Rodgers said the only head coach who has ever done that with him was interim head coach Joe Philbin, who took over for McCarthy with four games left last season. While he said he and McCarthy would talk through issues on the sideline while the defense was on the field, he said McCarthy had never actually sat down on the bench with him.

“Yeah, this is kind of new,” Rodgers said. “He came over and sat next to me on the bench. We (usually) spend time — sometimes when the defense is out there or during the TV timeouts — talking about what happened the previous possession or what we like moving forward.

“(But) it’s different. (And) it’s definitely helpful, when he’s bouncing stuff off — ‘Do you like this? Do you like that? Do you want to start with this? You want to get to this?’ It doesn’t have to be (sitting together on the bench). Obviously, I did that with Mike a bunch. I’d kind of go to over where he was at. But Matt likes to get cozy on the bench.”

LaFleur said his confidence in having defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, a former head coach himself, on the sideline with him allows him to sit with Rodgers if he wants. Other coaches, including LaFleur’s former boss with the Los Angeles Rams, Sean McVay, do the same thing.