The Green Bay Packers lost to the Chicago Bears for their second straight first round loss in the NFC side of the playoffs, as well as it being their third loss to the Bears in the last five matchups. The Packers had a promising start to the 2025 season, going 6-3-1 through the first ten games. However, their season got derailed by injuries and they finished the season with five straight losses, and a final record of 9-8-1. The Packers have just three playoff wins in the last nine years, and just barely snuck in the playoffs by getting the seven seed for three years in a row. To some, it may be impressive that they managed to get in the playoffs at all with the youngest team in the NFL, but many fans, especially Packers fans, believe the team failed expectations and should have gone farther in the postseason. I think the team is good enough to go far, but they just need a few changes over the offseason.
First, and likely the most important change, is to improve the secondary. The Packers signed CB Treyvon Diggs just before the end of the regular season, but he got little playing time and may not last long as a Packer. Keisean Nixon and Carrington Valentine have been the starting cornerbacks all season. Although Nixon was sixth in the league in pass deflections, both players struggled with making open field tackles and gave up quite a few touchdowns with few interceptions. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Keisean Nixon get cut before next season, which will bring the need to get some players from the draft and free agency.
Next, the Packers need to make some coaching changes. A necessary move is to fire the special teams coordinator, Rich Bisaccia. The special teams cost the Packers multiple games this season and in the past under Bisaccia, including many missed kicks and major mistakes. Many people believe head coach Matt Lafleur should also be fired, but his contract expires after the 2026 season so I think the team should give him that final year, and if they don’t win the division or win a playoff game, he likely should not get a new contract. The Packers had multiple games where they led by double digits at some point, and ended up losing the game. Obviously the players are the ones who have to make the plays, but if they are consistently losing in similar ways, the coaches are the ones to blame. As I did mention earlier, there have been injuries to key players on the team, but in the NFL, you have to be able to work with the people you have. Current and former Packers players who were coached by Lafleur have made it clear they want him to stay, but at some point he does need to be held accountable.
An obvious change is going to be to the kicker position. Brandon McManus missed many crucial kicks over the 2025-2026 season for the Packers, including seven points worth of kicks in the four point playoff loss to the Bears. The team had signed Lucas Havrisik for a couple of games during the season while Brandon McManus was injured, and he even set the franchise record for the longest made field goal. After seeing that, and the missed kicks from MCManus, it really makes no sense why they stuck with McManus over Havrisik. However, the Packers did sign Havrisik to a future contract, so he will be on the team for 2026 training camp, but I have not seen anything on McManus’ future.
The Packers have been so close yet so far for the last three seasons, and I believe if they can make these moves in the offseason, it is not unlikely that they will be a top contender for the Super Bowl next year.
