Just hours before kickoff, reports indicated Matt LaFleur's job was safe. Nothing at Soldier Field could impact that.
Yet after a meltdown that bad, against that team, in that moment, the calculus may have changed. LaFleur called a perfect game in the first half, solving every riddle Dennis Allen's defense threw at him. The Packers opened an 18-point halftime lead, and fans could start booking their tickets to Seattle.
But the Packers collapsed in such monumental fashion that it makes the Week 16 nightmare look like a stroll in the park. LaFleur wilted under the pressure and is squarely to blame for this postseason failure, and it may have just sealed his Packers fate.
Matt LaFleur delivers his worst moment as Packers head coach, and it could change everything
"If the Packers lose this game, I have no idea how LaFleur survives. This is an inexcusable disaster," Matt Verderame of Sports Illustrated wrote mid-Packers collapse.
He's not wrong, either.
I'm as big a LaFleur defender as you'll find, and there is still no denying his record as the Packers' head coach. He has done a phenomenal job throughout his seven-year tenure. But here we are again, when the lights shine brightest on the biggest stage, and LaFleur has failed. Just as he did with his decision to kick a field goal against Tom Brady's Buccaneers in 2020.
The Packers needed their coach to stay ice-cool as the temperature increased, but Soldier Field gobbled him up.
"LaFleur's second half has to be on the short list of worst playoff coaching performances this century," Bill Simmons of The Ringer writes.
The Bears adjusted in the second half, and LaFleur had no answer. They had gone man-heavy in the first half, and Jordan Love had no trouble shredding the secondary repeatedly. But Chicago brought more pressure in the second half, and LaFleur failed to learn the lesson.
Where were the quick screens? The easy play-calls to stay ahead of the sticks when the Bears sent extra rushers? LaFleur, and the Packers' offense, went into their shell. As the pressure mounted, they wilted.
He may have saved his worst moment for last, burning two precious timeouts in the fourth quarter. The Packers needed them badly.
Even with the nightmare almost complete following Caleb Williams' go-ahead touchdown pass to DJ Moore, the Packers still had just enough time to lead a game-winning drive. But with only one timeout, the odds were stacked heavily against LaFleur's team.
And that's on the head coach. It's brutal time management at its absolute worst.
It's unforgivable. Inexcusable. Unfathomable. It hurts. LaFleur deserves all the credit in the world for everything he has accomplished, but the nature of this playoff defeat leaves the Packers with a brutal decision in the days ahead.