Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur did not hold back his anger with one of his star players after last night's season-ending loss to their division-rival Detroit Lions.
With less than eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter while the Packers had the lead, all their defense needed to do was stop the Lions scoring a touchdown. They'd most likely go on to win the game and secure their place in the playoffs if all had gone as planned.
But with the Lions driving down the field, an injury timeout was called when former Packers running back Jamaal Williams was down after a hit, with medical staff running on to the field.
And for some bizarre reason, Packers rookie Quay Walker decided to push the the Lions medical staffer, which gave the Packers a 15-yard penalty and saw the impressive linebacker ejected from the game.
Three plays later, Williams would score a touchdown to put the Lions ahead with just minutes to go, a lead the Packers could not recover from after Aaron Rodgers threw an interception to end their hopes of the playoffs. Their blow meant the Seattle Seahawks claimed the final spot.
Speaking after the game about the incident, Packers head coach LaFleur was not happy with Walker. He said: "I have a much higher standard for our players than to do something silly like that. We've had a guy ejected twice. I don't think I've ever seen that in my career and we've got to be much more mentally tough.
"Any time our guys commit personal fouls I take that very personally because I think that's always a reflection of myself and the standards that we set for these players. And we've got to be better and we've got to learn from that because that is unacceptable."
As referenced, it is the second time that the rookie has been ejected for pushing an opposing staffer. On October 30, Walker pushed a member of the Buffalo Bills who was not in uniform when on the sideline, which also left LaFleur frustrated at the time.
Walker, a 2022 first-round pick out of Georgia, has had an impressive season, but left Packers fans furious with his actions in last night's loss to the Lions.
After being ejected, he became the first player to be kicked out of two games in one season since 2000.
The Packers now look to go into the off-season with a number of question marks, with rumours surrounding the future of superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
