The Packers’ 2025 season had already spent enough time wobbling before Week 7, but Lucas Havrisik gave it a jolt that no one saw coming. A little-used kicker on a temporary call-up, he stepped into the spotlight and drilled a 61-yard field goal against the Cardinals to set a Packers franchise record.
That kick lands at No. 8 on the team’s top plays of 2025, and it came at exactly the right moment. Green Bay had spent the first month and a half looking uneven.
The opening two weeks were a blast, with Micah Parsons arriving and the Packers taking down the Detroit Lions and Washington Commanders. Then came the stumble in Cleveland in Week 3, the tie with the Cowboys in Week 4, and a bye week that arrived with Green Bay sitting at 2-1-1 instead of the 4-0 start that had once been on the table.
After the bye, the Packers beat the Bengals 27-18 in a game that was somehow comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time.
By the time Arizona came to town in Week 7, the Cardinals were 2-4 under Jonathan Gannon, who is slated to be a future Packers defensive coordinator. And early on, it looked like another rough afternoon for Green Bay.
Arizona opened with a long drive that ended in a field goal, while the Packers’ first trip into Cardinals territory died on a failed fourth down conversion. Early in the second quarter, though, Havrisik got the Packers on the board with a 31-yard field goal, filling in for the injured Brandon McManus.
The Cardinals answered with another field goal, then seized control after a Packers three-and-out with a little more than three minutes left in the half. Jacoby Brissett then guided an 11-play drive that ended with a Trey McBride touchdown, pushing Arizona ahead 13-3. Green Bay had only seven seconds to work with before halftime, but Jordan Love hit Romeo Doubs for 22 yards, and that set up the moment that changed the game.
Matt LaFleur sent Havrisik back out for a 61-yard attempt. The Packers had already passed on a longer try earlier in the game, choosing to go for it on fourth down from the Arizona 38-yard line instead of taking a 55-yard field goal, and that pass to Doubs fell incomplete.
This time, there was no hesitation. Havrisik took the snap from Matthew Orzech, got a clean hold from Daniel Whelan, and launched it from the right hash.
The kick stayed true all the way, cutting through the air in the Cardinals’ domed stadium and splitting the uprights for a Packers record.
It was probably good from 64 yards, too.
That field goal trimmed the deficit to 13-6 at halftime, and Green Bay looked like a different team after the break. The Packers scored touchdowns on three of their five second-half possessions and held on for a 27-23 win. Havrisik’s kick mattered even more because Arizona’s final drive, which could have required only a field goal without the halftime blast, was eventually snuffed out deep in Packers territory by a Micah Parsons sack.
Afterward, LaFleur made sure Havrisik got his due.
“We don’t win that game without his ability to go out there and make every one of his tries, his attempts, “ LaFleur said. “I mean, a 61-yarder?
How about that? A franchise record.
Unbelievable. Hell of a job.”
For a team that had already spent weeks trying to steady its kicking operation, Havrisik’s right leg delivered the kind of moment that can flip a game - and maybe keep a bad loss from becoming a damaging one.
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Jacksonville looks like one of those places to watch, with competition at tight end creating a possible squeeze behind the top names. The player in question has a modest recent production line and a contract that does not make him impossible to move, which gives Green Bay some options if it wants to add insurance without making a big investment. If the Packers decide to act, the route could come through trade talks or by waiting to see how the final roster cuts shake out. [Read more 🡒]