GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Matt LaFleur never thought about going for it on fourth down from the Dallas Cowboys' 16-yard line with a second left Sunday night instead of kicking the field goal to end the game at 40-40, but the Green Bay Packers coach sure would've been curious to hear how anyone would explain the decision to do so -- especially if it failed.
"Somebody said they'd go for that?" LaFleur said Tuesday. "Let them come up here and answer questions after the game. It's great if it works out, but I would say it's probably less than 5 percent. I'd guess."
Two days after the second-highest scoring game in NFL history to end in a tie, LaFleur said there was plenty to learn and discuss from their end-of-game -- and even end-of-half -- decisions and execution.
The Packers were one second away from running out the overtime clock on a third-down pass after a chaotic drive, which would have ended the game without a chance to kick the tying field goal.
If LaFleur thinks the reaction would've been critical had the Packers had gone for the win on the last play and lost, they might have been just as unfavorable had they run out of time and not gotten the tie, which puts them at 2-1-1 entering their bye week.
"It was like watching a slow-motion car crash in front of your face," LaFleur said. "Where I'm just looking at the clock and I'm like, 'Oh my god -- there's going to be no time left.'
"It's a very humbling experience to go through that, and it's unacceptable quite honestly. And there's nothing we can do about it now other than we'd better learn from it, everybody. I'm sure it'll be a teach tape for around the league to be honest with you."
The final minutes of regulation and then OT had us trying to catch our breath 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/vW6Jy9pIue
— NFL (@NFL) September 29, 2025
Here's where things started to go off-kilter, down 40-37 in overtime: On first down from the Cowboys' 12-yard line, Jordan Love threw a short pass to the right flat and cornerback Trevon Diggs made a quick tackle for a 3-yard loss. LaFleur then called his final timeout with 28 seconds to play. On second-and-13, Love flicked the ball to running back Emanuel Wilson in the right flat for a 1-yard loss.
"Where I've got to be better is just to tell Jordan, it's either [open] or throw it away," LaFleur said.
"It's a tough learning lesson for us, but it's one of those things that you can't just practice every once in a while. That needs to be a part of practice every week ... because in those critical situations you've got to be flawless."
At that point, the Packers were in the danger zone with the clock running.
"We were operating more of our no-huddle tempo, which isn't warp speed," LaFleur said. "Whereas two-minute is more warp speed. And it's a bad look, quite honestly. And that's why you get a bad result as well. It's just, the communication and process have got to be cleaned up because we can't allow that to ever happen again."
On third down, the Packers didn't get the ball snapped until there were six seconds left. Love tried for receiver Matthew Golden in the end zone, but it hit linebacker Jack Sanborn in the back and fell incomplete with one second remaining.
"I don't think everybody was on the same page with what needed to happen," Love said after the game. "It's something that we've got to fix, we've got to clean up and be better because it ended up being really, really close with only one second left."
Had the ball bounced up anywhere instead of dropping straight down after it hit Sanborn, the Packers would have run out of time.
That wasn't the only issue the Packers had with time running down. In the second quarter, on first-and-15 from their own 27-yard line with 21 seconds left, LaFleur called a pass play and the Cowboys sacked Love and forced a fumble. Instead of trying to run out the clock and taking a 13-9 lead into halftime, the Cowboys recovered the fumble and Dak Prescott hit receiver George Pickens for a touchdown with nine seconds left to put Dallas ahead 16-13 at the break.
"I always try to trust my gut in those situations," LaFleur said. "I think in this one I went against it to be honest with you."
LaFleur, however, tried to be aggressive because the Cowboys would get the ball back to start the second half. Plus, Dallas had all three timeouts left when the Packers took over, so LaFleur figured they needed at least one first down. They got it, but then fill-in right tackle Darian Kinnard committed a false-start penalty.
"And at that point, should have just shut it down, and I didn't," LaFleur said.
LaFleur also said had he known the game was going to turn into a shootout, he might have gone for it on fourth-and-2 from the Cowboys' 49-yard line in the first quarter. But he said at the time, he never considered it.
While LaFleur has the bye week to sort through those situations and come up with ways to better prepare for them, he said the most important thing that needs to happen during this week off -- which is the earliest possible bye -- has nothing to do with strategy, clock management or even their shaky special teams.
"It's called health," LaFleur said. "That is the big thing."
LaFleur said it's too soon to know if left guard Aaron Banks (groin) and right tackle Zach Tom (oblique) can return for the Week 6 game against the Bengals. Both have missed more snaps than they've played in the first month of the season. LaFleur said the knee injury that defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt sustained in the first half against the Cowboys is considered a week-to-week situation.
Then there's receiver Christian Watson, who is eligible to come off the physically unable to perform list when the Packers return to practice next week. To date, Watson's rehab from January ACL surgery has gone as well or better than expected. LaFleur said they've discussed opening up Watson's practice window but haven't made a final decision yet.
"We've got to get these guys their bodies back, and then we also understand that it's going to be a long haul after the bye," LaFleur said. "So you better get your mind right to go on that journey and to try to get a little bit better every day."