The next installment of the Packers’ Top Plays of 2025 looks at a massive late-game 4th down conversion that helped earn Green Bay a win early on in the season.
Matt LaFleur’s career as a decision-maker has had a few phases. Early on, he epitomized the “All Gas, No Brake” mentality that he preached, proving to be one of the more aggressive coaches in keeping his offense on the field in 4th down situations. However, that aggressiveness waned over the past few years, and he became more apt to play for
field goals and field position.
However, 2025 saw the pendulum start to swing back in the other direction, and one of the clearest examples of LaFleur getting his groove back came in the Packers’ week 7 game against the Arizona Cardinals. This late-game conversion comes in at #9 on our countdown of Green Bay’s top plays of the 2025 season.
The Game
It’s week 7, and the Green Bay Packers are in the midst of their longest road trip of the year as they face the Arizona Cardinals. After an early week 4 bye, Green Bay defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 27-18 the previous week at Lambeau Field to improve their record to 3-1-1.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals come into the week with a 2-4 record. Arizona won each of their first two games in thrilling fashion, getting 4th-down stops in the final moments against the Saints and Panthers in back-to-back weeks while clinging to a one-score lead. After that, however, the Cardinals dropped four straight games, each by four points or fewer. The 49ers, Seahawks, and Titans each defeated Arizona on last-second field goals, while the Colts got a go-ahead touchdown run from Jonathan Taylor with less than five minutes left and stopped the Cardinals on 4th down inside the 10-yard line to hold on for a win.
It should have come as no surprise, then, that Arizona would provide a dramatic ending for the Packers in this game.
The Situation
Indeed, Arizona played tough through the first half, seemingly ready to take a 13-3 lead into halftime after scoring a touchdown with seven seconds left in the first half. However, a 22-yard pass to Romeo Doubs set up a team-record 61-yard field goal from Lucas Havrisik to pull Green Bay back to within a touchdown at the break. The Packers tied the game after a Rashan Gary strip-sack of Jacoby Brissett led to a Josh Jacobs score, but the two teams traded touchdowns on the ensuing drive.
With 9 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Arizona took the lead with a field goal. After a three-and-out, the Packers defense stopped Brissett on a 4th-down quarterback sneak near midfield, giving Jordan Love the ball down by three with just under six minutes to play. Love converted an early 3rd-and-8 to Tucker Kraft, but after three runs by Jacobs netted 8 yards, the team faced a 4th-and-2 from Arizona’s 29-yard line and 2:32 left on the clock.
What’s the call if you’re in Matt LaFleur’s shoes? Settle for a 47-yard field goal attempt to try to tie the game? That would leave the Cardinals with 2:32 on the clock, sitting in good field position, and needing only a field goal to win. If you go for it and end up scoring a touchdown, that puts you up by 4 points, forcing Arizona to find the end zone, though if you fail you have to get a stop.
The Play
Matt LaFleur ended up taking a timeout to think about it and, after initially appearing to be prepared to kick, he sent the offense back out on the field after all, showing immense trust in Jordan Love to find a way to pick up those two yards.
And pick them up he did.
Green Bay lined up with three receivers in a tight stack to the left — Tucker Kraft on the line of scrimmage in the middle with Matthew Golden inside of him and Malik Heath a yard off the line just outside — and Romeo Doubs split wide right. After motioning Golden to the outside of the stack, Love took the shotgun snap with Josh Jacobs to his right and took a short drop to survey the receivers.
Heath sits down at the sticks, but he’s bracketed by a defensive back and safety Budda Baker. Golden is covered up well at the sideline as well. But Kraft runs a deep out against the man coverage of safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson, gaining a few yards of separation. Love sees Kraft open at his break and lofts a perfect pass to him just inside the sideline. Kraft hauls it in for a massive 4th-down conversion and a gain of 15 yards.
The Impact
The drive stayed alive and the Packers offense paid off on LaFleur’s faith. Jacobs ran the ball three more times, using up the two-minute warning and the Cardinals’ first timeout before scoring a touchdown on his third attempt to indeed put the Packers up by four points. That margin proved to be critical as the Packers defense bent and allowed the Cardinals to get to the Packers’ 27-yard line on their final drive.
However, a sack by Micah Parsons, his third of the game, and a pair of incomplete passes by Brissett gave the Packers the game. Had the Packers settled for a field goal to tie the score, that would have left Arizona in position to kick one of their own for the win.
In a season where every victory was critical to keeping the Packers in the playoff hunt, this one was particularly important. It also showed that LaFleur, after a few seasons of being more conservative with his 4th down decision-making, seemed to be regaining his aggressiveness in important moments.
Frankly, when you have players like Love and Kraft to rely on in those critical situations, it’s a lot easier to feel comfortable going for it. In this case, they delivered one of the biggest plays of the season, helping the team’s record improve to 4-1-1.
