GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur was more interested in talking about his team’s future than his own a day after the biggest playoff collapse in the franchise’s storied history.
How long the two are connected remains uncertain.
LaFleur said Sunday that he spoke briefly with team president and CEO Ed Policy on the flight back to Green Bay after the Packers’ 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears in an NFC wild-card playoff game Saturday night. LaFleur expected to meet with Policy again either later Sunday night or Monday.
But he declined to comment on whether he expected to keep his job after the Packers (9-8-1) made their third straight playoff appearance but lost their final five games.
“That’s not the focus right now, to be honest with you,” LaFleur said. “We’re fresh off this loss. My sole focus is on our players, our team, and just trying to find ways to get better.”
The Packers became the fourth team in NFL history to lose a playoff game after leading by at least 15 points to start the fourth quarter. Green Bay led 21-3 at halftime and 21-6 after the third period.
LaFleur reiterated Sunday how much he wants to keep the job he’s had for the last seven seasons.
“This is one of one,” LaFleur said. “I love this place.”
LaFleur and general manager Brian Gutekunst have one year remaining on their contracts. Policy said last summer he would prefer not to have his coach and GM enter the final year of their contracts without extensions, saying it “creates a lot of issues.”
That seemingly makes extending LaFleur's contract or firing him the most likely options.
LaFleur was asked Sunday if he believed it could be feasible to return next season without an extension, or whether his contract status would cause too many distractions.
“That’s not my focus right now,” LaFleur replied. “Those conversations will be had in a very short period of time.”
LaFleur also was asked why he believes he’s the right coach to get Green Bay over the hump.
“I don’t think those are questions for me,” LaFleur said. “Like I said, I think my sole focus is just trying to find solutions to some of our issues and why things went awry yesterday. And you know, it’s disappointing. I’m as disappointed, obviously, as, as all you guys, as our fans, as everybody in our organization, because we had plenty of opportunities to slam the door shut and we didn’t get it done.”
Green Bay is 76-40-1 in the regular season but 3-6 in the playoffs under LaFleur. The Packers have made six postseason appearances in LaFleur’s seven seasons.
The Packers led by at least nine points in the second half of four of their eight losses this season, and they also squandered an early 13-0 advantage in a 40-all tie at Dallas. LaFleur said at his postgame news conference Saturday that “we’ve just got to do a better job of keeping our composure as a football team,” specifically in critical moments.
LaFleur clarified those comments Sunday by saying he believed Green Bay’s issues were more from a lack of execution than a lack of composure. He noted that the execution problems came from coaching decisions as well as from players' actions.
He also discussed what the Packers could do differently to avoid a similar fate next season, assuming he returns.
“I think we have to look at everything, from how we train to how we practice,” LaFleur said. “These are conversations that I’ve already had with some of our people. Just trying to find maybe different ways to do things but those are all the conversations that are ongoing right now, just taking all the data that we have, comparing to other teams or whatever it may be.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur reacts during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Chicago Bears Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur talks after an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Chicago Bears Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur talks after an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the Chicago Bears Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
