For Packers, It Only Seems Like Every Day Is Friday the 13th

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers have been the kings of the jungle during the regular season but paper tigers in the playoffs since winning Super Bowl XLV in 2010.

During the 15 seasons from 2011 through 2015, no team in the NFC has won more games than the Packers. The thrill of regular-season victory has led to nothing but the agony of playoff defeat. There are plenty of reasons for Green Bay’s playoff failures. Sometimes, it’s better to be lucky than good. The Packers have been good. They just haven’t been lucky.

Here are the top 12 Packers equivalents of breaking mirrors, walking under ladders and opening an umbrella indoors since winning their last Lombardi Trophy.

2011: Nick Collins’ Career-Ending Injury

In 2010, the Packers won the Super Bowl. Nick Collins, who was a Pro Bowler and second-team All-Pro in 2008, 2009 and 2010, had a pick-six in the Super Bowl victory over the Steelers.

In the second game of the 2011 season, Collins, at age 28 and the height of his dominance, suffered a neck injury against Carolina. His career was over.

Then-Packers coach Mike McCarthy said Collins was on a Hall of Fame trajectory. He wasn’t the only one with that belief.

Nick Collins celebrates his interception against the Bears on Jan. 2, 2011, that clinched a playoff spot for the Packers. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Without question, you would have been talking about Nick for the NFL Hall of Fame,” Charles Woodson said before being Collins’ presenter for the Packers Hall of Fame in 2016. “There’s no doubt in my mind.”

At the time, Pittsburgh’s Troy Polamalu and Baltimore’s Ed Reed were considered the best safeties in the league, with Collins on their heels.

“Those are two of my favorite players,” Woodson continued. “I loved to watch those guys play. Not only did I get the chance to watch Nick, but I actually played alongside him. And without a doubt, Nick was right there in that conversation with those guys. Had he continued to play, there’s no doubt in my mind he would have continued to play at that level and have been in that conversation.”

Would the Packers have won the Super Bowl with Collins in 2011? Or made another run or two? We’ll never know.

2014: Start of NFC Championship

The Seattle Seahawks, the defending Super Bowl champions, hosted the Packers in the 2014 NFC Championship Game. The Packers got the ball to start the game and drove right down the field against the vaunted “Legion of Boom” defense.

Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman (25) intercepts a pass intended for Green Bay Packers receiver Davante Adams. | Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

On third-and-10 from Seattle’s 29, Aaron Rodgers, the master of cadence, drew Michael Bennett offside and took a deep shot to Davante Adams against all-world cornerback Richard Sherman. Sherman intercepted the pass in the end zone, which wouldn’t have mattered had Bennett been called for offside. He was not, though, and it cost the Packers a chance for at least three points.

The Packers wound up losing, of course, in an avalanche of self-inflicted wounds. And some bad luck, which we will get to shortly.

2015: Jordy Nelson’s ACL

The Packers regrouped for the 2015 season. Could they shake off the fog of what happened at Seattle in the championship game?

Green Bay Packers receiver Jordy Nelson catches a pass for a touchdown against the Steelers in ther Super Bowl. In the 2015 preseason, he suffered a torn ACL at Pittsburgh. | Benny Sieu/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel via Imagn Content Services, LLC

We’ll never know. While no team has ever won a Super Bowl in the preseason, the Packers lost any chance of getting there when Jordy Nelson suffered a torn ACL at Pittsburgh during the second preseason game.

Nelson in 2014 caught 98 passes for 1,519 yards and 13 touchdowns. In NFL history, there have been 33 seasons of at least 90 catches, 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns. From that group, Nelson’s 15.5-yard average ranks second. Aaron Rodgers won NFL MVP in 2014 with a 112.2 passer rating. In 2015, that plunged to 92.7.

2014 and 2015: Playoff Coin Flips

For all the things that went wrong in the 2014 NFC Championship Game at Seattle, the Packers might have won, anyway, had they won the coin toss.

Aaron Rodgers had driven the Packers down the field to force overtime and recapture some of the momentum. However, Rodgers lost the toss, Seattle got the ball and, unlike the 2003 playoffs at Lambeau, stormed right down the field for the winning score on Russell Wilson’s walk-off touchdown bomb to Jermaine Kearse.

One year later, the Packers once again were eliminated in overtime. Would the Packers have made a run to the Super Bowl in 2015 with an injury-riddled receiver corps? No, probably not. However, after dispatching Washington in the wild-card round, Rodgers’ two Hail Mary completions to Jeff Janis sent the Packers to an improbable overtime at Arizona.

