GREEN BAY \u2014 There must be some sort of NFL code that the rest of us civilians aren\u2019t privy to.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, how else do we explain why general manager Brian Gutekunst steadfastly refused to acknowledge the obvious: That the Green Bay Packers\u2019 2025 season was \u2014 at least in part \u2014 derailed by injuries sustained by their two biggest stars?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a fine line between an excuse and an explanation, of course. And there were certainly some inexcusable mistakes and squandered opportunities that can\u2019t be chalked solely up to injury-related absences.<\/p>\n
And losing five straight games to end the year \u2014 the nadir coming on Jan. 10 in a 31-27 NFC wild card playoff loss to the archrival Chicago Bears in which they blew a 21-3 halftime lead and let the Bears score 25 points in the fourth quarter \u2014 cannot entirely be explained by said injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fully expected where we were in the middle of the playoff game, to win that game and be heading to Seattle and win that game,\u201d Gutekunst said. \u201cYou know?\u201d<\/p>\n
That gut-wrenching loss to the Bears came after the Packers had gone 9-3-1 heading into a Dec. 14 road game against a Denver Broncos team that had at the time won 10 in a row.<\/p>\n
Which makes it awfully hard not to wonder what might\u2019ve been. For everyone except Gutekunst, apparently.<\/p>\n
The Packers had their own four-game winning streak going when they arrived in Denver, and had a four-point lead entering the fourth quarter of that game, but they watched No. 1 wide receiver Christian Watson leave the stadium in an ambulance after suffering a chest injury, then lost first-team All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons to a torn ACL in his left knee later in the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were 9-3-1, and I didn’t think we had played particularly great football\u00a0during the season. I thought we had moments, but I thought we had an opportunity to round into form there in the second half of the season,\u201d Gutekunst said during a nearly 40-minute Q&A session with reporters at Lambeau Field on Wednesday afternoon \u2014 the first time he\u2019d spoken to the media since the season ended. \u201cAnd obviously it didn’t work out that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Watson returned to action the following week, Parsons was lost for the season, just as the team had lost emerging star tight end Tucker Kraft to an ACL tear in his right knee in a Nov. 2 loss to the Carolina Panthers.<\/p>\n
If there were two players the Packers absolutely could not live without, they were Kraft, who was emerging as one of the NFL\u2019s best tight ends and coming off the best game of his career a week earlier in Pittsburgh, and Parsons, who\u2019d been a transformational player from the moment he arrived in an Aug. 28 trade with the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n
But time and again on Wednesday, Gutekunst insisted Kraft\u2019s and Parsons\u2019 injuries weren\u2019t the primary reason for the Packers\u2019 late-season collapse. He likened the 2025 team\u2019s injuries to the 2010 team\u2019s injury woes, pointing out that that team overcame a long list of players on injured reserve to win Super Bowl XLV.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think it’s like, I don’t know, the mindset,\u201d Gutekunst replied when asked why he wouldn\u2019t entertain the idea that injuries caused the team\u2019s late-season swoon. \u201cI mean, I got one ring since I’ve been doing this. And it was the year that we had more injuries than I think any other, right? So, like, it’s nothing against any other teams here. But you never feel like, \u2018Hey, we can’t go win this game.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s the thing that makes this job, as tough as those moments are, it’s what draws us a lot to it \u2014 the competitive nature of it. In those moments, that’s where your leaders better step up and be ready to go. Not only your players, but your coaches, and myself included.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, yeah, those things suck. You never want to lose good players. But it’s part of the nature of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
All this said, the Packers\u2019 2026 Super Bowl hopes don\u2019t rest solely on getting Kraft and Parsons back and staying healthier than they did this past season.<\/p>\n
Although new Packers team president\/CEO Ed Policy signed Gutekunst, head coach Matt LaFleur and executive vice president\/director of football operations Russ Ball to multi-year contract extensions late last week, a sign that he believes the team is still headed in the right direction, Gutekunst has his work cut out for him this offseason.<\/p>\n
Not only did they lost defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley, who departed to become the Miami Dolphins head coach, but they have a number of starters and key contributors from their 2022 draft class set to hit free agency in March.<\/p>\n
Those players who could depart include left tackle Rasheed Walker, middle linebacker Quay Walker, center Sean Rhyan and wide receiver Romeo Doubs. Prized backup quarterback Malik Willis, who played well in place of an injured Jordan Love whenever called upon, is also a free agent and is expected to land a starting opportunity elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have one goal here, and we never run from it. We’re here to win championships,\u201d Gutekunst said. \u201cAnd I think this team is capable of that.<\/p>\n
\u201c[The] 2026 [team] will be a different team, but the expectations won’t change. Again, I thought there’s some really good things during the [2025] season. There also were some major disappointments. But I really do like the guys we have in that locker room, the guys that are coming back, and we’ll continue to add to that. And we’re all excited to get at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Packers haven\u2019t reached the Super Bowl since that 2010 team \u2014 assembled by GM Ted Thompson, coached by Mike McCarthy and quarterbacked by four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers \u2014 won Super Bowl XLV. And the team has won only one playoff game since losing the 2020 NFC Championship Game to Tom Brady and the eventual Super Bowl-champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every season, there’s successes, and there’s failures and there’s disappointments,\u201d Gutekunst said. \u201cI was proud of our team in a lot of areas this year, but finishing games is certainly something that we got to concentrate on as we head into 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n
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