GREEN BAY, Wis. – There were 150 plays during Sunday’s Green Bay Packers’ wild-card game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

None were bigger than the first.

On the opening kickoff, former Packers linebacker Oren Burks drilled Keisean Nixon. Nixon fumbled – “an absolutely clean hit,” Fox’s Tom Brady said during the broadcast – and the Eagles recovered, with the Eagles turning the turnover into a touchdown a few plays later.

Well, perhaps Nixon recovered. And, on Saturday, the NFL admitted it wasn’t a clean hit.

As reported by NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the NFL fined $8,333 for unnecessary roughness for using his helmet on the tackle.

“I have not even attempted to try to” get an explanation, coach Matt LaFleur said on Tuesday. “I don’t know. It’s not going to change anything. I think in time, (but) I just need to cool off first, I think.”

A few plays later, the Eagles led 7-0, and they went wire-to-wire to eliminate the Packers 22-10.

“I just envision myself making plays that’s going to change the game,” Burks said after the game. “We talked about setting the tone early, and what better way than the opening kickoff? You can feel the energy and the momentum shifting.”

The Packers never got the momentum back, though they wouldn’t have had to had the play been properly officiated.

“It was sudden change, they scored right after, so it gave them the ball,” Nixon said. “But I got the ball back for sure. It should’ve been targeting, helmet-to-helmet, but can’t dwell on it. Never been hit that hard, either. That was like the first time, I was kind of rattled. But it is what it is.”

Burks was a third-round pick in 2018 by the Packers. He forced two fumbles in his career, both in 2020, meaning he had zero of those “momentum-shifting” plays in three seasons.

“Trying to do my job, that’s it,” Burks said.

LaFleur wasn’t happy with the officiating on two of the three interceptions, starting with Darius Slay’s interception of a deep ball to Dontayvion Wicks.

“I think you saw the slow mo – it was a great job by (Slay) grabbing his wrist, sling-shotting himself and he made a hell of a catch.

“And then the last one, I don’t know what you guys thought. Obviously, it was a prayer. We’re throwing one up. You’ve got Bo (Melton) on a linebacker. Was the ball underthrown? Yes, it was. Did he get contact before the ball was there? Yes, he did. (shrugs). It is what it is.”

With the win, the Eagles advanced to a divisional-round matchup against the Rams in Philadelphia on Sunday.

With the loss, the Packers headed home for another too-early offseason. They went 0-2 against the Eagles, Lions and Vikings.

“I think anytime you lose, it’s always a disappointment,’ Nixon said. “The way we lost was a disappointment. We’ve just got to learn how to finish. Big games all year, we didn’t finish. That was another.

“We know what we’ve got to work on and we’ve just got to win those type of games. I think that’ll be the whole focus of the offseason and next year is just finish. We’ve got to learn how to finish. It doesn’t matter how good our roster is or who we’ve got on our team. The other players are good, too. We’ve got to learn how to finish. We learn how to finish, we’re going to be Super Bowl ready.”

The Nixon fumble was one of four turnovers by the Packers. Teams that went minus-4 or worse in the turnover battle in playoff games are 2-86 all-time.

“I still feel the same disappointment I feel like that I felt postgame,” LaFleur said. “It’s just disappointing when you [don’t play your best]. Somebody’s going to win, somebody’s going to lose, good teams, but you just want to go out in those moments and play your best and let the chips fall where they may.

“I thought we had a strong defensive performance and we just didn’t get it done offensively, had a really hard time blocking their front. So, it’s hard to really get anything going in that regard. And then the turnovers were just absolutely killer. It started with the opening kick, and then having three picks. That was it right there. You’re not going to go on the road and win a playoff game when you’re minus-4 in the turnover battle. It’s not going to happen.”

Still, the Packers had a chance. They trailed 16-10 entering the fourth quarter but the defense couldn’t get a stop and the offense couldn’t get out of its own way.

“We are extremely disappointed, obviously, but I think you’ve got to learn from every experience,” LaFleur continued. “There’s a lot of lessons along the way. Sometimes those lessons can be tough, but you’d better be mindful of those and work on the areas that you have to improve upon in order to get over the hump or get past that point.”

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