Larry Fitzgerald's game-winning touchdown in overtime eliminated the Packers in 2015. | Michael Chow / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Packers lost the coin toss with some controversy and, in short order, lost the game on Larry Fitzgerald’s 75-yard catch-and-run, which set up Fitzgerald’s winning touchdown.

“Clete had it on heads,” Rodgers said. “He was showing heads, so I called tails, and it didn’t flip. It just tossed up in the air and did not turn over at all. It landed in the ground. So, we obviously thought that was not right.

“He picked the coin up and flipped it to tails, and then he flipped it without giving me a chance to make a recall there. It was confusing.”

Had he been given a chance, he sai would have called heads on the re-do.

“I think he was trying to avoid the embarrassment of what just happened,” Rodgers said. “He flipped it quickly.”

For Green Bay, the NFL’s overtime rules changes, which guarantee each team a possession even if the opponent scores a touchdown to start overtime, came too late. Who knows how Packers playoff history might have changed had they won the flip in those games.

2017: Aaron Rodgers’ Collarbone

Aaron Rodgers suffered broken collarbones against Chicago in 2013 and Minnesota in 2017. The latter was particularly painful.

The 2016 Packers limped into the NFC Championship Game at Atlanta but were crushed by the Falcons. In 2017, the Packers were 4-1 and had won three in a row following a come-from-behind victory at Dallas. On the opening possession at Minnesota, though, Rodgers was injured when he was sacked by Anthony Barr. Green Bay won just three games the rest of the season.

2020: David Bakhtiari’s ACL

In 2019, Aaron Rodgers sounded like a prophet when talking about his All-Pro left tackle, David Bakhtiari.

“There’s always, in certain position groups, kind of that one guy you need to stay healthy, and Dave’s that guy because he’s an All-Pro,” Rodgers said. “I think he has Hall of Fame potential. He’s an incredible player. When he’s over there, you feel really comfortable with him locking down pass rushers throughout the game.”

Green Bay Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari celebrates a victory against the Bears in what would be his final game. — Green Bay Packers offensive tackle David Bakhtiari (69) celebrates a victory against the Bears in what would be his final game. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK

On Nov. 15, 2020, Bakhtiari signed a four-year contract extension worth $92 million. About six weeks later, with the Packers rolling toward the No. 1 seed and homefield advantage in the NFC playoffs, Bakhtiari suffered a torn ACL at practice on New Year’s Eve.

It was a devastating injury. In the NFC Championship Game against Tampa Bay, Rodgers was sacked five times. All five came against offensive tackles Billy Turner, who shifted from right tackle to left tackle, and Rick Wagner, who replaced Turner at right tackle.

Moreover, the injury ruined Bakhtiari’s career. He played in only one game in 2021 and was inactive for the one-and-done playoff loss to the 49ers. He hobbled through 11 games in 2022 but felt good about things entering 2023.

“I’m not going to be a fortune teller or anything, but I think we’re finally really good in a spot,” he said.

Instead, he played in only the season-opening game and never again.

“I feel like a sports car that can’t get out of second gear,” he said of the decision to have surgery in 2023.

The Packers released him in March 2024.

2020: COVID

Let’s get this out of the way: The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic ran infinitely deeper than what it meant for the 2020 Packers.

However, for years, Aaron Rodgers longed to get an NFC Championship Game on the home turf of Lambeau Field. The Packers lost championship games at Seattle in 2014, Atlanta in 2016 and San Francisco in 2019. Finally, in 2020, the Packers had the best record in the NFC. Having gone 14-2 at home under coach Matt LaFleur the past two regular seasons, the Packers were two home wins from returning to the Super Bowl.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Evans (13) catches a touchdown pass over Kevin King in the NFC Championship Game. | Wm. Glasheen/USA TODAY NETWORK-W via Imagn Content Services, LLC

However, there would be no homefield advantage for the championship game against Tom Brady and the Buccaneers. Rather than a full house in attendance, there was only a smattering of health-care workers spread around the venerable stadium.

The Buccaneers beat the Packers 31-26. Had Bakhtiari been on the field and 79,000 fans been in the bleachers, it’s almost impossible to believe the Packers wouldn’t have won that game and faced the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. Instead, Tampa Bay got to the Super Bowl and destroyed the Chiefs for the championship.

2021: Marcedes Lewis’ Fumble

A bad play can’t really be considered unlucky. A bad play is a bad play. With that being said, Marcedes Lewis fumbled twice in 2010 and just two more times the rest of his long career. In the 2021 divisional playoffs against San Francisco, though, the No. 1-seeded Packers were ahead 7-0 and on the way to more when Lewis got the ball stripped by 49ers linebacker Fred Warner.

