlanta Falcons, led by quarterback Matt Ryan, who won the league’s MVP that season.Ryan’s quarterbacks coach that year? LaFleur.“I’ll tell you what, I cannot wait to get to work with him,” LaFleur said of Rodgers. “I think he’s equally excited. There’s a lot of work to be done in front of us, but just looking forward to that opportunity.”At the same time, LaFleur will have to coach the entire 53-man team, not just the quarterback. And the Packers are convinced he can both lead the team and reinvigorate Rodgers.“I think we’ve got the perfect candidate to lead us to where we want to go,” Gutekunst said. “There’s one goal — always has been one goal — and that’s to win world championships. We’re excited to get started.” Aaron Rodgers did what he liked for the first 30 minutes. He threw a pair of touchdowns, including a 54-yarder on the run to an unknown tight end for his first NFL catch. His passer rating was nearly perfect. Green Bay looked like it could score on every drive.And then it almost completely stopped. Rodgers was unable to solve Seattle in the second half, and was left to watch Russell Wilson lead another late touchdown drive and send the Packers back home with a loss.“It’s tough losing on the road. It’s tough losing by one possession,” Rodgers said. “Obviously I’m frustrated, and not just by the last throw, but some other stuff that we could have done better out there. I still believe we have a lot to play for.”Green Bay’s road woes continued in a 27-24 loss to the Seahawks on Thursday night. The Packers (4-5-1) had leads of 14-3 and 21-17, only to see Wilson throw a 15-yard TD pass to Ed Dickson with 5:08 remaining to give Seattle the lead for good.The Packers still had a chance to get out of Seattle with its first win here since 2008 https://www.thepackersfanshop.com/Muhammad-Wilkerson-Jersey , yet their final possession lasted all of three plays. And it was the last pass by Rodgers that seemed to baffle everyone.Facing third-and-2 at its own 33, Rodgers called a quick pass to the flat for Marquez Valdes-Scantling. Except the pass never got there. It hopped in front of the intended receiver, and instead of going for it on fourth down, Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy opted to punt with more than 4 minutes remaining and the Packers still having one timeout.The decision backfired. Green Bay never saw the ball again, instead forced to watch Wilson kneel three times to run out the clock.Rodgers said the pass for Valdes-Scantling “stuck” in his hand and guessed he could make that throw 100 times and that wouldn’t happen again.“We beat ourselves in the second half,” Rodgers said. “We kind of moved the ball at will in the first half.”Green Bay’s problems went well beyond that one bad throw by Rodgers and the decision to punt. Rodgers was sacked five times, four of those in the second half. Twice in the third quarter Green Bay was forced to punt after drives stalled at midfield. The Packers were 3 of 11 on third downs, 2 of 7 in the second half. A week after Aaron Jones rushed for a career-high 145 yards, the Packers had just 48 yards rushing and Jones finished with 40.Green Bay is 0-5 on the road this season and has lost seven straight road games dating to last year.“I think it kind of went the way we thought it would go. When you’re playing in this environment, particularly when you’re on the road up here. There’s a high tendency for big-momentum plays, big swings, and I think that definitely held true,” McCarthy said. “They made more big plays than we did. … We’ve got to finish games better, especially in the fourth quarter, and especially on the road.”Rodgers finished with 332 yards passing and his TD throw to Robert Tonyan in the first quarter, and his 57-yard strike to Davante Adams in the fourth quarter showed again the greatness of his arm. But Rodgers had 214 yards at halftime and Seattle was able to pressure Rodgers enough in the second half to disrupt Green Bay’s passing attack.Injuries certainly didn’t help either. Green Bay was already down four starters before the first snaps with cornerback Kevin King, safety Kentrell Brice, linebacker Nick Perry and wide receiver Randall Cobb all out due to injuries. They lost two more in the first half when Bashaud Breeland — starting for King — aggravated a groin injury and Jimmy Graham injured his thumb. Graham had a 13-yard reception on Green Bay’s first offensive play in his return to Seattle, but that was his only catch.Mike Daniels suffered a foot injury early in the second half and backup safety Raven Greene suffered an ankle injury. Neither returned. If there’s an upside to the loss, it’s Green Bay getting extra rest before facing Minnesota in a must-win game next week.“We have a number of opportunities where our record would be very different right now, unfortunately, that’s the way it’s played out,” Clay Matthews said. “We’ve set ourselves up for a pretty good second half, we just have to get back to work. We have no other option. On to Minnesota after a couple days rest.”