Wednesday Cheese Curds: Matt LaFleur licking wounds after beatdown in Los Angeles

Every NFL head coach goes through their “firsts.”

For the first half of 2019, most of Green Bay Packers rookie head coach Matt LaFleur’s “firsts” have been overwhelming positive as his team raced out of the gate to a 7-1 start.

Then Sunday’s game happened and LaFleur got to experience yet another first: his first major butt whipping.

This provides the first real adversity situation of the LaFleur era for the Packers. Sure they lost a game to the Philadelphia Eagles earlier in the season but it was lost at the last moment. Green Bay was thoroughly outclassed on Sunday from start to finish. That hasn’t happened since LaFleur took over.

How the coach adjusts going forward, especially with two very tough games on the docket, will very likely determine who the 2019 Packers are. Was the 7-1 start just a long honeymoon before reality set in or was the Chargers game just a bump in the road and a reality check for a team that was perhaps overconfident?

We’ll find out starting Sunday but it’s almost certain the team will put forth a much better effort in front of the home crowd. If not, comparisons to 2015 when the team started 6-0 but finished 10-6 will inevitably pop up.

It’s hard to say a team at 7-2 has its back against the wall, but it almost feels like the Packers are in that position. They’re still a game ahead of the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North and didn’t lose any ground in the division thanks to the entire division losing but the Packers can’t rely on that every week.

“All gas, no brake” is the rallying cry of the first season of the Matt LaFleur era. The Packers would be wise to continue embracing that or else they could suddenly find themselves in a precarious position for the postseason.

Here are today’s curds.

Matt LaFleur to reevaluate how Packers prepare for challenges of West Coast trip—PackersNews.com

Whatever the primary cause was of the Packers’ lack of effort on Sunday needs to be fixed quickly. After the bye, Green Bay heads west again to face the undefeated San Francisco 49ers in just over two weeks.

Packers host military veterans for ‘Huddle for Heroes’ at the Turn—Packers.com

Here’s a nice photo gallery of the Packers players giving back to those who served our country.

Struggling Packers defense needs more out of LB Blake Martinez—Packers Wire

Some GM is going to pay Blake Martinez a lot of money this offseason but unless Martinez turns things around, that GM shouldn’t be Brian Gutekunst.

Wake-up call or start of a spiral: Which way will Packers go after dud?—ESPN

Echoes of 2015 are beginning to creep into the conversation and that’s not a good thing if you’re the Packers.

Police: Man jailed for stealing electric shopping cart; driving it to a bar—NBC15

You know there’s an issue with drunk driving laws when the fine and punishment for stealing an electric cart are stiffer than that of most states’ DUI laws.