GREEN BAY PACKERS President and CEO Mark Murphy (right) introduces head coach Matt LaFleur at a news conference Wednesday in Green Bay, Wis.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Matt LaFleur has never been in charge of an NFL team before, and until last year had never called plays for one either.

On Wednesday, he took over the Green Bay Packers, who have missed the playoffs two years in a row — and a team with a two-time MVP quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, whom LaFleur must help to get back to playing his best.

“I briefly spoke to (Rodgers) prior to accepting the job,” LaFleur said during an introductory news conference at Lambeau Field.

“That’s kind of how I had an idea that maybe I was in the running for it.”

According to team president Mark Murphy and general manager Brian Gutekunst, LaFleur was by far the best of the other nine candidates who interviewed for the job after longtime head coach Mike McCarthy was fired on Dec. 2, with four games remaining in his 13th season in charge.

“Obviously we cast a fairly large net, much larger than the 10 people that we interviewed,” Murphy said. “Went through the nine (interviews) and quite honestly, no one really stood out. There were a lot of strong candidates, but there wasn’t one that just jumped out at us.

“Matt was our last candidate, and we’d heard great things about Matt through our vetting process. A lot of the coaches and others that we talked to talked about his background, his experience. So were really excited going into it.”

Murphy, Gutekunst and executive vice president/director of football operations Russ Ball then emerged from LaFleur’s interview Sunday in Nashville even more excited — and agreeing that they had their man, despite having planned to host a second round of interviews.

After sleeping on it, they offered the job to LaFleur on Monday, and he arrived in Green Bay on Tuesday night to sign his contract.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to be an NFL head coach, but to be the head coach of the Green Bay, it is surreal,” LaFleur said.

Buccaneers counting on Arians to help QB blossom

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tampa Bay is counting on Bruce Arians to help Jameis Winston realize his potential, however the young quarterback isn’t the only component the two-time NFL Coach of the Year has to fix if the Buccaneers are going to end a long postseason drought.

A porous defense has been a problem for much of the team’s decade-plus absence from the playoffs and needs immediate attention, too.

So does an inconsistent running attack which ranked among the worst in the league this season, when Tampa Bay lost 11 of 14 following a 2-0 start to finish last in the NFC South for the seventh time in eight years.

Arians came out of retirement Tuesday to replace Dirk Koetter, who made significant strides with the Bucs offense but wasn’t able to develop Winston into a top-tier quarterback while going 19-29 over the past three years.

The 66-year-old Arians will be introduced during a news conference Thursday.

AP source: Browns pick Kitchens as next coach

CLEVELAND (AP) — The Browns didn’t have to go far to find their new coach.

Freddie Kitchens was already in the building.

The 44-year-old Kitchens, who had a dazzling eight-week run as the team’s interim offensive coordinator, is finalizing a contract to become Cleveland’s ninth coach since the franchise’s 1999 rebirth, a person familiar with the decision told the Associated Press on Wednesday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team is not commenting on the imminent hire.

ESPN was first to announce the decision.

Also, Gregg Williams, who went 5-3 as Cleveland’s interim coach and defensive coordinator this season, is no longer with the team, the person said. Williams was the first candidate to interview for the coaching vacancy.

Kitchens has no previous head coaching experience, but his work with Cleveland’s offense — most notably quarterback Baker Mayfield — in the season’s second half vaulted him ahead of the other six candidates interviewed by the Browns, who were looking for the right coach to lead them following a stunning turnaround season.

AP source: Broncos pick Vic Fangio as new head coach

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Forget RPOs. John Elway is going with AARP.

The Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, 60, has accepted Elway’s offer to become the Denver Broncos’ next head coach, a person with knowledge of the agreement told The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the Broncos didn’t announce the hiring, something the team won’t do until Fangio signs his contract. He’s expected to be introduced as the club’s 17th head coach on Thursday.

Fangio replaces Vance Joseph, who was fired on New Year’s Eve after posting the franchise’s first back-to-back losing seasons since the early 1970s.

Fangio and Elway, who turns 59 this summer, will make up one of the oldest coach-GM duos in the NFL in 2019.

Although Fangio, who turns 61 in August, has no NFL head coaching experience, he has been an assistant for 32 years in the NFL and 34 seasons overall.