The Packers suffered a painful season-ending loss to the Bears on Saturday night, losing 31–27 despite getting out to a double-digit lead in the first half. Green Bay kicker Brandon McManus played a big role in the defeat.
He missed one field goal in the first half before missing two kicks in the last seven minutes of the game—an extra point after the Packers scored to go up two scores and a field goal that would have extended the lead. With the final deficit as narrow as it was, McManus’s kicks wound up absolutely massive and if even one kick had gone differently, the Packers might have won the game.
Speaking to media afterwards, the kicker offered a very sad quote about his mistakes.
“This is the biggest disappointment of my career. Just an embarrassment of a performance,” McManus said. “It’s disappointing that my role on the team is to make kicks and these guys pour in thousands of plays over the course of the season, and I leave seven points on the board today. It’s the most disappointing point of my career.”
When asked if there were any issues during those kicks that led to the misses, he didn’t try to shift blame.
“Everything was perfect. Just bad kicks. Embarrassing performance by me today.”
Obviously missing out on seven points in a four-point loss is devastating. But the missed extra point in particular stands out as critical. The Packers scored to go up two scores with just over six minutes remaining. If McManus had knocked the XP through the uprights, they would have had 28 points and been able to kick a field goal to tie it up on their final possession. Instead, McManus’s miss meant Green Bay had to score a TD and failed to do so, with the drive stalling out at the Bears’ 28-yard line.
McManus hit 24 of 30 field goal attempts during the regular season, his second year in Green Bay. He also hit 97% of his extra point tries. Saturday’s loss was only the second time all year he missed multiple field goals in a game and the first time since Nov. 10 that he missed a kick at all.
A rough day for the kicker.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Packers Kicker Gave Saddest Quote After Missing Multiple Key Kicks in Loss to Bears.
