'Matt LaFleur played chess while Mike McCarthy played Chutes and Ladders': National broadcasts react to Packers playoff win over Cowboys

It turns out Matt LaFleur can coach and Jordan Love can play football.

And they can both do it very well on the NFL's biggest stage, for that matter, for anyone who hadn't been paying attention to the Packers this season — even before their 48-32 victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Sunday's wild-card playoff game.

The Packers are among the final four teams in the NFC after they went on the road and destroyed one of their biggest playoff rivals. Love's star, meanwhile, shone bright in his first playoff game, as he set a franchise record for passer rating and continues to show why the Packers' decision-makers had all the trust in him.

As a result, the national pundits have sure taken a different tune these days after what they were saying not too long ago about LaFleur's and Love's abilities.

Look at it all now.

LaFleur and Love are receiving their well-deserved credit for the game plan, execution and season-long growth in getting the Packers to this point after what many thought would be a rebuilding year.

Here's a sample of the reactions after the Packers dominated the Cowboys:

ESPN's Mike Greenberg praises Matt LaFleur and trashes Mike McCarthy

Mike Greenberg, the host of ESPN's "Get Up" morning show," had nothing but praise for LaFleur on Monday. He also used the moment to eviscerate Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy, who has a 1-3 playoff record in four seasons with Dallas. McCarthy coached over 12 years with the Packers before he was fired toward the end of the 2018 season.

"Checkers would be giving the Cowboys too much credit," Greenberg said. "To say that Matt LaFleur was playing chess and Mike McCarthy was playing checkers yesterday would be to greatly overstate the performance of Mike McCarthy.

"Matt LaFleur was playing chess and Mike McCarthy was playing Chutes and Ladders. He was playing Candy Land. To say they were outcoached is so underselling what happened. I still can’t believe it."

Colin Cowherd on Fox Sports says improvement of Love is something he's 'never seen in my life'

Fox Sports' Colin Cowherd was next up. The host of "The Herd" was especially vocal against LaFleur and the Packers in recent years and months.

Not long ago, while highlighting the Packers' previous regular-season success and playoff disappointments, he asked whether LaFleur is a great coach.

Then, during OTAs last offseason, he said the Packers are a team he would sell off his stock as quickly as possible. And when the Packers and Love stumbled early on in 2023, he called the first-year starter no better than a backup.

It appears he's back to buying the Packers' stock.

"I have never seen in my life an in-season improvement ever like Jordan Love.," Cowherd said about Love's transformation this season. He highlighted Love's development from after the Packers' bye, when the team was 2-5, to where he is today.

He then threw LaFleur his flowers.

"This is what great offensive coaches often do with their young quarterbacks," Cowherd said. "Big leaps. Matt LaFleur has done an unbelievable job."

Cowherd added: "Green Bay’s a problem (for other teams). They are a matchup problem. That’s incredible. This is incredible. Player development. He surprised everyone. This is what Green Bay does. It’s what hard-working kids do. It’s what great offensive coaches who have a sensibility and feel for it have proven time and time again.

"Green Bay is going to be a problem for that division and that conference and this league for a long time."

Fox Sports crew all picked Dallas but have plenty of postgame love for Packers, Matt LaFleur

No one on the Fox Sports broadcast picked the Packers to beat the Cowboys during the pregame show.

After watching Love and the Packers trounce Dallas, the guys were impressed. How did the youngest team in the NFL do this?

"That is due to coaching," said former All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski. "Matt LaFleur has absolutely dominated" all phases of the game.

"His game plan and scheme, just distributing to all of his offensive skill players to where you can’t key in on one guy" was a thing of beauty. "Matt LaFleur is going to be around for a long, long time," he added.

Skip Bayless, Michael Irvin and Richard Sherman react on 'Undisputed'

As his successor, Jordan Love will no doubt be tied to Aaron Rodgers for much of his career. And the analysts on Fox Sports' "Undisputed" leaned into that Monday.

"That was just flat out spectacular," said Bayless, the host and die-hard Cowboys fan who had a social media fit Sunday night. "Right up there with anything Aaron Rodgers did in his postseason career."

Michael Irvin, the Cowboys legend, took it a step further.

"I can tell you Jordan Love will win a Super Bowl," Irvin said. "That team will win a Super Bowl," before adding he predicts Love and the Packers winning more than one. "I can see what he has ... he has a better career than Aaron Rodgers," Irvin projected.

Sherman, the former Seahawks cornerback Packers fans know all about, says that's all unfair and everyone should stop with the comparisons because doing that takes away from Love's "special" play right now.

"I would just rather appreciate (Love's season) than spend my time trying to compare him to something that you can’t compare him to without his résumé being complete," Sherman said.

'Good Morning Football's' Kyle Brandt says Jordan Love should get all the attention and not Aaron Rodgers

NFL Network's Kyle Brandt of "Good Morning Football" had a similar thought as Sherman.

Aaron Rodgers should not be part of the conversation.

"It should not be there," Brandt said. "Aaron Rodgers has not been on the Packers for over a year. He didn't (win a playoff game) last year. He didn't do it the year before. Jordan Love is his own guy. He's incredible. He's a natural."

There were many questions about whether LaFleur could win without Rodgers. Well, we have our answer.

"No more Aaron Rodgers compared to Matt LaFleur," Brandt said. "Matt LaFleur has nothing to do with him anymore. Matt LaFleur is showing his own brilliance as a coach.

"It's Love and it's LaFleur and it's winning," Brandt said. "Love, LaFleur. That's it."

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Matt LaFleur, Jordan Love are toast of NFL after Packers' playoff win