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Matt LaFleur Lost His Nerve, Costing Green Bay Packers A Chance To Reach The Super Bowl

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Matt LaFleur is a widely regarded as a creative, cutting edge coach.

He shocked many by winning 28 of his first 35 games as the Green Bay Packers’ head coach. And Sunday afternoon, he had the Packers in their second consecutive NFC Championship Game.

In the biggest moment of LaFleur’s young tenure, though, he lost his nerve. And the Packers lost a chance to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2010 season.

With 2 minutes, 9 seconds left, the Packers trailed Tampa Bay, 31-23. Green Bay faced a fourth-and-goal from the Buccaneers 8.

With the clock working against him, LaFleur seemed certain to have his team try for a touchdown and a potential game-tying two-point conversion. Instead, LaFleur trotted out kicker Mason Crosby for a short field goal that narrowed the deficit to 31-26.

Green Bay never got the ball back. And instead of LaFleur giving presumptive league MVP Aaron Rodgers one last chance to tie the game, he turned things over to his mediocre defense which never got off the field.

“I think any time something doesn’t work out, do you regret it? Sure,” LaFleur said afterwards. “But we’re always going to be process driven here and the way our defense was battling, the way our defense was playing, I felt like it was the right decision to do. It just didn’t work out.”

LaFleur had three timeouts left when he called on Crosby. But he would have had those timeouts even if his offense would have failed on fourth down.

By taking the field goal, Green Bay still needed a touchdown. And asking a defense that allowed 351 total yards to bail them out seemed like a tall order.

That’s exactly what happened.

Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady hit wideout Mike Evans for 9 yards on the Buccaneers’ first play as the two-minute warning arrived. The Packers then intentionally jumped offsides to preserve their timeouts.

Green Bay stiffened on the next two plays and forced the Buccaneers into a third-and-4. But Packers cornerback Kevin King was then flagged for pass interference against wideout Tyler Johnson, which, in essence, ended the game.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Tampa Bay linebacker Shaq Barrett said of Green Bay’s decision to kick a field goal. “I know if they could take that back, they probably wouldn’t do that next time.”

LaFleur’s decision to bypass the touchdown attempt will scar Wisconsin sports fans for life. And what’s surprising is it was completely out of character.

LaFleur drew a lot of attention in his 2019 rookie season by saying, “All gas, no brake,” during an early-season game against Oakland. He continued that aggressive, assertive coaching style, too, leading the Packers to the NFC’s No. 1 seed this season.

On Sunday, though, he went from fifth gear to first with the season on the line.

Green Bay reached Tampa Bay’s 8-yard line with 2:22 remaining and had a first-and-goal. Rodgers then threw three straight incompletions, which LaFleur said factored into his decision to kick a field goal.

By doing that, though, LaFleur never gave Rodgers a chance. Green Bay’s offense — which ranked No. 1 in the league in red zone efficiency — was denied a final opportunity. And the Packers’ defense was asked to save the day, something it wasn’t capable of.

“Yeah, any time it doesn’t work out you always regret it, right,” LaFleur said. “But it was just the circumstances of having the three shots and coming away with no yards and knowing that you not only need the touchdown, but you need the two-point (conversion).

“So, the way I was looking at it was we essentially had four timeouts with the two-minute warning. And you know, we knew we needed to get a stop and I thought we were going to have a stop there at the end. But we got called for the P.I. and it didn’t work out.”

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