The Green Bay Packers will be home, like most of us, watching Super Bowl LV. While we wait to see if Aaron Rodgers decides to stay or go, let’s hope head coach Matt LaFleur learned his lesson.
By now, if you didn’t watch the game, you likely have already heard how LaFleur violated the unwritten rule in team sports.
It was fourth-and-goal at the 8-yard line. Just over two minutes remaining, and the Packers were trailing 31-23.
A field goal pulls Green Bay to 31-26, they’d need their defense to get back the football and give Rodgers and the offense a chance to win the game in regulation.
If the Packers were to instead go for it, and score, a touchdown brings the score to 31-29. They’d still need to convert on a two-point conversion to tie the game. And then, they’re counting on the defense to get a stop.
And, by the way, the quarterback they’d have to stop – Tom Brady.
LaFleur decided to kick the field goal and hope his defense could do their part. We know how that played out, because Rodgers is answering questions about his future with the Packers.
Okay, before we continue, I have something to confess. Watching LaFleur send out the field goal team didn’t make me yell at my television. I didn’t go on twitter and question him. Instead, I saw the logic in what LaFleur did.
But, the unwritten rule. I just couldn’t work myself around it.
You don’t take the ball out of your MVP’s hands with the game on the line. You just don’t do it. That’s the rule.
Aaron Rodgers is a two-time NFL MVP, your quarterback and the face of your franchise. In Green Bay, he’s the face that runs the place.
When Herm Edwards reminded all of us, “you play to win the game”, the unwritten rule applies here as well.
LaFleur is one of the league’s young and talented head coaches. Last summer, he told the media he sees a Rodgers in Green Bay “for a really long time”.
One can only wonder how confident he still feels about that right now, at this very moment.
