Matt LaFleur Calls Mike McCarthy’s Career Path “Pretty Special” Ahead of Steelers Preseason Opener
Matt LaFleur didn’t have to say anything nice about Mike McCarthy. He said it anyway, and he said it in a way that sounded less like obligatory press-conference diplomacy and more like a guy who’s actually thought about it.
“I’ve got so much respect for him,” LaFleur said Monday, addressing McCarthy’s career ahead of Thursday’s preseason opener in Pittsburgh. “First of all, how he’s always treated me. Secondly, just by what he’s accomplished here. It’s pretty cool that, when he got the Pittsburgh job, I’m like, Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, Pittsburgh Steelers — I mean, that’s pretty special.”
Worth sitting with that math for a second. McCarthy is now the only coach in NFL history to have run three of the league’s most storied franchises. He won a Super Bowl in Green Bay in February 2010, coincidentally against the Steelers, and now he’s on the other sideline trying to rebuild a Pittsburgh team that just watched Mike Tomlin walk away after another Wild Card exit.
LaFleur Is the Guy Who Replaced Him — That’s Not Nothing
Here’s what the reunion framing everyone else is running with misses: this isn’t really a story about McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers coming back to Lambeau’s orbit. LaFleur took over in Green Bay in 2019, directly succeeding McCarthy after 13 seasons. That’s a specific kind of relationship in coaching — you’re not just an admirer from a distance, you’re the guy who inherited the roster, the building, the fanbase’s expectations, and to some degree the shadow.
Coaches who follow legends don’t always talk about their predecessors like this. LaFleur could’ve kept it clipped and safe. Instead he volunteered the full résumé rundown unprompted, which says something about where LaFleur’s head is at seven years into the job — secure enough in his own standing to praise the guy he replaced without it reading as competitive.
The Packers and Steelers haven’t lined up in the preseason since 1965, so there’s no recent tape to lean on for comparison, no rivalry residue to draw from. This is genuinely uncharted ground for both fan bases.
The Game Itself Is About Something Else Entirely
Strip away the coaching-tree storyline and this is a roster evaluation game, full stop. LaFleur has already made clear he’s not treating it like a glorified walkthrough — “Anybody that’s healthy better be ready to play,” he told reporters over the weekend, a notably different tone than the load-management approach a lot of head coaches default to in Week 1 of the preseason.
That matters more for Green Bay’s outlook than any quote about McCarthy will. The Packers opened hot last year before the wheels came off late, and LaFleur has spent the offseason trying to draw a line between injuries and an actual scheme or roster problem. Playing starters live against a real opponent, even in August, is how you start answering that question instead of guessing at it.
McCarthy, for his part, has leaned toward caution with his own players in camp, and how much he leans on that Thursday will tell you something about how he’s building his Steelers roster going into a season with real pressure attached — new coach, no Tomlin, a fanbase that’s used to relevance.
Green Bay and Pittsburgh kick off Thursday at 7 p.m. ET.
