The Green Bay Packers are entering a new era, starting a season without Aaron Rodgers for the first time in more than a decade. With Rodgers under center the Packers enjoyed a ton of success early in the year as the QB had a 34-16-1 record in the month of September as a Packer. Head coach Matt LaFleur now has to lead the team to success with Jordan Love at pivot, and thankfully he has experience winning during the opening month of the NFL season, something he’ll hope to continue in the post-Rodgers era.
With the season about to start, BetWisconsin decided to see how LaFleur’s September record compared to other coaches in the same month to see what Packers fans and bettors can expect as the team opens the season. The hope is the increase of the Packers playoff chances despite the changes at quarterback.
Best NFL Coaches in September
BetWisconsin.com utilized data from Pro-Football-Reference.com to see which coaches get off to a hot start and have the best winning percentage in the month of September. Below is some information you wouldn't find on Wisconsin sportsbooks even if they were legal and available.
Coaches must have at least three years as a head coach to qualify for this list.
LaFleur Is Masterful In September
While having one of the league's best quarterbacks certainly tipped the scales in his favor, LaFleur’s September record stands out amongst his peers as only Sean McVay has a higher win percentage than LaFleur’s 77% and no coach other than those two is above 70%.
Green Bay has a solid opportunity to start the year strong and to keep LaFleur’s September winning percentage high as they play the Bears, Falcons, Saints and Lions to start the season. All four of those teams have shorter odds than the Packers Super Bowl odds, but none are considered a strong favorite for the NFL Championship and the Packers should only be big underdogs against the Lions. If Love is anywhere close to as good as Rodgers has been over the past years, winning two or three of those games is a very realistic possibility.
After McVay and LaFleur on the coaches list come Kevin Stefanski, John Harbaugh and Sean McDermott, all of whom have high expectations coming into this season. Of coaches with the most tenure, Harbaugh, Bill Belichick, Andy Reid and former Packers coach Mike McCarthy lead the way, with several of McCarthy’s September wins coming with Green Bay.
There is a definite new look to the Packers this year and fans will be watching anxiously to see if Rodgers was the key to the teams September success or if Matt LaFleur can push the right buttons with his team and lead them to a strong start to the season.
