Matt LaFleur: It hurts because we fully expected to win this game

Packers coach Matt LaFleur said after Saturday night's loss to the 49ers that his team was hurting after being eliminated from the playoffs.

“It hurts,” LaFleur said. “Part of the reason it hurts so much right now is because we fully believe and fully expect to win this game. Give San Francisco credit, they made more plays in some of those critical situations down the stretch. They're a tough football team. But I felt like We had a lot of chances to put the game out of reach and unfortunately we didn't do enough. It's never one play. I'm sure a lot of it will go back to the missed field goal, but there's a lot of opportunities. Coming back in the first half and getting three red zone chances And get six points. There are so many games that if one game had gone differently we would probably have had a different result now.

LaFleur said he doesn't know why kicker Anders Karlsson missed a field goal, which has been an issue for the Packers this year.

“I don’t know. I think if we had the answer we would have fixed it,” LaFleur said.

The Packers had a young team that exceeded expectations. It hurts at the moment, but LaFleur enters the offseason knowing his team is close to where he wants to be.