Matt LaFleur hasn’t necessarily been the most aggressive head coach lately. Nonetheless, he was exactly that on Sunday, and his sequence of courageous decisions was a key to the Green Bay Packers’ 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
In the first half, he decided to go for a fourth down, and Jordan Love missed Romeo Doubs in the end zone. But that failed attempt didn’t preclude LaFleur from being aggressive in the final drive of the first half, generating three points with a monster 61-yarder from kicker Lucas Havrisik, and then to call a fourth down late in the fourth quarter setting up the game-winning touchdown.
Jordan Love converts a big 4th down and the Packers are in the red zone 👀
GBvsAZ on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/KmpglNIPgL
— NFL (@NFL) October 19, 2025
Jordan Love was key to convince Matt LaFleur
Quarterback Jordan Love himself wasn’t sure about what the Packers should do late in the game. A field goal would tie the game, but the Cardinals would have time to win the game with a field goal. So the Packers went for it, converting on a huge throw from Love to tight end Tucker Kraft. Josh Jacobs would score the game-winning touchdown a few players later.
Part of the decision to go for it, according to LaFleur, was Love’s expression when the Packers initially sent the kicking team to the field. The head coach called a timeout and changed his plans to be more aggressive.
“When our quarterback’s coming off and I can see the disdain on his face, I looked up at the clock, saw how much time was left,” LaFleur explained. “It wasn’t by any means a chip shot, although Lucas [Havrisik] has come in and done a hell of a job.”
The head coach showed a lot of confidence in Jordan Love to convert the game-deciding fourth down, and Love delivered in a big way.
“Just one of those deals where I was like, no matter what we call, this guy’s gonna make it work,” LaFleur added. “And that’s exactly what happened, because we had a play called for man and a can for zone. Didn’t necessarily get the play that we wanted, but it doesn’t matter sometimes when you have guys that have confidence in what they’re doing, and Tuck [Kraft] did a hell of a job winning on the route. Our O-line protected, Jordan gave him a chance, and that’s exactly what it took.”
More than the game-winning percentages on a spreadsheet, LaFleur’s decision to be aggressive resonates well with the offense.
“Obviously, I think for Matt to decide to go for that right there in that situation, to have that confidence in the offense for us to go make a play, and then for us to go out there and do it,” Jordan Love said. “That’s one of those decisions that’s going to suck if we don’t get it, but when you do, it pays off like that when we go out there and get the win. It was a big-time play by Tuck to go out there and get that, and obviously to finish off with a touchdown was huge.”
The Packers haven’t played their cleanest brand of football over the past month. However, maximizing the team’s chances of winning is key in those close matchups, and that’s what Green Bay was able to pull off to achieve its first road win of the season.
