Why The Green Bay Packers Will Miss The Playoffs In 2026
· Yahoo Sports
Matt LaFleur and the Green Bay Packers lost their last five games of the 2025 season.
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Getty ImagesThe Green Bay Packers have largely been trending in the wrong direction since the end of Matt LaFleur’s second season.
LaFleur led the Packers to NFC Championship game appearances in 2019 and 2020 — his first two years on the job — and went 28-8 overall those seasons.
Then, the slippage began.
The Packers didn't win a playoff game in 2021. They missed the playoffs altogether in 2022, then traded Aaron Rodgers after the season.
In the three years since, Green Bay has been the NFC’s No. 7 seed each season. After rebounding to win a playoff game in 2023 — Jordan Love’s first year as a starter — the Packers lost in the Wild Card round in both 2024 and 2025.
The Packers carry a five-game losing streak into 2026, tied for the fourth-longest in the NFL. They didn't win a game after Micah Parsons suffered a season-ending knee injury on Dec. 14. And since winning two of his first three playoff games, LaFleur is 1-5 in the postseason, dropping his overall record to just 3-6.
Don't expect things to improve in 2026.
In fact, after an offseason that saw Green Bay lose more than it added, the guess here is the downward trend will continue and the Packers will miss the playoffs.
“We’ve got a lot to prove,” Green Bay center Sean Rhyan said in June. “No doubt about it.”
That’s for sure.
Green Bay looked like a legitimate Super Bowl contender with just a month left in the 2025 campaign after racing to a 9-3-1 start. Then the Packers had one of the greatest collapses in team history, didn’t win again and finished the year 9-8-1.
The ultimate gut punch came in the NFC Championship Game when Green Bay blew a 21-3 halftime lead at Chicago, allowed 25 fourth quarter points and fell to the hated Bears, 31-27.
“You’re only as good as your last performance,” safety Javon Bullard said of the loss to Chicago. “It should resonate in all our heads.”
That loss may still vibrate around the Packers’ collective minds. But that likely won't fix what could potentially ail this team.
Green Bay opens training camp Wednesday, and here are five reasons the Packers will miss the postseason for the first time since 2022.
No Micah, no wins
It almost defies logic, but the Packers went 0-5 after Micah Parsons was injured against Denver in Week 15. Green Bay was also outscored, 130-73, after Parsons went down in the third quarter against the Broncos.
Parsons had surgery for a torn ACL and had a “clean up” of his meniscus on Dec. 29, 2025. Parsons said the Packers employ a strict “nine-month rule” of no football when players are coming back from ACL/meniscus injuries at the same time.
That means if everything goes perfectly, the Packers would open a 21-day practice window for Parsons — which allows a player to practice without counting against the 53-man active roster — in late September or early October. Green Bay players typically use all 21 days of that window, and if Parsons did the same, his first game back would be approximately Oct. 25 at Detroit, which is Week 7.
“I think the goal has always just been, not right now, but longevity with my career here,” Parsons said. “And I think they want that approach.”
Green Bay’s pass rush without Parsons was subpar a year ago and the Packers managed just 4.0 sacks in the four full games Parsons missed. Green Bay also has a mediocre group of cornerbacks, which means its pass defense struggles when the rush doesn’t excel.
The schedule makers were kind to the Packers, as they face just one playoff team from 2025 in their first six games. On the flip side, those teams will also be giddy to see Green Bay without Parsons.
Offseason hits
Quay Walker. Romeo Doubs. Malik Willis. Elgton Jenkins. Rasheed Walker. Rashan Gary. Emanuel Wilson. Kingsley Enagbare.
Green Bay lost a bevy of quality players this offseason. And while only Jenkins and Gary were ever named to a Pro Bowl, the departed group played a ton of snaps and were part of a lot of wins.
Green Bay’s additions — Javon Hargrave, Zaire Franklin, Benjamin St-Juste and Skyy Moore — were minimal. The Packers didn’t have a first round draft pick and had just six picks overall, which tied for the smallest draft class in team history.
Green Bay insists it loves the depth of its roster. But after losing more than they gained this offseason, it won’t be easy for the Packers to bounce back.
Closing time = collapsing time
Green Bay had double digit leads in the final 4 minutes of three games last season — twice against Chicago and at Cleveland — and lost all three.
The odds of Green Bay going 0-3 in those contests was 1-in-250,000, yet somehow the Packers did it.
