Rick Osentoski / Associated Press
Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur defended his decision to try and give his team a field goal instead of an attack and a two-point conversion that would have left the game tied if successful.
The Packers left the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23 with 2:05 left to play. On the 4th-and-second goal on the Tampa Bay 8-yard line, LaFleur sent out Mason Crosby, who hit his second of two field goal attempts to make it 31-26.
The Packers’ defense did not get the ball back, which set the stage for Tom Brady and the Bucs to advance to the Super Bowl.
LaFleur explained the decision after the match and told reporters (Rob Demovsky of ESPN): “it feels like it’s the right decision”:
“Yeah, always when it’s not working out, you’re always sorry, aren ‘t you? but that you also need the 2-point [conversion]. As I watched it, we actually had four time-outs with the two-minute warning.
“We knew we had to stop, and I thought we would stop there in the end, but we asked that [defensive pass interference] and it does not work. I think every time something does not work out, are you sorry? Sure, but we’re always going to be process-driven here, and as our defense struggled, as we played defense, it felt like it was the right decision to make. It just did not work. ‘
In the run-up to the kick, Aaron Rodgers threw three unfinished throws to pick up a disc of nine plays at 58 yards that ate just 2:37 off the clock.
The defense finished Tampa Bay down to third and fourth on the Buccaneers’ 37-year-old line, but Packers cornerback Kevin King was whistled for interference with the pass, which resulted in a 15-yard penalty and a first-half finish. resulted. In the next play, which came from the Packers’ 48-year-old line, Green Bay committed a five-yard penalty for having too many players on the field.
The decision to kick has provoked questions from many viewers, including those who sat on a Packers team that entered as 3.5-point favorites:
Rodgers, who threw for 346 yards, three touchdowns and an interception and was sacked five times in the loss, said he had nothing to do with the decision to kick:
“I did not have a decision on that … I understand the thinking, more than two minutes with all our countdown time,” Rodgers said. “But that was not my decision.”
The Buccaneers await the AFC Championship winner between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs.