During Super Bowl week last month in Los Angeles, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur scheduled an important business lunch. Over the course of three seasons, quarterback Aaron Rodgers had peppered LaFleur with snippets of praise and nuggets of insight about the position coach who helped oversee his early rise.

Tom Clements was with Rodgers when the Packers quarterback won his only Super

Bowl in February 2011. He was there when Rodgers won league MVP honors in 2011 and again in 2014. Thus at a pivotal point in team history, LaFleur owed it to himself at least to sit down with Clements — to break bread, pick his brain and see if he had any interest in coming back to work in Green Bay.

“We interviewed each other to some level,” LaFleur told reporters last week at the NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis. “Just with the conversations we had, it’s pretty easy for me to see why he is such a great quarterbacks coach and developer and such a great communicator.”

LaFleur owed it to Rodgers to make every effort possible to keep the star quarterback around. And to keep Rodgers around, the Packers have to keep him happy. After all, they lost two key offensive coaches shortly after their surprise playoff exit in January. Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett departed to become the Denver Broncos head coach, while quarterbacks coach Luke Getsy came to Chicago as the Bears coordinator.

Any hopes the Packers have of keeping Rodgers hinge on their ability to create an attractive working environment.

And for Rodgers, who developed a strong bond with Clements over 11 seasons from 2006-16, the appeal of familiarity and comfort is a strategic sell.

To the surprise of no one, LaFleur acknowledged last week that Rodgers “had a significant role” in the decision to reach out to Clements.

“It was very intriguing,” LaFleur added, “when we had an opportunity (to meet).”

That lunch in L.A., it turns out, was the first step in Clements’ return to Lambeau Field. The Packers hired him as their new/old quarterbacks coach on Feb. 18 and continued to cross their fingers.

Last week the most popular buzz circulating through the combine was that Clements, at 68, didn’t suspend his retirement after one year to hustle back to Green Bay to mold third-year quarterback Jordan Love.

Clements’ hiring had to be a sign, right? Surely Rodgers is destined to be back in Green Bay for one more run at a Super Bowl.

While there has been plenty of speculation and a sprinkling of puzzling messages from the quarterback himself, there has been no official announcement on Rodgers’ plans. That declaration is expected sometime in the next week — perhaps as early as Tuesday.

It’s a momentous decision that will have a significant impact on the NFL’s competitive landscape in 2022. And depending on which way Rodgers’ gratitude and cleansed colon cause him to lean, it could further shake up an NFC North that is in real flux.

Your move, Aaron.

Scramble mode

The Packers have won three consecutive NFC North titles and have won the division in eight of the 12 seasons that Rodgers started at least 10 games. That dominance figures to continue if Rodgers stays in a division with the other three teams in scramble mode.

The Bears and Minnesota Vikings both hit the detonation button a day after they met in a meaningless season finale in January.