Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur feels like his team squandered opportunities in their 24-21 divisional-round loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

“I felt like we had plenty of opportunities to kind of put the game out of reach and unfortunately just didn’t do enough,” LaFleur said after the game, according to ESPN’s Rob Removsky. “And it’s never one play, ’cause I’m sure a lot of it’s going to come down to the missed field goal, but there were plenty of opportunities.”

Rookie kicker Anders Carlson, whose botched kick would’ve increased the Packers’ lead to seven points with under seven minutes remaining in the contest, admitted that he’s been “inconsistent” this year.

 

He said the wind wasn’t a factor on the final miss and that he would need “to have a better hit next time.” The Auburn product was 29 of 36 on field goals and 41 of 47 on extra points this season, including the playoffs.

“Obviously, didn’t pan out the way we wanted it to,” Carlson said. “After each kick, just staying ready for the next one, and there wasn’t another one.”

LaFleur mentioned early red-zone woes among other issues in the defeat. The team scored just two touchdowns on five trips inside San Francisco’s 20-yard line.

“You can go back in the first half and have three red-zone opportunities and have six points,” the 44-year-old said. “There’s a lot of plays out there that it just, if one play goes different, then probably have a different result right now.”

One of those costly plays was a game-sealing interception that quarterback Jordan Love threw to 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw with under a minute remaining in the contest. The 25-year-old quarterback scrambled right before attempting to throw the ball downfield across his body to wide receiver Christian Watson.

“Looking back on it, yeah, throw it away,” said Love. “I don’t know if I had an opportunity to be able to run, maybe get out of bounds. But force it across the middle late, which is a mortal sin, and it cost us.”

Love finished the contest with 194 passing yards on 21-of-34 passing. He had two touchdowns and two interceptions in the defeat.

The loss dropped LaFleur’s playoff record to 3-4 since he took over as head coach ahead of the 2019 campaign.