ClutchPoints
If there is one team the Green Bay Packers would not want their season-ending loss to be against, it would be the Chicago Bears. Blowing a three-score lead only makes it infinitely worse, causing fans to point fingers left and right, from veteran kicker Brandon McManus to head coach Matt LaFleur.
All things considered, while the loss stings, the Packers exceeded expectations and have a lot to be proud of. They played without Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft, Zach Tom, Elgton Jenkins and Devonte Wyatt and still were in position to steal a playoff game on the road against their arch-rivals.
That does not make the loss any easier to bear, especially the way it all unfolded. Green Bay entered halftime with a 21-3 lead before scoring just six points in the second half and watching its season wither away.
The game was entirely a tale of two halves, with the Bears winning the one that mattered. Careless mistakes and self-inflicted wounds hurt the Packers all game, who barely looked like a playoff team by the end of the night.
In the end, the Packers get eight long months to dwell on their mistakes, with a few key members losing more sleep than others in the coming days. For some of them, it might have even cost them their jobs.
Packers kicker Brandon McManus is the easy target, mostly because his mistakes are easiest to identify. The veteran kicker put a bow on one of the worst seasons of his career by missing two field goals and an extra point in the four-point loss.
Simply put, McManus left seven points on the board that would have easily swung the score in Green Bay’s favor. His last miss, a botched 44-yard kick on the Packers’ second-to-last possession, was easily the worst of them, keeping the score a three-point game while giving the Bears quality field position for their eventual game-winning drive.
All of McManus’ misses hurt, but his failed extra point was also a big blow in the loss. Without it, the Packers found themselves down by four during their final two-minute drill and in need of a touchdown to win the game.
Had it been a three-point deficit instead of four, a field goal would have sent the game into overtime. However, there is no way of knowing how confident Matt LaFleur would have been in trotting McManus out again.
The stakes of the game made it easily the worst of McManus’ 12-year career. Unfortunately, that has been the story all year, with the 34-year-old only hitting 80 percent of his field goals in the regular season, including just 50 percent from beyond 40 yards.
McManus, who inked a three-year extension in the offseason, has the eighth-highest annual salary among all NFL kickers. His performance on Saturday should convince the Packers to cut ties and seek another kicker in free agency.
Packers HC Matt LaFleur might have dug his own grave --------------------------------------------------------...
