Packers Reacts Survey, Wild Card Weekend

How many playoff games does Joe Barry need to win for his job to be safe in 2024?

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Outside of our weekly confidence poll question, we have one question and one question only for you this week: How many playoff games does Joe Barry need to win for his job to be safe in 2024?

At this point, I’m not sure what to believe on the Joe Barry front. A couple of weeks after everyone had the Packers’ defensive coordinator left for dead, there now seems to be a real opportunity for the coach to hold onto his job going into the 2024 season.

Two weeks ago, after the win versus the Minnesota Vikings, it sure seemed like head coach Matt LaFleur gave Barry a game ball — which was suspiciously cut out of social media posts that featured LaFleur’s post-game speech.

Last week, Barry’s defense surrendered zero touchdowns to the Chicago Bears in a game that featured win-and-in and lose-and-out stakes, similar to a playoff contest.

So how many more wins does Barry need under his belt to feel safe moving forward? One more win? Do the Packers need to win the whole thing? It would seem extremely unlikely, considering how many times LaFleur has gone to bat for Barry this year, that the team would move on from their coordinator if they won it all. So where is the line drawn here? Is a win against the Cowboys this weekend enough?

I’m not sure what the answer is, and I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision. If you’ve been reading the tea leaves this season, it appears that LaFleur doesn’t want to let Barry go, which means that someone would have to tell LaFleur that he needs to make a change at DC. You do have to wonder, though, how many games LaFleur’s squad will need to win before no one has the clout to tell him how to run his coaching staff.