Aside from earning the first win of his head coaching career, Green Bay Packers head coach Matt LaFleur went down in history. He did something that no one else had done before in league history. He threw the first challenge flag in contesting a pass interference call in the regular season.
After a 15-yard catch by Chicago Bears receiver Taylor Gabriel, LaFleur believed that the veteran pass-catcher had pushed off of cornerback Jaire Alexander of the Packers. Although there was a bit of contact between the receiver and defensive back, the referees ruled that there wasn't enough to warrant a penalty after a challenge by LaFleur.
The Packers head coach wasn't too pleased about the situation, to say the least.
“I was pretty upset with myself. I saw the play live and felt like he pushed off, but it’s got to be clear and obvious for them to overturn it — and clearly, it wasn’t clear and obvious enough. I felt pretty sick. That was a big play. It could have hurt us. But thankfully, our defense bailed us out.”
However, later in the drive, the Bears would be penalized in multiple situations that would negate the earlier failed attempt of a challenge, including a more obvious offensive pass interference from, ironically, Taylor Gabriel who made a push-off. It resulted in the Bears having to set up for a first-and-40 attempt that brought about no conversion. And with only allowing three points and coming away with an interception, the defense turned what could've been a turning point of a failed challenge into something irrelevant.
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