Packers Suffer Disastrous Opener After One Costly Coaching Decision

The Vikings scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Carson Wentz to T.J. Hockenson with 3:01 to go in the third quarter. That drew Minnesota, who had never held the lead to that point, within five points of the Packers, 22-17.

Unfazed, Packers’ quarterback Jordan Love quickly led his team down to the Minnesota 26-yard line as the fourth quarter began. After the drive stalled with a 3rd-and-6 incompletion from the 22-yard line, head coach Matt LaFleur opted to send Smack and the field-goal unit out to extend the lead to eight.

Smack drilled a 40-yarder, making the score 25-17. On the play, however, the Vikings were offside. This development led to the pivotal moment of the game.

Instead of keeping the newly gained three points on the board, LaFleur sensed an opportunity to keep the drive going to ultimately go up by more than one score. The offense was summoned back on to the field to convert the 4th-and-1 play from the 17-yard line.

In a play that will be discussed and dissected ad nauseam, Love was stymied for no gain on his quarterback sneak attack. Minnesota took over on downs; Green Bay was clearly rattled, and the Vikings never looked back. From that point, Minnesota scored 22 straight points and forced two Packers turnovers in the final quarter to salt the game away.

Matt LaFleur Defends Controversial Packers Decision

After the game, LaFleur defended his fateful decision to negate the eight-point lead and go for the first down.

“I think that’s just we’re going to be aggressive,” he said in his postgame press conference. “It was going to be an eight-point game. If it would have been a two-possession game, I probably would have thought otherwise. But I thought we had a chance. We didn’t do very well in the red zone. . . . Sometimes you live and die by that, but we’re gonna be aggressive and we’re gonna try to go for the throat in that situation.”

Sunday’s setback was the sixth consecutive loss for Green Bay dating back to last season. In four of those games, the Packers held two-score leads, including the most recent contest.

LaFleur understands that his team’s inability to close the deal and win games in the latter stages is concerning.

“I think it’s going to be a topic of conversation for all you guys (the media) until we do it,” he said. “That’s the bottom line.”

J.J. Watt, the color commentator for the game, understood the decision but questioned the way Green Bay chose to utilize Love.

“I like the aggressiveness, I like that he said, ‘I believe in you guys, let’s go win this right now,'” Watt said. “What I don’t like, is no pusher. We’ve all seen in today’s NFL with these quarterback sneaks how difficult it is when you have these massive bodies – no pusher. And now he’s running into ‘Big Citrus’ (Vikings’ defensive tackle Domonique Orange) down here, and he stonewalls him, and no one’s there to help him get that extra push that he needs.”

Love had one play called with the option to check to the quarterback sneak. After observing the Vikings’ defensive alignment, Love checked to the sneak.

“Just thought we could get it,” Love explained. “We’ve run a lot of QB sneaks in the past. I felt confident that we’d be able to get it, and we didn’t.

“Whenever you got the gaps filled, trying to find those open gaps. You know, so maybe let the rush come and try to find those open gaps and dive forward instead of maybe just going right up the middle. So, there’s some things you can do differently right there. We’ll look at it. We had two plays called right there and, obviously, QB sneak didn’t work. Hindsight, wish I would have run the other play.”

Unfortunately for Love, LaFleur, and the Packers, those wrong decisions added up to a frustrating start to the 2026 season.

End Of My Packers Rant: Green Bay Must Learn How To Finish Games

Depending on which so-called expert one relied on for information, Green Bay was predicted to be a marginal playoff team in 2026. Injuries, especially to defender Micah Parsons, who will miss at least the first month of the season, have depleted Green Bay’s depth. The unknown future of suspended running back Josh Jacobs has also made the path to early-season success murky and full of obstacles.

Melting down the way the Packers did on Sunday, in a game that was clearly within their grasp, makes winning upcoming games that much more vital. The next two games, a road tilt against the New York Jets and a home matchup versus the Atlanta Falcons, have now taken on greater importance. They have become “must-win games,” all thanks to how Green Bay finished the last 13 minutes in Minneapolis.