Rams OC Mike LaFleur focused on resolving red zone woes, not facing brother on opposite sideline

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Outside of a chance to bring the whole family together, Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur isn't flustered knowing his brother, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur, will be on the opposing sideline Sunday.

Mike LaFleur's bigger concern this week is trying to get the Rams' floundering red zone offense on track after struggles inside the 20-yard line again proved costly in a 24-18 loss at Chicago.

“We’re all in this thing together,” LaFleur said Thursday. “There’s no panic from it. It’s been a small sample size.”

Scoring touchdowns in the red zone has been one of the glaring weaknesses amid the Rams' 1-3 start. They are operating at a 41.2% clip, having produced seven touchdowns on 17 chances.

The optimist in LaFleur points to the number of trips inside the 20, which is tied with Washington and Philadelphia for second in the NFL and only trails Detroit (18). But the realist recognizes the points left on the table were the difference in defeats to the Lions and Bears.

“Of course, in this league when you kick field goals like we have, you get the results that we got on Sunday,” LaFleur said. “We have to be better down there, and we will be.”

There is no one obvious cause for the Rams' issues, which makes it all the more frustrating on the heels of a 1 for 4 showing against Chicago. One trip was undone by a play call that put tight end Colby Parkinson too close to the sideline and allowed the defender to force him out of bounds. An offensive pass interference penalty did in another. The third was scuttled when receivers couldn't get separation on first-and-goal, putting the offense off schedule and unable to recover.

“There’s less grass to defend technically for a defense so if you want to get granular with it, I feel like windows become smaller," quarterback Matthew Stafford said. "There are definitely some things that make it a little bit tougher, but if you execute well down there you can usually find your way into it. We just haven’t done a good enough job of that the last couple of weeks.”

The injury absences of receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua seems to be magnified in the red zone. Kupp, who will miss his third straight game because of an ankle injury, and Nacua, who is on injured reserve after aggravating a training camp knee injury in the season opener at Detroit, are both creative and physical route runners who thrive in short and intermediate spaces.

There are also the Rams' offensive line ailments, with starters Steve Avila (knee) and Jonah Jackson (shoulder) both out of the lineup.

Those situations shrink the already thin margin for error inside the 20.

“When you get down there, your execution, everything has to be tighter,” LaFleur said.

That was clear on their lone touchdown drive, which saw the offense string together multiple authoritative runs by Kyren Williams leading to him a 3-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter to get Los Angeles within two points.

Under normal circumstances, LaFleur might reach out to his brother, whose Packers are 2-2, for suggestions on how to get things on track. Not this week, however.

“I guess we say a little less to each other on Monday and Tuesday in terms of schematics and all that stuff, but still talked to him yesterday,” LaFleur said.

That change in routine is becoming just that — routine. This is the fifth time the LaFleurs have faced off since Matt became the Green Bay head coach ahead of the 2019 season. They split two games in 2019-2020 when Mike was an assistant with San Francisco. Mike was victorious as the New York Jets' offensive coordinator in 2022, but dropped last year's matchup in his first season with Los Angeles.

“It seems like we play every year right now," Mike LaFleur said. "The only thing I look forward to, outside of the challenge that we have on Sunday, is getting to see my nephew that gets to come into town. That’s about it.”

But that didn't stop LaFleur from getting in one little dig.

“My mom likes me more, so she’s cheering for me," he joked.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur looks onto he field during the first half of an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford looks over the Chicago Bears defense with guard Logan Bruss (60) snd offensive tackle Alaric Jackson during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford sets up to pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford hands the ball off to running back Kyren Williams during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is drifting on Tuesday following mixed data on the economy’s strength, which did little to clear uncertainty about where interest rates may be heading.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% in early trading and remains a bit below its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% lower.

Treasury yields also held relatively steady, following an initial swing, after one report said the U.S. unemployment rate was at its worst level last month since 2021, but employers also added more jobs than economists expected. A separate report, meanwhile, said that an underlying measure of strength for revenue at U.S. retailers grew more in October than economists expected.

The mixed reports initially sent Treasury yields lower in the bond market. The knee-jerk reaction among investors was that the data could encourage the Federal Reserve to see the slowing job market as the biggest threat to the economy, rather than high inflation, and cut interest rates further in 2026. But yields quickly recovered some of those dips and drifted up and down.

What the Fed does with interest rates is a top driver for Wall Street because lower rates can give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, even if they also may worsen inflation. A report coming on Thursday will show how bad inflation was last month, and economists expect it to show prices for U.S. consumers continue to rise faster than anyone would like.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury held at 4.18%, where it was late Monday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, eased to 3.50% from 3.51%.

Also diminishing the effect of Tuesday’s reports was the possibility that the federal government’s recent shutdown may have distorted some of the data.

“The report on December’s employment data, released in early January ahead of the next meeting, will likely be a much more meaningful indicator for the Fed when it comes to deciding the near-term policy trajectory,” according to Kay Haigh, global co-head of fixed income and liquidity solutions in Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

Helping to keep the overall market in check were continued, mixed swings for stocks that have been caught up in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

Oracle rose 1.1%, and Broadcom gained 1.6%. They both had dropped to sharp losses last week, even though both reported stronger profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

But CoreWeave, which rents out access to top-of-the-line AI chips, fell 2.4%, and Nvidia slipped 0.2%.

Questions remain about whether all the spending that companies are broadly doing on AI technology will produce the kind of profits and productivity that make it worth the expense.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, Kraft Heinz rose 1.2% after saying Steve Cahillane, who was most recently CEO of Kellogg’s-owner Kellanova, will join as CEO on Jan. 1. After Kraft Heinz splits into two companies, which is expected to happen in the second half of 2026, Cahillane will lead the one that will hold onto the Heinz, Philadelphia and Kraft Mac & Cheese brands.

Pfizer fell 1.6% after saying it expects to make between $59.5 billion and $62.5 billion in revenue next year. That’s close to what analysts were expecting.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.6% after preliminary factory data showed manufacturing contracting slightly. Investors widely expect the Bank of Japan to announce an increase to interest rates later this week.

South Korea’s Kospi dropped 2.2%, while indexes fell 1.5% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Shanghai.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Specialists Alex Weitzman, left, and Meric Greenbaum work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

A television displays a news conference with Fed chairman Jerome Powell on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top center left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)