The Green Bay Packers got two touchdown passes from Jordan Love and two interceptions from Xavier McKinney during Sunday's 31-7 win over the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. Love was fantastic, completing his first pass of the game on a trick play and later putting the Packers up by 13 points on one of the most impressive touchdown passes of his career -- a 53-yard score to Christian Watson.
Coach Matt LaFleur was asked about both plays on Monday. He told the story of how the flea flicker ended up being the game's first play, and what went into calling a shot play on 3rd-and-22 following a frustrating penalty. Deception. And rage.
Answering two playcall questions from the Packers' win over the Bears:
Why did Matt LaFleur call a flea flicker to open game?
On the game's first play, the Packers ran a traditional
flea flicker -- where the running back takes a handoff and pitches the ball back to the quarterback -- but with a unique twist: Instead of taking a shot downfield, Jordan Love flipped the ball to Tucker Kraft on a tight end screen. LaFleur said he put the playcall into the gameplan on Wednesday.
"Here's the story on that. Our assistants do a great job. Guys are always digging around, trying to find things. The guys brought me this, I think Connor Lewis brought it to me, and the rest of the staff was on board with it, and I said we'll put it in. I was joking with the quarterbacks when we put it in, I was like, this could be the first play of the game. They challenged me that if we didn't do that -- we have a fine, the shaky boots fine -- that I would get a shaky boots fine."
LaFleur said Love did a great job with the ball handling and was cool under pressure.
"The guys did a great job executing it," LaFleur said.
The Packers were backed up to the 9-yard line following a punt but still had enough room to call the play. the 13-yard completion to Kraft jumpstarted a 91-yard touchdown drive to open the game.
Packers offense's first play of the game was a flea flicker TE screen pic.twitter.com/HIsr37LQom
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) October 12, 2026
Was Matt LaFleur raging on his 3rd-and-22 playcall in the third quarter?
LaFleur thought the Packers had a 43-yard touchdown pass on a throw down the field to J. Michael Sturdivant on 3rd-and-12 on the opening drive of the second half, but an offensive pass interference penalty negated the play. The Packers coach wasn't happy about the penalty or the situation -- backed up into 3rd-and-22 -- so he called another shot play down the field.
"Well, I was still pissed off for the first play. So, it was a rage call, I guess. You’re sitting there third-and-22 and I was like, all right, might as well take another shot," LaFleur said. "It was just one of those take-a-shot plays. We all know, third-and-22 is a very, very low percentage you're going to be able to convert. Christian made a hell of a play. And Jordan did a great job, giving him a very catchable ball down the field. Just two guys making a play. I thought our offensive line did a great job on that play to allow him, that's a long developing play, but they blocked it up right, allowed Jordan to manipulate the pocket, and those guys made a play."
The result was an incredible throw from Love, which traveled over 65 yards in the air, and a tremendous catch in traffic from Watson in the end zone. What could have been a punt -- with the score still 14-7 -- turned into a game-changing 53-yard touchdown pass.
CHRISTIAN WATSON WHAT A CATCH@CHIvsGB on FOX/FOX One
— NFL (@NFL) October 11, 2026
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/z0TbC7WaQe
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Why did Packers call opening play flea flicker? What went into 3rd-and-22 playcall to Christian Watson?