“I mean, you just have to practice the finish,” tight end Tucker Kraft said. “I’ve said this before, you have to get out of bed in the morning and choose to succeed. You have to talk it into existence.
“You saw the conclusion of the season. We weren’t able to finish and that just speaks to, I don’t know …”
And that’s the problem. The Packers didn’t know how to fix their late-game collapses a year ago.
Can that change in 2026?
LaFleur spent much of the offseason harping on those failures. But LaFleur’s coaching was an even greater problem than the player meltdowns.
“I think it's just constantly being reinforced on a daily basis,” LaFleur said of finishing. “Just kind of keep hammering home the finish aspect. I think the way you improve on that is it's you got to be conscious of it.”
Tough sledding
Based on 2025 winning percentages, Green Bay has the NFL’s third-toughest schedule this season, as its opponents had a combined winning percentage of .538. Only Chicago (.550) and Miami (.542) have harder schedules, while Arizona’s foes have the same winning percentage as Green Bay’s (.538).
Six of the Packers’ 14 opponents (they play each NFC North team twice) made the playoffs last year. The toughest contests appear to be the consensus Super Bowl favorite Los Angeles Rams, last year’s AFC champion New England, and AFC heavyweights Buffalo and Houston.
Inside the NFC North, Chicago — last year’s divisional champions — is an ascending team with a head coach who has openly fired shots at LaFleur and the Packers. Detroit, which won the division in 2023 and 2024, still has a formidable roster. And Minnesota went 9-8 last year with dreadful quarterback play from J.J. McCarthy, then added a capable veteran in Kyler Murray.
The Packers haven’t won the NFC North since 2021 — the longest drought in the division — and that task seems even harder this fall.
Green Bay’s first two games and three of its first four are on the road, and the Packers won’t have Parsons for those contests. And while Green Bay should benefit from having four of its final five games at home, staying afloat until then won’t be easy.
Can LaFleur rebound?
When things go south for a head coach, there are typically games you look back on and say, “That was the beginning of the end.”
In 2003, when Green Bay Packers coach Mike Sherman lost his nerve and a fourth-and-26 play later doomed his team, Sherman also lost the locker room.
The Packers led the Eagles, 17-14, in the NFC Divisional playoffs and faced a fourth-and-two feet from the Eagles’ 41-yard line with 2 1/2 minutes remaining. Green Bay had its best offensive line since the Lombardi-era and running back Ahman Green ran for 1,883 yards that season.
Instead of allowing his powerful running game an opportunity to try and seal the deal, Sherman left things up to his shaky defense — which eventually failed and Philadelphia won, 20-17, in overtime.
Things were never the same for Mike McCarthy after Green Bay blew a 16-0 halftime lead and a 19-7 advantage in the final 3 minutes against Seattle and lost the 2014 NFC Championship Game, 28-22, in overtime.
Green Bay made the controversial decision to bring Matt LaFleur back for an eighth season in 2026. But after a string of epic collapses last year, LaFleur faces the challenge of winning back the trust of his own locker room.
The Packers had a 99% chance to defeat Cleveland in Week 3 with 3 minutes left, and a 99% chance to defeat Chicago with 2 minutes left in their Week 16 contest. Green Bay’s odds of defeating the Bears in its Wild Game were at 96% with 5 minutes left, yet the Packers lost all three of those games.
Throw in Green Bay squandering a nine-point, third quarter lead and losing to Denver, plus the Packers blowing a 13-point lead against Dallas and settling for a tie and no team in football was worse at closing time.
“That (expletive), it’s starting to get damn-near embarrassing,” safety Javon Bullard said.
LaFleur went 41-13 (counting playoffs) in his first three seasons (.759). He’s 38-33-1 since (.535).
There have been 36 head coaches that won a Super Bowl since the big game debuted on Jan. 15, 1967. Just four of those men won Super Bowls after their seventh season with that organization — Oakland’s John Madden, Kansas City’s Hank Stram, Tom Landry of Dallas and Pittsburgh’s Bill Cowher.
In essence, if you don't win big early, odds are you probably never will.
LaFleur, now in Year 8, seems further away from taking Green Bay to a Super Bowl than almost any point in his tenure.
Has LaFleur peaked? Has his message gotten stale?
Those are questions he’ll have to answer in 2026.
There hasn't been a lot of recent evidence for Packer Nation to feel confident that solutions will be found. And that could mean Green Bay is on the outside looking in come playoff time.
This article was originally published on Forbes.com