Packers kicking meltdown: Brandon McManus reacts after missing three kicks in shocking playoff loss to Bears

The 2025 season is officially over for the Green Bay Packers, who blew an 18-point halftime lead in a 31-27 playoff loss to the Chicago Bears on Saturday. There were plenty of reasons why the Packers lost and one of the biggest ones was because Brandon McManus had the first postseason meltdown of his career.

The Packers kicker cost his team seven points with two missed field goals and a missed extra point in the four-point loss and he was definitely down on himself after the game. 

"The biggest disappointment of my career," McManus told reporters after the game. "It was an embarrassment of a performance. It's disappointing. 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. The most disappointing point of my career ever."

The fact that McManus struggled was somewhat surprising, if only because he had been one of the most accurate playoff kickers in NFL history going into Saturday's game. 

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The veteran had kicked in five previous playoff games and hit 11 of 12 field goals (91.7%) while also going four of four on extra points. To put that in perspective, McManus was one of just four kickers in NFL history who hit at least 90% of his playoff field goals (minimum 10 attempts) and 100% of his extra points. His 91.7% accuracy rate in the postseason was also the 10th best number for anyone with at least 10 playoff field goal attempts. 

After missing just one kick in his first five playoff games, he melted down in Chicago with three misses against the Bears. The first miss by McManus came on the final play before halftime. He actually hit a 55-yard field goal, but it didn't count, because Bears coach Ben Johnson called a timeout. McManus then tried the kick again and sent it wide left. Considering the cold weather and the wind, it's hard to hold this miss against him, but things only got uglier after that. 

McManus' struggles continued in the fourth quarter after the Packers scored a touchdown that gave Green Bay a 27-16 lead with 6:36 left to play. After the score by Matthew Golden, McManus sent the extra point wide left. This ended up being a huge miss, because if he would have made the kick, the Packers would have gone up 28-16 and that would have changed the game from a strategic standpoint. 

After Green Bay's score, the Bears responded with a quick touchdown on an 8-yard scoring pass from Caleb Williams to Olamide Zaccheaus to trim the lead to 27-22. After that score, the Bears went for two (and got it) so they could cut the lead down to a field goal at 27-24. If McManus had made his kick and the score would have been 28-22, the Bears probably would have just kicked the extra point instead of going for two. 

Following Chicago's touchdown, McManus got a chance to redeem himself, but things only got worse for him after he missed a 44-yard field goal that would have given the Packers a 30-24 lead with 2:51 left to play in the fourth quarter. 

McManus has struggled from that range all season: He hit just 42.9% of his kicks between 40 and 49 yards this year, which was the lowest percentage in the NFL from that range by far.

After the miss, the Bears drove down and were able to get the go-ahead score when Williams hit D.J. Moore for a 25-yard touchdown to give Chicago a 31-27 lead. If McManus had made his field goal, the Packers would have been trailing 31-30 and they would have needed just a field goal at the end of the game to potentially win. 

McManus signed a three-year, $15.3 million extension with the Packers back in March, but after his three misses, it's hard to see him returning to Green Bay. 

The ugly playoff game ends a brutal year for McManus, who hit just 80% of his field goal attempts, which ranked 28th in the NFL for any kicker who played in at least nine games.