BREAKING: Green Bay Packers coach orders his defensive coordinator to be fired as quickly as possible….

BREAKING: Green Bay Packers coach orders his defensive coordinator to be fired as quickly as possible….

Joe Barry, the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, must be fired as quickly as possible.

The pressure on head coach Matt LaFleur to make the decision and release Barry has reached unsustainable dimensions after the defense squandered a 14-point fourth-quarter lead to the one-win Carolina Panthers on Sunday, December 24.

The Packers won by the skin of their teeth, 33-30, on the strength of a late-game field goal. However, if Carolina had just one or two more seconds on the clock, the outcome could have been drastically different, effectively ending Green Bay’s playoff aspirations.

“Packers win because the Panthers ran out of time to keep embarrassing the Packers defense,” Packer Report’s Andy Herman wrote on X. “Green Bay triumphs.” Matt LaFleur must take action. At this time, there are no excuses.”

Herman was not the only member of the media who stated that the moment for LaFleur to act is now.

“The most points scored by the Panthers this season,” The Leap’s Peter Bukowski remarked on social media. “Joe Barry is not going to be the #Packers defensive coordinator by Christmas.” I simply cannot do it.”

Others, like Aaron Nagler of CheeseheadTV, were too frustrated with the Packers’ defense to keep rehashing arguments they’d been making for weeks.

“Just reuse my rant about the defense from last week,” Nagler wrote on X. “I’m too tired.”

Matt LaFleur may have to retract his remarks against Joe Barry. Matt LaFleur (left) and Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry (right) after just one week Getty Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur (left) and defensive coordinator Joe Barry (right).

LaFleur backed Barry following his performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last week, in which Baker Mayfield threw for 381 yards and four touchdowns, becoming the first visiting quarterback in Lambeau Field history to do so.

“If I thought [firing Barry] was the best solution today, we’d make that decision,” LaFleur stated at a press conference on December 18.

The communication in Carolina did not improve on Sunday, casting doubt on LaFleur’s promise to the media six days earlier.

“Matt LaFleur said Monday the *plan* was to keep Joe Barry for the rest of the season,” The Athletic’s Matt Schneidman wrote on X after the game. “The Packers just gave up a season high in points to the NFL’s worst team and could have gone to overtime if the clock hadn’t run out.” Is LaFleur’s DC fired after a win?”

Despite awful defensive efforts in three consecutive games, the Packers are 7-8 and remain in the midst of the NFC playoff battle.

Green Bay will now travel to Minneapolis on New Year’s Eve to face a desperate Minnesota Vikings club. The Vikings are also 7-8 and will face the Packers in an elimination game as both teams compete for a position in Wildcard Weekend.

If the Packers win that game, they will visit the resurgent and curiously deadly Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field in Week 18 in another must-win game. It’s difficult to picture Green Bay winning both divisional games without greater defensive efforts than the team has put up over the last month, which may be more than enough reason to fire Barry as soon as possible.

For Heavy.com, Max Dible covers the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, Cleveland Browns, and Golden State Warriors. Before joining Heavy, he worked as a reporter for West Hawaii Today and as the news director for BigIslandNow.com and Pacific Media Group’s family of Big Island radio stations. More information on Max Dible