After the Packers’ loss to the 49ers in the NFC Championship Game, head coach Matt LaFleur said he felt the team was lacking the fire needed to win such a game.
During an appearance on PFT Live, linebacker Za’Darius Smith was asked if he agrees with his coach. Smith said that he thought LaFleur was right and pointed the finger at himself as one of the players who needs to do more to avoid any repeats of that performance.
“We didn’t come ready to play. I don’t know if everybody was sleeping, but I can tell you for myself that I wasn’t ready to play either. . . . We weren’t ready to play football,” Smith said.
The Packers were flat on all three of their trips to California in 2019 and Smith said he thought the team should consider a change to their travel plans for future games in order to avoid those letdowns. Ultimately, though, he said he and the other players have to do a better job of being prepared and ready to go right off the bat once they get back on the field.