The Packers GM’s championship tenure is a direct hit on Matt LaFleur
Green Bay Packers General manager Brian Gutekunst didn’t come out and say it right, but he feels nervous in his press box. The way the Packers once again ended the postseason with a loss no longer sits well with him or the rest of the front office, and the person ultimately responsible for that is head coach Matt LaFleur.
Gutekunst has assembled a talented team. There is no doubt about that.
The Packers were a hot Super Bowl pick heading into the 2024 season because they looked young and hungry after Jordan Loveis his first year as a starter. The first impressive thing about Green Bay’s 2023 season was that the post-Aaron Rodgers plan worked. Love probably won’t be a third straight Packers Hall of Famer — with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers coming before him — but he’s certainly a competent NFL quarterback.
He had a down year in 2024, but still threw for 3,389 yards and 25 touchdowns (11 interceptions). It’s not great, but it’s not terrible either. If the stench is his Throwing three interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles wasn’t on it at this point, it’s worth noting that he went seven straight games without a shutout to end the regular season.
Gutekunst also went out and made some big investments this past offseason. He paid Love, but also dipped into free agency to bring in star running back Josh Jacobs and star safety Xavier McKinney. He paid well for both players, and they brought a ton of talent to Green Bay’s roster.
They were a good team in 2024, with an 11-6 regular season record and a playoff berth as the NFC’s seventh seed, but they weren’t a great team. They finished 0-6 against teams that finished with a record of at least four games over .500 (including a playoff loss to the Eagles), and they went 1-5 against NFC North opponents.
“Good teams beat good teams.” You can’t consider yourself one of those elite teams if you haven’t beaten them. You know what I mean?” rookie safety Javon Bullard said after the season ended, per Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “I feel like we’re a good team in this league, and our record shows we’re a good team in this league. But to be an elite team, you have to beat an elite team, and we’re not doing that.”
Brian Gutekunst wants the Packers to chase another Super Bowl with urgency
Speaking to the media at his end-of-season press conference, Gutekunst also expressed some frustration, albeit in a big way.
Green Bay is known as the “City of Titles,” and the NFL champion receives the Lombardi Trophy, named after legendary Packers coach Vince Lombardi. The Packers have been good but not great in the LaFleur era, but every postseason that ends in a loss takes them one more season away from the 2010-11 season when they won Super Bowl XLV against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s always “championship or bust” in Green Bay, but Gutekunst suggested the organization might lost some of that urgency lately.
“You always have disappointments in the year. I mean, for me, what was on my mind as we wrapped up this season is that we have to continue to increase the sense of urgency,” he said, per NFL.com’s Eric Edholm. “These opportunities don’t come (very often). The life of a player in the National Football League is not very long. We’ve got a bunch of good guys in that locker room, we’ve got a bunch of talented guys in that locker room, and yeah, I think it’s time to start competing for championships, right?”
He didn’t come right out and say it, but eventually, Green Bay’s GM tells LaFleur it’s time to kick this into high gear.
LaFleur, for all his faults, is a good coach. He leaves his sixth season as Green Bay’s head coach with a 67-33 overall record, good for a .670 winning percentage. It’s good, but not great. To win a Super Bowl, you have to be great.
A sense of urgency is something that comes from the top down. Gutekunst has now done his part, but now it’s up to LaFleur to convey that to the rest of the locker room and make sure his players know the expectations are high until 2025.
The Packers have money to spend this offseason and have several young, foundational stars to build around, but playoff runs that don’t end in Super Bowls won’t be tolerated much longer if Gutekunst is to be believed.
2025-01-17 05:07:00
