Under most circumstances, finding yourself in the company of Bart Starr would be a great thing.
One of the ultimate high-character players in Packers history, Starr would be a wealth of knowledge about
not just football, but about the team for which he played. What else would you expect from a guy who learned at the foot of Vince Lombardi for a decade, one whose knowledge of Lombardi’s system was so intimate and thorough that Lombardi himself sought out Starr for insight after leaving to take over his new gig in Washington?
Unfortunately, Matt LaFleur finds himself in the one circumstance where a comparison to Bart Starr isn’t desirable. After the Packers’ meltdown against the Bears on Saturday, LaFleur and Starr are now the only coaches in Packers history to guide the team for at least seven years without a championship.
Starr did it for nine seasons, coaching the Packers from 1975 through 1983 without a title. He managed to get the Packers to the postseason one time, though it came during the strike-shortened 1982 season. The Packers went 5-3-1 that year, won a playoff game, and then got bounced by the Dallas Cowboys.
Starr’s tenure ended after the next season. He, too, found his year coming to an ignominious end thanks to a loss to the Bears. Leading 21-20 with about three minutes to go, Starr’s defense surrendered a game-winning drive as Starr himself inexplicably refused to call timeouts, allowing the Bears to run the clock down to practically zero before kicking the go-ahead field goal.
LaFleur’s season-ender was a bit more spectacular, but the end result is the same: he now joins Starr in rare air in Packers history, moving ahead of Mike Sherman, who coached for six years without a title from 2000-05. Nobody has been in charge longer without a title than Starr and LaFleur.
Will that change in 2026? According to Adam Schefter, it looks like LaFleur is going to get another crack at it with the Packers. He’ll enter the 2026 season as one of the seven longest-tenured coaches in the NFL, assuming nothing changes ahead of him. And of the coaches who have been in their positions as long as LaFleur or longer, only Sean McDermott hasn’t been to the Super Bowl, and his Bills are still alive in a vulnerable AFC playoff field. If McDermott, Josh Allen, and the Bills can finally break through this season, LaFleur will be in lonely company, indeed.
