Matt Lafleur Admits to Key Mistake With Aaron Rodgers in NFC Championship Game

Despite flourishing in both of his first two seasons as the Green Packers head coach with a 26-6 record and back-to-back NFC Championship Game appearances to show for it, Matt LaFleur and his team have found themselves in an offseason largely surrounded by uncertainty with Aaron Rodgers than maybe we've ever seen.

In the latest development in this narrative, LaFleur recently admitted to making one critical mistake in his team's 31-26 loss to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home in January, which was failing to properly communicate with his MVP QB Rodgers.

Packers fans should be the first to remember that LaFleur was forced into a major decision between going for a game-tying TD and 2-point conversion behind Rodgers on the field on a 4th & Goal or kicking a field goal to bring the score within 5 points with roughly 2 minutes remaining in this game.

LaFleur ended up opting into the latter of those calls, which inevitably ended up costing the Packers the game after his defense couldn't force a stop and get the ball back to Aaron for a chance to win it.

That being said, LaFleur's recently noted that he should have been more on the same page with Rodgers during that situation, including better preparation for a potential scenario his team found itself in down 31-23 late in the fourth quarter.

LaFleur did not go as far as to say he made the right or wrong call specifically but did make further mention of, perhaps, running a different play on 3rd down had he and Rodgers been on the same page about his intention to put the field-goal unit on the field on the following down.

While that decision was made and Packers' fans have to live with that loss, you have to be excited about seeing LaFleur reaching out on his own to try and mend his relationship with star QB Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers obviously still has plenty left in the tank after 2020 MVP campaign, and LaFleur clearly has a handle on his two seasons in Green Bay, so just as long as these two continue building their relationship like this, it should be an exciting near future in Wisconsin.

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David Hayes is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David Hayes also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username DavidWHayes. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.