GREEN BAY — As Lucas Havrisik trotted onto the field Sunday evening  to attempt a 39-yard field goal with 1 minute, 56 seconds remaining and the Green Bay Packers clinging to a six-point lead in a gotta-have-it game against the struggling Cincinnati Bengals, Matt LaFleur had a pretty good idea of what was going through the minds of the 78,277 denizens inside Lambeau Field.

“It was probably the same thing going through mine,” the Packers head coach confessed after what wound up being a 27-18 Packers victory. “You just hold your breath.”

Havrisik, who just last week was looking into substitute teaching jobs in the greater Cleveland area while still keeping his hopes alive for making a living as an NFL placekicker, made the kick, rendering the what-ifs of a miss irrelevant.

But just to be clear, had Havrisik missed — or had the kick been blocked, since the Packers protection unit had allowed that to happen twice in their previous two games — the Bengals would’ve had the ball at their own 29-yard line with a chance to win the game with a touchdown and an extra point.

And considering the Bengals previous three possessions had all ended in scores (a touchdown, a field goal and another touchdown) against a Packers defense that has shown a predilection for surrendering points in the fourth quarter for much of the season, there was reason to worry.

Which would explain LaFleur’s prevailing postgame vibe.

“I feel a sense of relief right now,” LaFleur admitted. “We always try to take it one game at a time, and the bottom line is you’ve got to find a way to win the game.

“There were a lot of critical situations where [the Bengals] were able to make a play and we didn’t, to keep them in the game. But that is life in the National Football League.”

Considering it’d been a month since the Packers (3-1-1) had won a game — losing at Cleveland on Sept. 21, tying with the Dallas Cowboys on Sept, 28 and having their bye last week — no one was about to quibble with a less-than-impressive win over the Bengals (2-4), a team that has lost four in a row since star quarterback Joe Burrow’s toe injury and was so desperate that it traded for 40-year-old Joe Flacco in hopes of salvaging the season.

“Every week you want to go 1-0, but man, it feels good to get off that tie, for real, honestly, and after the bye. We ain’t played football in a minute,” Packers veteran cornerback Keisean Nixon said. “It’s a good team we beat. The quarterback’s a little iffy, but they’ve got a good team.”

Added left guard Aaron Banks, part of an offensive line that finally had its preferred starting five together for an entire game: “It was never pretty, never perfect. But we got a win and that’s what matters most.”

Were there reasons to nitpick? Certainly. Despite outgaining the Bengals, 240-65, in the first half, the Packers only had a 10-0 lead to show for it after quarterback Jordan Love’s second interception of the season, thrown inside the Bengals’ red zone on the Packers’ opening series.

“You’ve just got to understand the situation,” said Love, who was otherwise fantastic, finishing the day having completed 19 of 26 passes for 259 yards with one touchdown and the one interception (101.3 rating). “We’re in field-goal range, we [likely] have points, so if it feels like it’s going to be a tight window or I’m not very confident in it, just throw it away, live to fight another day.

“[I] tried to make it happen, didn’t work and it came back to bite us. Anytime you have a turnover when you’re in scoring position on a third down, just be smart right there. [You’ve] got to file it away in the back of your mind and learn and grow from it.”

And then there was the defense’s continued second-half struggles. Five games into the year, the Packers have allowed a total of 102 points. Of those, 80 have come after halftime and 63 have come in the fourth quarter or overtime — an indicator that a group that sees itself as an elite unit has not shown the ability to deliver knockout blows.

“The first half, it just shows who we are,” star pass rusher Micah Parsons said. “Like, we’ve been trying to figure it out. We’ve been showing glimpses, but how can we just do it for a complete four quarters?

“We held up our end of the bargain, we held ’em to under 20, so I’m just happy we got a win.”

Asked if the fact that the Packers defense has allowed points on 10 of the last 12 fourth-quarter and overtime possessions the unit has faced (four field goals, six touchdowns) was a troubling pattern, LaFleur replied, “It would be irresponsible for me to make a statement on that right now without going back and watching the film.”

Whether the Bengals would have gone down and scored had Havrisik missed the kick, we’ll never know. But with Flacco, who’d just been acquired on Tuesday, getting revved up with wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins during the second half, it was obviously possible.

“I thought as an offense we settled in, We started to get in a little rhythm,” said Flacco, who’d faced — and beaten — the Packers with the Browns last month. “We came out and played a good second half. But usually, against a good football team, playing one good half isn’t going to be good enough.”

And, it wasn’t. Barely.

“It always feels good to win in this league, regardless of how it is,” said veteran running back Josh Jacobs, who gained 150 total yards from scrimmage and had a pair of rushing touchdowns. “We still feel like we left a lot out there, but it’s always good to win.”

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