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Jim Polzin: Why Matt LaFleur got choked up after Packers end 5-game skid




 

 

GREEN BAY — Who would have thought the coach in tears Sunday at Lambeau Field would be Matt LaFleur and not Mike McCarthy?

It figured to be an emotional day for McCarthy in his return to a place where he won a Super Bowl while coaching the Green Bay Packers from 2006 until getting fired 12 games into the 2018 season. The main emotion McCarthy was feeling by the end of a 31-28 overtime loss for his Dallas Cowboys was frustration.

Asked about the experience of coming back to Titletown at the end of his postgame news conference, McCarthy said, “I’m not trying to be rude. I’m just humble pied out, OK?”

Taking questions one floor down a little while later was LaFleur, who alluded to the difficulty of not getting too emotional after the victory. Asked what that looked like — and what it felt like — LaFleur tried to explain but had to stop multiple times while getting choked up.

“I apologize,” he said. “But … it means a lot to us. And to be down and fight and continue to fight, that’s what you want to see. I don’t mean to make this awkward. I apologize.”

There was no need to apologize. If anything, that moment showed a human side we rarely get to see in coaches.

If fans think they care a lot about whether the Packers win or lose on Sunday, imagine being the man in charge of it all. Or the coaches and support staff around him. Or the players.

A five-game losing streak had weighed heavily on all of them, even the franchise quarterback. Aaron Rodgers admitted a 15-9 loss at Detroit last week — his poor play contributed heavily to a defeat that extended the Packers’ skid to five games — was “rock bottom-ish.”

“Not in a depressive, isolationism way, but more disappointment,” Rodgers added. “And I felt like that was the bottom and it was only up from there. I think a lot of the battles that we face are between I and I, between the person that can go out there and dominate and knows that they can and the little voice in your head that tries to knock you out of that confident perch around you. I’m happy that I knocked that voice back into hell and had a good performance today.”

Did he ever. Rodgers went 14 of 20 for 224 yards with three touchdowns, all to rookie wide receiver Christian Watson. An offense that has been struggling for most of the season finally came to life, particularly with the game on the line.

A pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns helped the Packers erase a 14-point deficit, and a 36-yard connection between Rodgers to Allen Lazard on third-and-1 set up Mason Crosby’s game-winning field goal.

What emerged from this victory was a blueprint for this offense to be successful: Feed running back Aaron Jones as much as possible, take some chances downfield with Watson and hope that it’s this Rodgers — the MVP-level quarterback and not one whose age has shown at times this season — orchestrating it all.

One other thing emerged from this win: a glimmer of hope for the Packers, at least for four days.

They need to follow up this win with another one on Thursday night against Tennessee. Win that to get to 5-6 and the path to an NFC wild card berth at least becomes worthy of discussion. Lose to the Titans and this win over the Cowboys goes for naught.

“You hope it propels you and gives you some confidence, because I do think it’s tough anytime you go through a stretch like that,” LaFleur said. “It’s hard to shut out the negativity.”

It had to be difficult to block out that noise when the third quarter ended with Dallas leading 28-14. The Packers hadn’t lost six consecutive games in a season since a seven-game skid in 1988, but this team seemed headed in the same direction as Lindy Infante’s first team did 34 years ago.

Rodgers finding Watson for a 39-yard score on fourth-and-7 four plays into the fourth quarter gave Green Bay a chance. After a stop by the defense, Rodgers led a 10-play, 89-yard drive that ended with him hitting Watson for a 7-yard score to tie it.

LaFleur wasted a chance to win the game in regulation by being too conservative in the final 2 minutes, but it didn’t cost him because the defense came up with a big fourth-down stop. McCarthy, perhaps feeling this homecoming slipping away, threw his headset in anger.

Rodgers did the rest, leading the offense into field-goal range. Crosby clinched the Packers’ first victory since Oct. 2, a 42-day wait that felt longer than that to LaFleur.

“Man,” he said, “it’s been a long time to stand up here and have a smile.”

He’d gone into the staff locker room to collect himself prior to addressing the team after the win. Did he hold it together? “Tried to,” LaFleur said. “Tried.”

Awkward? Not at all. Just a team that badly needed to win and was experiencing the release of what it felt like to finally get one.

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