The Green Bay Packers did what they’ve done best over the last two decades. Break their fans hearts in increasingly creative ways. While this doesn’t match up to the king of disappointing playoff losses, it still hurts like hell.
So what happened exactly? The Packers held an eighteen point lead at half time. Instead of prepping for a matchup against the Seahawks, Packers fans are instead left arguing about whether or not the head coach should be retained.
So lets look at the biggest reasons Green Bay is headed home, and how correctable those issues are for next season.
#1: Special Teams
It would be hilarious if it wasn’t so maddening. Special Teams can be directly pointed to as the reason behind three separate losses and a tie this season. Special team cost Green Bay seven points against the Bears on Saturday.
The first thing that needs to be done is replacing Rich Bissacia. Clearly whatever he’s doing isn’t working. But the problem isn’t just him, its clear that as an organization this side of the ball is constantly neglected. It’s not even the first time it’s cost the Packers a playoff win. 2022 against the Niners, 2014 against the Seahawks are just a few that come to mind.
So yeah, the Packers need a new ST coach. But they also need to go deeper and change their processes when it comes to the entire operation.
They also need a new kicker. Again.
#2 Injuries
“Next Man Up” is a phrase often spoken by coaches and players as injuries mount in the season. It’s nonsense. Every team hits a point where they simply don’t have enough talent as injuries mount. Green Bay was already facing a huge injury issue coming in to Saturdays game, with a total of 18 players on IR. 18. That’s a franchise record. And it doesn’t take into account players that missed multiple games during the season and coming into the game that were still rostered.
The team was without Micah Parsons, Tucker Kraft, Devonte Wyatt and Elgton Jenkins. All four could have made real impacts on the game. Zach Tom was expected to play in the early part of the week then was also unable to go.
So before the game even started, Edge 1, Tight End 1, Defensive Tackle 1 and Tackle 1 are all not playing. Then to cap it off, the team loses Edgerrin Cooper, LB 1 in the middle of the game. Loosing Cooper may have been the straw that finally broke the camels back.
“Every team has injuries”. Sure. But every team doesn’t have 18+ guys unavailable, including 25% of their starters.
#3: Green Bay Head Coach Matt LaFleur.
LaFleur has been the biggest topic of debate coming out of the loss this week. Should he be retained as coach or not. Prior to the game I thought the answer was obviously yes. But I won’t lie, after I wouldn’t blame the team if they thought change was needed. After sitting with it for a few days, I ultimately came to the conclusion that Green Bay should keep him.
For starters, have you looked at the names being thrown out for interviews? Matt Nagy is interviewing. Jason Garrett’s name came up. It’s easy to say that Green Bay should move on, but it’s a lot less easy to say who they should bring in. Firing LaFleur and promoting Hafley is one option I’ve seen, but I’d much rather have an offensive head coach than a defensive one.
Assuming he stays, the focus this offseason has to be bringing in new, and more experienced voices. It’s not just the roster that’s young, the coaching staff as a whole has much less experience than a vast majority of coaching staffs in the league. The time to promote from within needs to take a backseat to new ideas and more experience. In addition to a new ST coach, the Packers should be looking at changes at the LB and OL coaches as well.
LaFleur’s biggest weakness on the field seems to be an inability to adjust quickly enough to changes in the game. Once the offensive line started to fall off in the second half, the response should have been a greater focus on the quick passing game. Instead he continued to commit to the run game and down after down was wasted running for a yard a piece. Hopefully some more experience on the rest of the coaching staff can help those adjustments come more quickly.
Honorable Mention: Jordan Love
Just kidding. The Packers have done it again.
The Green Bay Packers have the hard part figured out. Now they just have to get the next hires right, and find a little bit more luck.
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