When it comes down to it, how is a stack of NFC North Champions T-shirts NOT a collection of participation trophies?
Yes, those things people claim shouldn’t exist and that all Green Bay Packers fans own. I’m sorry for the realization. Participation trophies — those things our coaches and parents gave us, then 20 years down the road, yelled at us for having received them even though we never asked for them. (And stop bragging that “This household doesn’t allow participation trophies.” Little kids love small prizes, and it hurts no one. So stop it. Okay, moving on.)
The standard insult against the Green Bay Packers is that they’ve only won two Super Bowls over the past 30 years with two Hall of Fame quarterbacks. That is true. There should have been more. But at least it happened. Twice. Other teams that haven’t won once in the past 30 years? The Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings, Cleveland Browns, Los Angeles Chargers, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans, Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins, Las Vegas Raiders, Chicago Bears, and Washington Football Team. Many fans from those teams seem to be the ones ragging on the Packers.
But when you have a team with a chance to win for the better part of three decades, being regular-season champs just doesn’t mean much anymore. So watching 17 games and having fun just to be let down over and over in the playoffs is the point of the team? It shouldn’t be. And now it’s been a decade since Green Bay has even made it to the Super Bowl.
A Decade of Accomplishments
The last time the Packers won the Super Bowl was in 2011. Since then, they’ve won the NFC North in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2020, and 2021. They didn’t win the NFC North in 2015 but still made a playoff appearance. Yes, Packers fans are spoiled for only missing the playoffs for two years in the last decade. By comparison, though, the New England Patriots spent a decade in the playoffs and had many more Super Bowl appearances — and wins — to show for it.
That also includes four NFC Championship appearances. Being in the mix every year and having some playoff home games is good for the city of Green Bay. The memories of those losses usually sting a lot more than all of the regular season accomplishments, though. They barely even showed up to the NFC Championship games against the Atlanta Falcons and San Francisco 49ers. Losing to the Seattle Seahawks was an absolute low point for everyone. Last year left the team with a lot of lingering questions.
This year’s loss is inexcusable.
It’s okay To Be Angry
Packers fans have a right to be frustrated. It may be unfair to expect Green Bay to make the Super Bowl more often or win another ring or two. But having this much talent on the roster with a top-five quarterback of all-time under-center comes with some expectations. It’s okay to be angry for a bit.
I think a lot of the anger is that this season might be the last time the team has a chance to win it all for a while. The writing is on the wall for Aaron Rodgers. It’s not a certainty he won’t be back, but his post-game comments and the team’s salary cap issues are clear signs he probably won’t return. As it stands, the Packers might have a hard time filling a roster next year that isn’t mostly rookies or young players.
This year, it showed on special teams the unit that shoulders a big part of the blame for the loss. They gave up at least 10 points when the team could least afford to. Everyone knew it was a problem. Head coach Matt LaFleur’s failure to fix it during the season and adjust the gameplan against San Francisco is still confounding.
Rodgers did not play great. He did admit it, but the lead up to the game set him up for some of the blame. It’s hard not to criticize a little when he bemoans being canceled by the media but then also has time to talk to Sports Illustrated and hint at a stolen election, claim dead people were mostly vaccinated, and that President Biden is a terrible speaker.
Rodgers has every right to say that if he believes it — but then also show up on Saturday night to play. Again, it’s okay to be frustrated. This year quite possibly was The Last Dance, only without the storybook ending.
Don’t Be Angry Long
And now Packers fans have to move forward. The next few weeks will be rough with the NFC Championship, Packers pulling out of the Pro Bowl, and then another Super Bowl without the Green and Gold.
After that, it’s time to look to the future. Let’s appreciate that this will be one of the craziest off-seasons the team might ever have. It’s going to be fun as hell. We have no idea who the starting quarterback is going to be. Rodgers could be back, but if not, they have Jordan Love and Kurt Benkert. I love both those players, but I could also see the team bringing in a veteran to compete like they did with Blake Bortles. Gardner Minshew will probably be available.
If Adams doesn’t return, who will make up the receiver corps? Allen Lazard, Amari Rodgers, Juwann Winfree? Can they possibly bring back Marquez Valdes-Scantling or Equanimeous St. Brown for cheaper? Will they focus on drafting more receivers or bring in a few more affordable options to give the quarterback some actual weapons?
What will the defense look like? You know they will have to release some bigger contracts, and they need to extend Jaire Alexander as soon as possible. The defense kept the Packers competitive in the 49ers game. They need to build off of that while managing roster turnover.
Everything seems up in the air.
It might have been a decade of participation trophies, but if the NFC North titles and playoff appearances don’t happen as often after this season, those trophies are at least something to have on the shelf. It truly could be the end of an era if GM Brian Gutekunst and LaFleur can’t repeat the magic with all new pieces.
Also, by the recent Packers Super Bowl math, they will win their next Super Bowl in 2025. That’s just science. Yes, science. That thing that people keep claiming they are using while spreading misinformation.
