The NFL is rife with changes. From season to season, teams across the professional sports landscape continually make adjustments, seeking that incremental advantage over their competitors.
If there’s one thing we’ve seen from the Green Bay Packers since the Ron Wolf days, it’s that they subscribe to the opposite philosophy – favoring continuity and consistency. Since those early Wolf years, the Packers have had only four head coaches, four general managers, and three starting quarterbacks. They’ve long believed that new isn’t always better, and the Packers should be able to use that to their advantage over their divisional rivals this season.
Perhaps most importantly, the Packers are returning head coach Matt LaFleur and quarterback Jordan Love, who will be paired for the third consecutive season. LaFleur is entering his seventh season as head coach, while Love is heading into his sixth year as a pro and third as the starter.
Love got off to a slow start in 2023, his first season as QB1, but the pair really got in sync halfway through the season. From Thanksgiving on, they cruised together and nearly reached the NFC Championship.
Last season, Love’s knee injury in Week 1 threw the entire offense out of rhythm, and they never really meshed the way one would hope. But Year 3 of the LaFleur-Love marriage should help propel the offense to another level. They are the longest-tenured play-caller/quarterback combo in the division, and they’ve also been together in the same building longer than any other tandem.
The Packers don’t only have continuity with their coach and quarterback. They’re also bringing back all three coordinators for the 2025 season, as well as the largest percentage of returning starters from last year. Offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich is back for his fourth season. Rich Bisaccia returns for his third year as special teams coordinator, and Jeff Hafley enters Year 2 as defensive coordinator.
Critics might object to Stenavich and Bisaccia’s performance. Stenavich doesn’t call plays, and Bisaccia’s special teams have been underwhelming. Still, Stenavich received head coaching interviews this offseason. Bisaccia remains one of the most respected special teams coaches in the league. Losing either would’ve been a significant setback for a young team building momentum.
On the player side, Green Bay is dealing with the second-lowest roster turnover in the NFL. According to Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap, the Packers are returning 84.5% of their 2024 roster in 2025. Only the Denver Broncos are returning more, at 86%.
Elsewhere in the NFC North? The Lions are right behind Green Bay at 80%, but the Bears and Vikings are well below the league average of 71.4%, sitting at 67.7% and 61.7%, respectively. Minnesota’s roster turnover is especially surprising given that they were a playoff team. It ranks in the bottom five alongside struggling franchises like the New York Jets, Tennessee Titans, and the Las Vegas Raiders.
Looking around the rest of the NFC North reveals considerable turnover across all three rival teams.
The Detroit Lions arguably suffered the biggest losses of any team this offseason when both of their coordinators were hired away, resulting in a significant coaching brain drain. Just two seasons removed from the cusp of a Super Bowl appearance and entering 2024 as a Super Bowl favorite, their staff has now been picked over by franchises trying to replicate their success.
While Dan Campbell, a perennial Coach of the Year candidate, is back (along with 80% of the roster that went 15-2 and claimed the NFC’s No. 1 seed), the loss of both coordinators cannot be overstated. Campbell’s a motivator and created a great culture. However, he doesn’t have the X’s and O’s mastery of some coaches, and he doesn’t call plays on either side of the ball.
New offensive coordinator John Morton has only called plays for one season, and that was for the Jets in 2017. That year, New York finished 24th in points and 28th in yards, ending with a 5-11 record. Whether that poor performance was due to Morton or the team’s lack of talent is debatable, but it hardly inspires confidence for fans in Honolulu Blue.
Defensively, Kelvin Sheppard is a first-time coordinator and a complete wild card. Filling the shoes of two respected coordinators who became head coaches won’t be easy.
Kevin O’Connell is one of the best offensive minds in the NFL and an exceptional play caller, but he’s coaching a team with high expectations and rookie quarterback J.J. McCarthy. While McCarthy showed flashes in limited preseason action last year, he’ll be nearly two years removed from his last meaningful snaps.
O’Connell will now be working with his third starting quarterback since taking over in 2022. The Vikings also underwent a “competitive rebuild,” and have had the third-most roster turnover in the league. For a team that went 14-3 last season, it’s hard to see that as a positive. McCarthy will be stepping in for Pro Bowler Sam Darnold, and expectations will be high.
The Bears and “continuity” don’t even belong in the same sentence, unless you’re referring to their continued presence at the bottom of the division. They’re entering 2025 with their fourth head coach in 10 years (or fifth, if you count Thomas Brown’s interim stint last season). They’ve swung wildly between philosophies, moving from defensive-minded John Fox to offensive-minded Matt Nagy, back to defense with Matt Eberflus, and now pivoting to offensive guru Ben Johnson.
While Johnson should be an excellent fit for franchise quarterback Caleb Williams, this is his first time as a head coach. Rookie head coaches often struggle with the increased responsibility of coordinating one unit to managing an entire operation. Historically, only 41.7% of first-time head coaches make the playoffs in their debut season.
Chicago also overhauled their offensive line and hired new coordinators on both sides of the ball. While their long-term outlook may be promising, expecting them to hit the ground running in 2025 may be overly optimistic.
Will Green Bay’s continuity guarantee a division title, or even a playoff berth? Not necessarily.
Nothing is promised in the NFL. But their structural consistency certainly won’t hurt. With nearly the entire roster and core coaching staff returning, the Packers will be able to draw on valuable experience from their back-to-back playoff runs in 2023 and 2024, finally breaking through that glass ceiling in 2025.
In a league where every team is searching for an edge, perhaps the biggest advantage is simply running it back.
