Compete for Championships? Packers GM Brian Gutekunst Knows Awful Numbers

The Green Bay Packers were looking like a championship-caliber team until the season crumbled for a second consecutive year.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst smiles at his season-ending news conference at Lambeau Field on Feb. 4. | Bill Huber/Packers On SI

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst knew the numbers. He doesn’t know the solution.

The past two years, the Packers entered the season like a lion and went out like a lamb. Why?

“That’s a great question. Certainly one we’re trying to figure out,” Gutekunst said on Wednesday. “Matt’s first five years, we were 25-8 in December and January. I think we’re 3-9 the last two years.”

To state the obvious, if the Lombardi Trophy is ever going to return to Green Bay, the Packers must find a way to start strong and finish strong rather than starting strong and finishing with a whimper.

“We’re looking at that from a lot of different angles to make sure that we’re playing our best football in December and January,” Gutekunst continued. “So, I think that hasn’t been the case the last two years, and it’s really imperative that, you know, through process and people that we make sure that we take a long look at that.

Staying healthy would be a start. The Packers were 9-3-1 and in command at the Denver Broncos when disaster struck. Zach Tom was injured. Christian Watson was injured. Micah Parsons was injured.

With Tom and Parsons joining Devonte Wyatt on the sideline for the rest of the regular season, the Packers lost that game and never won again. A year after losing their final two regular-season games and then losing in the wild-card round at Philadelphia, the Packers lost their final four regular-season games and lost in the wild-card round at Chicago.

A Fitting End for Packers

That playoff loss to the rival Bears was the perfectly imperfect ending to the season. Green Bay was in total control during the first half before imploding in horrific fashion. To be sure, the ending might have been different had Parsons not suffered a torn ACL at Denver, but injuries happen and Gutekunst wouldn’t use them as an excuse.

“In every season, there’s successes and there’s failures and there’s disappointments and things like that,” Gutekunst said. “I 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. That was one where I thought, certainly we played very, very well in the first half and had a lot of things in front of us. And when you get in situations like that, you expect to win the game.”

With that, Green Bay’s 9-3-1 start fizzled into a 9-8-1 final record. Dating to Green Bay’s home loss to the Buccaneers in the 2020 NFC Championship Game, the Packers have won only one playoff game.

At his season-ending news conference last year, Gutekunst said it was time for the Packers to compete for championships. Ultimately, when it was time to compete for a championship this year, the Packers blew a lead at Denver in Week 15, blew a lead at Chicago in Week 16, got run off the field at home against Baltimore in Week 17, essentially forfeited Week 18 to get ready for the playoffs, then blew a lead against in the playoff rematch at Chicago.

Gutekunst seemed ready for the reminder.

“We don’t run from those expectations ever,” he said. “You know, we were 9-3-1 and I didn’t think we had played particularly great football during the season. I thought we had moments, but I thought we had an opportunity to kind of round into form there in the second half of the season. And, obviously, it didn’t work out that way.

“So, I did think there were moments that we played at a very, very high level – championship-football-type level – but it wasn’t consistent enough. We didn’t sustain it. So, as we go into this offseason, we continue to evaluate 2025 before we get on to 2026, it’s on the front of our minds.”

Challenges Ahead for Packers

Getting there will be a challenge but not an impossibility. The Packers had won four in a row before the Denver game. They played well enough to win at Chicago twice in a span of a few weeks.

The challenge will be improving the roster to take the next big step needed to leapfrog the Bears in the NFC North and surpass the Super Bowl-bound Seahawks in the NFC. 

In terms of the draft, the Packers don’t have a first-round pick after acquiring Parsons. Not much can be done to change that reality. In terms of free agency, they’re in the bottom third of the NFL and in the red with the salary cap, according to OverTheCap.com. There are a few big-ticket ways to create space, though it would come at the cost of dumping veteran players or borrowing against future salary caps.

“I feel really good,” Gutekunst said. “You know, a lot of that will be dependent on the decisions we make with the roster right now and what we do. But I believe we have all the flexibility to do what we need to do. We also have a bunch of young players – really good players that we would like to keep around here for a while – so we’ll work through that. But I feel good about our flexibility. Russ (Ball)  has done such a good job of keeping us at a point where, if opportunities present themselves, we’re never not able to do those things – like Micah last year.”

Nothing will matter more, though, than playing their best football at the end of the season.

The Packers were 6-8 in 2023 before winning their final three regular-season games and upsetting Dallas in a wild-card game. On the other hand, they were 11-4 in 2024 before losing their final three and 9-3-1 in 2025 before losing their final five.

Ultimately, Gutekunst does a better job building the roster. Coach Matt LaFleur needs to do a better job coaching that roster. The players on that roster, from quarterback Jordan Love making key throws to whoever the kicker is splitting the uprights, must do their job at a higher level.

Some good fortune with injuries to their star players would help, too.

“Obviously we’ve got to win the games that matter the most, in December or January, right?” Gutekunst said. “That’s kind of been the tale of the last couple of years. This team’s ready to do that, and we haven’t done that. So, that’s kind of the next step.

“I think as you evaluate every season, you’re looking at those things. Certainly, that was a strength of ours prior to these last couple of years, was how we finished. We were playing our best football at the end of the season. We haven’t done that the last two years. I think it’s a little bit probably getting a little bit back to basics and just making sure again that we’re not missing anything in those areas. That’s what I would say to that.”

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