The 49ers recovered the ball and the Packers never recovered their mojo on offense. A blocked punt, which San Francisco returned for a touchdown, was the defining play in a 13-10 upset that, essentially, was Aaron Rodgers’ last chance of winning the Super Bowl for the Packers.

2024: Christian Watson’s ACL

On Green Bay’s first snap of the Week 18 loss to Chicago, Christian Watson suffered a torn ACL while running a route. Coming off a separate knee injury, an argument could have been made that Watson shouldn’t have been on the field, anyway, but he was pressed into duty with Romeo Doubs out due to illness.

Green Bay Packers receiver Christian Watson (9) leaves the field on a cart after getting injured against the Chicago Bears. | Dan Powers / USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“I just don’t let myself think that way because I feel like you could say that about honestly anything in life,” Watson said during training camp. “If this happens, then that doesn’t happen. I feel like that would be personally a cop-out way of trying to find something to blame.”

Without Watson, the Packers were outgunned in the playoff loss to the Eagles. On passes to his receivers, Jordan Love was 9-of-19 passing for 114 yards with three interceptions.

2025: Tucker Kraft’s ACL

You want to talk about bad luck: Coming off his best day as a pro in a dominating primetime performance at Pittsburgh, Tucker Kraft was moving across the formation on a running play when his knee collided with the foot of right guard Sean Rhyan, who had been submarined by a Panthers defensive lineman. The result was a torn ACL that sidelined Green Bay’s best receiving threat for the rest of the season.

“Most people when they talk about an injury like mine, they talk about it as a setback they thought was necessary for their career, their mindset. I disagree,” he said after the season.

Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft (85) stiff-arms Pittsburgh Steelers safety Juan Thornhill (22). | Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

“I would say I felt like I was on the cusp of putting together one of the greatest seasons by a Packer tight end, and that was something I was looking forward to was just leaving my legacy on this game and playing as hard as I could every snap for the for this team, because, at the end of the day, the guys in this room, they mean so much to me. And when I wasn’t able to be out there for the last month-and-a-half, two months this season, it was really hard on me.”

What made Kraft so dangerous is that he gave the Packers so many easy yards. Against Pittsburgh, he had 128 yards after the catch. That was more YAC in a game than any other player, regardless of position, since 2023 and the most by a tight end since 2028. After that game, Jordan Love was first in the NFL with 6.5 yards after the catch per completion, according to Pro Football Focus. After the injury, Love was next-to-last with 3.7 YAC per completion.

According to PFF, 44 tight ends were targeted at least 34 times (two per game). Kraft was first with 10.8 YAC per catch (Pittsburgh’s Darnell Washington was second with 7.4) and a 157.2 passer rating when targeted (Buffalo’s Dalton Kincaid was second at 149.2). He was second with 2.33 yards per route and, even while missing more than half the season, was eighth with six touchdowns and eighth in total YAC.

2025: Micah Parsons’ ACL

Micah Parsons was in hot pursuit of Bo Nix when his knee gave out. He knew right away that he had torn his ACL.

“I played out my body. That’s a good thing,” he said after the season. “We all know the risks. That’s the risk we take. I’m playing so hard that I snapped my knee, pretty much, in a sense. I was moving faster than my body could handle.”

The Packers were leading the Broncos, the eventual No. 1 seed in the AFC, when Parsons was injured. They lost that game, coughed up a lead at Chicago and got manhandled by Baltimore. After an unofficial bye against Minnesota to end the regular season, they coughed up another lead in the playoff loss at Chicago.

Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons (1) tries to get past Denver Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

At the time of the injury, the Packers were 9-3-1. They ended the season 9-8-1.

Parsons earned All-Pro honors, anyway. He became the first player in NFL history to start his career with five consecutive seasons of 12-plus sacks. He finished third in the NFL in pressures, according to Next Gen Stats, even while missing the final three-plus games.

How soon can Parsons return to action in 2026? A far more important question: How soon can Parsons return to a game-changing level?

“I expect the same results,” he said. “I don’t expect a drop-off, man. I’m going to work so hard. I think I’ll be better than what I started with.”

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Part 3 of our NFC North roundtables, starring myself, @DetroitPodcast, @JoeyBrainstorm and @BearsOnSI features a Friday the 13th theme. ⬇️https://t.co/hEAscttT6z
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) February 13, 2026