On the surface, they are numbers that give pause: 25th and 29th. Those rankings, of course, are the Tennessee Titans’ 2018 regular season marks in total offense and passing offense, respectively – the ones leading some to wonder what the team’s offensive coordinator, Matt LaFleur, really has to offer the Green Bay Packers as a head coaching candidate.

But as with anything worth examining in football, the numbers don’t tell the whole story.

The Packers will interview LaFleur for their head coaching vacancy on Jan. 6. The 39-year-old coordinator joins a cohort that also includes interim head coach Joe Philbin, New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Patriots defensive coordinator Brian Flores, New Orleans Saints assistant head coach Dan Campbell and Saints offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, with more candidates receiving interview requests.

It’s no surprise that McDaniels is the odds-on favorite to win the job – what’s more, he reportedly turned down an interview from the Cincinnati Bengals, per NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, making Green Bay his only interview so far (and, likely, at all).

If you’re wondering when Josh McDaniels’ interview with the #Bengals is happening, it apparently won’t. Source says McDaniels is passing on Cincy’s request. — Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) January 3, 2019

But it ain’t over until it’s over, and in the meantime, fans shouldn’t be quick to dismiss LaFleur’s potential.

LaFleur’s primary selling point is the fact that he’s a product of the Mike Shanahan coaching tree – the one that has produced coaching young guns Sean McVay with the Los Angeles Rams and Kyle Shanahan with the San Francisco 49ers. But LaFleur offers more than pedigree to the Packers.

Throughout LaFleur’s career, as offensive assistant with the Houston Texans; quarterbacks coach with the Washington Redskins, then the Atlanta Falcons; offensive coordinator with the Rams and, now, with the Titans, there has been one consistency: working closely with quarterbacks. Whether with then-green signal-callers like Kirk Cousins and Jared Goff or veterans in Matt Ryan and Marcus Mariota, LaFleur has continually been charged with overseeing player development at this position. This is, of course, crucial background for a job such as head coach of the Packers, where Mike McCarthy’s successor will be tasked with earning the respect of Aaron Rodgers, who had more than a few clashes with his former coach.

Rodgers’ name will hang so heavy in the air in these head coaching interviews that he may as well be in the room, himself. Given that, it’s hard to imagine how well Rodgers would mesh with a defensive-minded head coach, such as Flores. But age is a factor, too. Can a candidate like LaFleur command respect from a quarterback only four years his junior? The same question has been raised with regard to McDaniels, but remember; the latter is 42 years old and has head coaching experience under his belt, for better or for worse. While McVay is still very much the exception in the NFL, rather than the norm, his rapid ascent proves one thing: successful coaches breed respect, period – birth date notwithstanding.

Rodgers’ peers in Matt Ryan and Jared Goff could certainly attest to LaFleur’s tutelage, which helped the former put together an MVP season in 2016 and the latter improve drastically from his rookie to sophomore season. It could, of course, be seen as a knock on LaFleur’s regard in NFL circles that Atlanta let him leave for Los Angeles and hired Steve Sarkisian as offensive coordinator, but the truth is we don’t know the extent of the circumstances surrounding that decision and likely never will. As for LaFleur’s parallel move from Rams offensive coordinator to Titans offensive coordinator, it was only really parallel on paper. The Rams offense is clearly McVay’s baby, and in moving to Tennessee, LaFleur snagged his first-ever play-calling job, a promotion in spirit if not in title.

Which brings us to the cloud hanging over LaFleur’s candidacy in Green Bay some can’t seem to shake: the results of the offense for which he called the plays. When he came to Tennessee to work under Mike Vrabel, a defensive-minded coach through and through, LaFleur set to work tweaking the scheme to both better suit Mariota and to incorporate elements from the Rams’ and Falcons’ schemes with which he is so familiar, and which have seen so much recent success. The zone-blocking scheme he installed helped the Titans finish No. 7 overall in rushing offense, averaging 126.4 run yards per game, despite the struggles the team endured in the passing game.

Let’s look at those struggles a little more closely. The Titans’ three most targeted receivers were Corey Davis, Taywan Taylor and Tajae Sharpe – not exactly, aside from Davis, a who’s who of the league’s premier receivers. Their wide receiver arsenal, or lack thereof, made the Titans even less equipped to deal with the season-ending ankle injury tight end Delanie Walker suffered in Week 1. Mariota soldiered on, posting his highest-ever completion percentage (68.9 percent) and second-highest quarterback rating (92.3) despite only producing 2,528 passing yards and a meager 11 touchdowns. It didn’t help that the Titans offensive line ranked No. 29 in pass protection this season, per Football Outsiders, nor that Mariota started only 13 games thanks to multiple injuries.

Installing a new offense, or at least a massively refurbished one, takes time, sometimes more than a season. It also takes some degree of talent in place, which the Packers have in spades. LaFleur made these changes to the Titans scheme in order to maximize the talents and tendencies of his quarterback, Mariota, the way he has for every quarterback he’s worked with in his career. He would do the same with Rodgers, were he given the chance.

The NFL is a league that on the whole values experience more than innovation. League brass would rather fail conventionally than succeed unconventionally. But the Packers are in a unique position to bring in a new coach and allow him time to set up the right offense without an owner breathing down his neck.

Don’t put too much stock in LaFleur’s pedigree or the Titans’ offensive performance this season. They are factors of his candidacy, sure. But LaFleur’s willingness to build his scheme around his talent, proven track record of working well with quarterbacks and offensive innovation are what could make him stand out in the Packers’ interview process.