It was one of the worst second-half collapses in recent playoff memory. The Green Bay Packers blew a 21-3 halftime lead, falling 31-27 to the Chicago Bears and crashing out of the Wild Card round. The calls for head coach Matt LaFleur to be fired are at an all-time high, and he addressed those calls after the game.

“With all due respect, now’s not the time for that,” he said. “I’m hurting for these guys, I can only think about what just happened, and there will be a time for that.”

All week, insider Adam Schefter reported that both LaFleur and the Packers wanted to get an extension done to keep him in Green Bay. Ian Rapoport echoed that sentiment, making it clear this wasn’t a coach fighting for his job against Chicago. The understanding around the league was that LaFleur was safe. It’s fair to wonder if that view changed tonight.

Green Bay was in complete control early, building that 21–3 halftime lead, only to watch it disappear over the final two quarters. Chicago poured it on late, outscoring the Packers 25–6 in the fourth quarter to steal the game and move on. The Bears adjusted. The Packers didn’t.

Once Chicago’s defense started dialing up more pressure, it was clear they were coming. LaFleur never countered it. The offense stalled, and the clock management late in the fourth quarter only added fuel to the frustration. If you’re assigning responsibility for the collapse, it lands squarely on the head coach.

That’s where the contract situation gets complicated. LaFleur’s asking price has reportedly been one of the reasons talks haven’t progressed. After a night like this, holding firm on those demands becomes a lot harder. His playoff record now sits at 3–5, and you can be sure GM Brian Gutekunst will be weighing everything carefully before deciding how (or if) to move forward.

While the head coach shoulders much of the blame, he didn’t see it as a solo act. After one of the biggest collapses of the season, LaFleur was quick to point out the team’s own mistakes.

Matt LaFleur on the ‘self-inflicted loss’

In the post-game presser, he pointed to the team’s inability to capitalize on its chances.

“When you are in complete control of the football game, and the script gets flipped from the second half, it was a lot of self-inflicted things…we had opportunities to put them away, and we couldn’t get it done,” Matt LaFleur said.

He wasn’t wrong about the self-inflicted wounds. Green Bay came out of halftime with a huge cushion and somehow managed to let it spiral. In the third quarter alone, the offense had four possessions and came away with just one first down. That’s exactly when they started to lose their grip on the game.

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Special teams didn’t help either, coughing up a couple of long returns that handed the Bears short fields when they needed them most. Green Bay did manage to stop the bleeding for a moment, punching in another touchdown to go up 27–16. But kicker Brandon McManus missed the extra point.

On the next drive, with a chance to create separation after Chicago had trimmed the lead to three, he pushed a 44-yard field goal wide. The Bears took the lead not long after, and even when Green Bay had one last chance with the ball inside Chicago’s 25 on the final play, nothing came of it.

What makes it sting more is that this wasn’t some one-off collapse. They’ve shot themselves in the foot all season long. Pre-snap penalties were a recurring problem. At midseason, the Packers ranked among the worst teams in the league in that category, and even after some cleanup, they still finished with 40 pre-snap penalties, tied for 15th.

And it wasn’t even the first time Chicago had done this to them. Go back to Week 16, when Green Bay coughed up another double-digit lead and lost 22–16. With the way the Packers had been playing, a loss like this always felt possible. It just arrived sooner, and in a harsher way, than most expected.