The Green Bay Packers won 11 games in 2024, but there were certain moments where they could have achieved more. One of those moments came in the regular season finale against the Chicago Bears, where Caleb Williams drove Chicago into field goal range in the final moments and set Cairo Santos up for a 51-yard field goal.
The play has burned in the minds of Packers fans who watched their 10-game winning streak over their rival come to an end. But it also has replayed in the mind of Matt LaFleur, who used the situation as a teaching moment during this year’s training camp.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur confirmed that one of the scenarios they worked on yesterday in practice was the play with 15 seconds left in the Bears game here when they got into FG range to win the game.
— Rob Demovsky (@RobDemovsky) August 6, 2025
This time, Malik Willis got the first down to set up a FG. pic.twitter.com/xYQWMmT39S
Packers Replaying End of Bears Game During Training Camp Practice
LaFleur spoke to reporters this week about replaying the end-of-game scenario that occurred against the Bears during training camp practice. While ESPN’s Rob Demovsky noted that Malik Willis got the first down to set up the field goal, it’s an attempt to clean up one of the moments that marred last season.
The sequence at Lambeau Field began when the Bears got the ball down 22-21 with 54 seconds left in the game. Beginning at his own 20-yard line, Caleb Williams led the Bears down the field but was still in Chicago territory when LaFleur took a timeout with 15 seconds remaining. Williams hit David Moore on a 3rd & 11 from the Bears' 49-yard line on the following play and it set up Santos’s game-winning field goal.
While LaFleur has pinned the sequence on the defense, Packers fans may think he would have been best served in a timeout drill. On the drive preceding Chicago’s final possession, LaFleur called a timeout after Emanuel Wilson was tackled in the backfield. While Brandon McManus kicked a 55-yard field goal with 54 seconds remaining, the Packers could have taken more time off the clock, which eventually cost Green Bay the game.
“At the end of the game, that’s squarely on me,” LaFleur said via The Packers Wire’s Zach Kruse. “Got caught in a situation where we were planning on going for it. They felt like Brandon could make that field goal. Hindsight is 20/20, I wish I wouldn’t have taken that timeout. It gave them way too much time to go down and operate. Like I told the team, that’s on me, that can’t happen.”
Surely, LaFleur has noted how he can manage the clock better and the confusion may be served by an extra meeting with his staff. But it’s one moment Green Bay is looking to clean up and use to climb the NFC’s hierarchy this season.