Matt LaFleur stood at the podium and said they "didn't come down here to tie a football game." Unfortunately, his actions spoke far louder than his words.
There are several moments to blame for the Green Bay Packers' inability to close out a win against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football, but Jordan Love's performance is not among them. He played at an MVP level all night long, overcoming a disappointing defensive effort and some disastrous special teams play.
Despite everything around him falling apart, Love put the Packers in position to take the victory. LaFleur deserves the biggest blame for the failure to close it out. His words claimed he didn't want a tie, but his actions said otherwise.
Matt LaFleur's bizarre decision-making ruined an awesome night for Jordan Love
Love deserves his flowers. He completed 31 of 43 passes for 337 yards and three touchdowns, earning an elite 118.1 rating, while also rushing for a valuable 28 yards.
The Cowboys took the lead four times from the third quarter on, including in overtime, and Love marched his team back every single time. That included a clutch throw to Matthew Golden on an overtime 4th-and-6 with the game on the line.
Green Bay moved into Dallas territory at the two-minute warning and into comfortable field-goal range with over a minute left of overtime.
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LaFleur played not to lose. The Packers drained the clock, seemingly terrified of leaving the Cowboys time for Brandon Aubrey to attempt a long-range field goal.
"LaFleur seemed more concerned with Brandon Aubrey having time to kick a 70-yarder at the buzzer than he did trying to win the game," writes Jacob Westendorf of Packers on SI.
Absolutely right.
Ironically, it almost cost them the tie. With 28 seconds to go, Love threw a screen to Emanuel Wilson for a loss of one. The Packers' operation was far too slow, letting the clock run down all the way to six seconds before Love fired toward Golden in the end zone.
By pure luck, the ball hit the ground with one second remaining. They almost ran out of time to kick the field goal, which would've resulted in a three-point loss. Cris Collinsworth said on the NBC broadcast that it was "poorly managed" by LaFleur — that's an understatement.
Green Bay shouldn't have cared about the clock. A touchdown would've won the game. Time only would've come into play had the Packers kicked a field goal, but Love had lit up the Cowboys' defense all evening. They had to believe they could get the ball in the end zone for a sixth time.
Would Dan Campbell's Detroit Lions settle for three or throw everything at winning the game?
LaFleur chose the aggressive route before halftime, a move that resulted in a Love strip-sack fumble. But with a chance to win the game in overtime, he played it far too safe, and the Packers ended up fortunate to take a tie.
The Packers have plenty to correct during their bye week. LaFleur said they wanted to win, and he loves to say how his team is all gas and no (expletive) brake.
It's about time they proved it. LaFleur played not to lose, but doing so prevented Love from leading them to a famous win.