Packers’ Matt LaFleur explains failure to communicate with Aaron Rodgers

The Green Bay Packers lost in the NFC Championship Game for the second straight year, and Matt LaFleur is taking the blame for some of it.

They were the league’s highest-scoring team in 2020 and the NFC’s No. 1 seed entering the playoffs. The Green Bay Packers finished with a 13-3 record and were NFC North champions for the second consecutive year.

Eventually, quarterback Aaron Rodgers would earn his third NFL MVP award. And a week before the conference championship game, Matt LaFleur’s club rolled up 484 total yards against the league’s top-ranked defense in a 32-18 triumph over the Los Angeles Rams.

But for the second time in four months, the Packers fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – this time at Lambeau Field. The team fell behind Bruce Arians’ wild card club, 28-10, in the fourth quarter. But down 31-23 with just over two minutes to play, LaFleur opted for a field goal on fourth-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ 8-yard line.

And when it was all said and done, the Packers never saw the ball again.

And speaking of kicking, that could be what LaFleur is doing to himself as the controversial decision continues to be a topic of discussion.

“One thing you definitely learn,” said the Packers’ sideline leader recently to Peter King of Football Morning in America. “I know my communication with (Rodgers) should have been better in that situation. Maybe on that third down we do something a little bit different. His mindset was, We got four downs here. It comes down to communication, and that’s something I gotta learn from and be better with him.”

Of course, the Packers falling to the Bucs for the second time in ’20 had a lot to do with other things as well. There were two crucial turnovers, one by Rodgers and the other by running back Aaron Jones – the latter losing one of his two fumbles.

A depleted offensive line was one reason the club surrendered five sacks. But the onus on the team’s five-point loss continues to be the decision by Rodgers not to run one play earlier (it ended with an incompletion to Davante Adams) and LaFleur’s decision to kick.

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In any case, it’s certainly not anything for the team to dwell on. But second-guessers continue to have a field day with this key moment from the 2020 postseason.