Green Bay Packers common supervisor Brian Gutekunst noticed a crew that improved all through the season.
However, he additionally is aware of that dropping within the opening spherical of the playoffs is not sufficient for a crew with excessive expectations.
So whereas Gutekunst believes the group is headed in the proper route, he additionally issued a problem to a crew that has misplaced all six video games it has performed this season towards the Detroit Lions, Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings, the golf equipment of excessive degree of the NFC.
“We need to proceed to extend our sense of urgency,” Gutekunst stated throughout a season-ending press convention Thursday afternoon. “The lifetime of a National Football League participant is not very lengthy. We’ve obtained a variety of good guys in that locker room, we have a variety of proficient guys in that locker room and I feel it is time we began competing for championships.
“I feel they’re prepared.”
Green Bay’s 22-10 loss to the Eagles within the NFC wild-card spherical was the finale to the Packers’ 34-29 loss within the common season opener in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Meanwhile, the Packers misplaced twice to the Lions and twice to the Vikings, ending third within the NFC North and incomes the seventh and last playoff berth within the convention.
In six seasons as head coach, Matt LaFleur led the Packers to an total document of 67-33 (3-5 within the postseason) and certified for the 2019 and 2020 NFC Championship video games.
But Green Bay’s final Super Bowl look dates again to the 2010 season, when the Packers gained all of it with Mike McCarthy as head coach and Aaron Rodgers as beginning quarterback.
“I feel they’re all devastated,” LaFleur stated throughout his season wrap with reporters earlier within the week. “If you exit and play your finest and are available up quick, it is a completely different feeling.”
The Packers enter the offseason with 11 gamers set to turn out to be unrestricted free brokers, together with three starters: heart Josh Myers, linebacker Isaiah McDuffie and defensive finish TJ Slaton.
They might half methods with two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander, who has missed 10 video games in every of the final two seasons with accidents and served a one-game suspension in 2023.
Alexander didn’t communicate to reporters throughout Monday’s locker-cleaning day, saying he “did not have something good to say.”
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Asked Thursday if there was a disconnect between the group and the participant, Gutekunst stated: “No, no, no. I imply, there’s frustration, I feel, on either side, that he cannot get out I really feel sorry for him, as a result of he needs to be on the market and he needs to play, however with out disconnecting.
The Packers can unlock about $6 million in wage cap house in the event that they let go of Alexander, which might give them $57 million in projected cap house (not counting the price of signing their draft class) heading into the offseason.
After the signings of All-Pro security Xavier McKinney and Pro Bowl working again Josh Jacobs final yr, Gutekunst may have the fiscal wherewithal to make a number of free agent swings if he chooses to take action.
Combined with the expansion of a roster that was the youngest within the NFL for the second straight yr, Gutekunst believes his crew is effectively positioned for subsequent season.
“The choices we have revamped the previous couple of years have put us in a state of affairs the place we’re in fairly good condition,” Gutekunst stated. “I really feel actually good about our potential to do what we have to do to area a championship-caliber crew.
“The alternatives which can be going to be on the market are unknown proper now. We’ll see the way it goes. But we’re in a greater place than we had been.”
NOTES:
- Gutekunst stated the crew wish to convey again veteran kicker Brandon McManus, who was employed in October after the crew used rookie kickers in 2023 and for the primary six video games of this season.
- Gutekunst stated vast receiver Christian Watson, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his proper knee within the regular-season finale towards Chicago, has not but undergone surgical procedure.
- Gutekunst was excited concerning the protection’s first yr underneath new coordinator Jeff Hafley, whose unit completed No. 5 in whole protection (314.5 yards per sport), No. 6 in scoring protection (19.9 factors per sport) and no. 4 in takeaways (31). “I assumed Jeff Hafley did an incredible job coming right here in yr one,” Gutekunst stated. “I assumed on the finish of the yr we performed our greatest soccer on protection. I’m actually enthusiastic about the place the protection is true now.”
Associated Press reporting.
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