Matt LaFleur jumps on the hot seat with Packers' embarrassing 35-14 loss to Falcons at Lambeau Field

Matt LaFleur might be in trouble. Green Bay Packers fans already weren't happy with the head coach after a collapse to end last season and an uninspiring 1-1 start to this season. But they seemingly had an easy task Thursday night, hosting an Atlanta Falcons team that was 0-2 and had an argument as the worst team in the NFL through two weeks. Yet the Packers were dominated by that Falcons team at Lambeau Field. Atlanta had quarterback Michael Penix Jr. back, but he's far from a superstar. But all of the Falcons looked like stars against the Packers. Bijan Robinson and Drake London had monster games. Robinson had 194 rushing yards and two touchdowns. London had 194 receiving yards on nine catches. Atlanta had 498 yards on offense. The 35-14 loss to the Falcons is bad for the Packers' season, and much worse for LaFleur's job security. Head coach Matt LaFleur has won only one of his past eight regular-season games dating back to last season. Patrick McDermott via Getty ImagesThe criticism for LaFleur is about to ramp up. He has a good career record with Green Bay but also some memorable playoff disappointments and no Super Bowl appearances. Last season the Packers lost their last five games and two of them featured big blown leads against the Chicago Bears, including one in the playoffs. That's a sin in the Packers-Bears rivalry which won't be forgiven anytime soon, if at all, in Wisconsin. “Got to try to figure out what we do well, and right now I don’t know what we’re doing well offensively,” LaFleur told reporters postgame, per ESPN’s Rob Demovsky.This season the Packers are missing Micah Parsons due to injury, are beat up on the offensive line and lost receiver Jayden Reed while Josh Jacobs is on the commissioner's exempt list. None of those excuses matter in Green Bay, just the awful results. Green Bay fell apart in the fourth quarter of the opener at Minnesota and needed to rally to beat the Jets in overtime in Week 2. Nothing had looked good for the Packers this season. Thursday night should have been a get-right spot for them. It wasn't, and LaFleur is about to feel a lot of pressure to turn things around. Fast. "That was a humbling night."Matt LaFleur on the Packers' loss. pic.twitter.com/r3BP9v2Nsp— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) September 25, 2026 Falcons take halftime leadPenix was back, playing his first game since Nov. 16 due to a torn ACL, and it took a quarter to knock off some rust. On Penix's first possession in more than 10 months, he threw a telegraphed interception right over the middle to safety Xavier McKinney. The Packers couldn't cash in on that, but scored later on a 4-yard touchdown reception by Christian Watson. Green Bay led 7-0. That ended up being the high point of its night.Penix went 2 of 7 for 22 passing yards and an interception by the end of the first quarter. His passer rating was 0.6. But he could hand off to Robinson.Robinson had a 55-yard gallop, which set up his 3-yard TD run. That was the first time the Falcons were in the red zone all season. That drive was kept alive by a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty. The Falcons weren't turning down assistance. That got Atlanta going and it dominated the second quarter. Austin Hooper's touchdown gave the Falcons a 17-7 lead right before halftime. Atlanta, which couldn't move the ball in the first two weeks of the season, had 253 yards in the first half and were averaging 6.7 yards per play, not counting a final kneeldown. The Packers had just 108 yards and couldn't maintain any drives. By the end of the night, Penix had 256 yards and a touchdown. The Packers, in their home opener, were booed off the field at halftime. Given how they had played, it was deserved. When asked if there will be any changes to the coaching staff, namely the offensive line, LaFleur declined to answer, saying, “I’m not even going to respond to that question.”Packers stumble aroundThe Packers got a drive going to start the second half but it didn't end well. On third down they ran a poorly executed pass to the outside and Watson ended up a yard short of the first down. On fourth-and-1 they ran a play-action fake, perhaps because they have no trust in their run game. Love had nothing open and threw wildly incomplete into the end zone. It was the kind of sloppy play-calling and execution that has been too frequent for Green Bay this season. The @AtlantaFalcons defense takes over on downs!@ATLvsGB on Prime VideoStream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/i3ddnVRXBV— NFL (@NFL) September 25, 2026 The Packers lacked much fight all night, and after that failed fourth down it really ran out. The Falcons had an easy 92-yard drive and Brian Robinson capped it with a touchdown run. The Falcons led 24-7 at that point and Packers fans were free to beat the traffic home. Nothing about the Packers looks good. The offensive line can't block, which is ruining the running game and putting Love in bad spots too. Love missed several throws on Thursday night. None of the running backs can overcome a subpar line. Being in second-and-long all night was a reason the Packers punted on five of their first eight drives. The defense was solid in the first two games without Parsons but totally fell apart Thursday night as Robinson made them look silly on several long runs. There aren't any positives coming out of the first three games other than they salvaged a win against the Jets. The Packers are 1-2 and it feels a lot worse than that. That ultimately falls on LaFleur. He has been a good coach. He got an extension in January, and Packers president and CEO Ed Policy scoffed at the idea that LaFleur's job was in danger. His 77-42-1 record is better than all but a few active coaches. His win percentage is better than Andy Reid's career mark. And yet, after Thursday night's uncompetitive loss to a previously winless Falcons team, time might be running out.