At the beginning of the day, it did not sound like Mike Pettine would have a job at the end of it. Green Bay had their exit interview with Matt LaFleur. When asked about Pettine, LaFleur said ‘We’re evaluating everything at this point.’ This sounded like a nice way to say ‘Yeah, we’re getting rid of this guy.’ That did not happen. Packers are bringing back Pettine for his third year as defensive coordinator. This is a big-time decision by LaFleur, and he believes the defense would not be better with another coach.

Even though this is Pettine’s third year, he is getting his year two too. Let me explain further. LaFleur explained how Aaron Rodgers and the offense will be much crisper in year two. In a sense, Pettine is getting that same luxury. The 2018 defense looked nothing like this one, and that version would not have been a 13-3 defense. Pettine is getting another year to figure it out with Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, Jaire Alexander, Darnell Savage, and others. That is a fair assessment by LaFleur and company. There is no reason to separate if LaFleur believes this defense has room to grow.

Pettine does need to figure out ways to make his defense better though. In spurts, Packers defense looked like one of the best in the National Football League. In others, they looked like complete frauds. Pettine’s idea to let teams run the ball might not be the best strategy, or it needs to be reworked a little bit. The same goes with the soft zone that Green Bay relied on far too often last season.

On Sunday, I wondered why Pettine should survive another year, and while I think Wade Phillips or Kris Richard could make a dent with this defense, this is fine. You don’t want to overreact on one game, and apparently, LaFleur believes that the good outweighs the bad. Remember, this isn’t one of his coaching buddies. Rather, Green Bay forced Pettine on him, and still, he went with him for another year.

Charlie.