Mark Oldacres, Packers WireThu, February 5, 2026 at 1:32 AM UTC·4 min readIntentionally or not, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst threw the gauntlet down at this time last year when he said it was time for Green Bay to get back to competing for championships, and that they needed to ramp up their sense of urgency.
Those words at Gutekunst’s season ending press conference after the 2024 season set expectations for 2025, and the team ultimately fell well short of winning a title, finishing second in the NFC North and being dumped out of the playoffs in the first round by Chicago.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSpeaking Wednesday to recap the latest campaign, Gutekunst was clearly unhappy with how the Packers’ season fell apart down the stretch, and was more pointed in discussing the team’s failures than at any time in his tenure as GM.
Assessing the season as a whole, Gutekunst said: “We were 9-3-1 and I didn’t think we had played particularly great football. We had moments, but I thought we had an opportunity to round into form in the second half of the season and obviously it didn’t work out that way."
“I did think there were moments where we played at a very, very high level, championship football type level, but it wasn’t consistent enough, we didn’t sustain it, so as we go into this offseason, as we continue to evaluate 2025 before we get onto 2026, it’s at the front of our minds."
“There were some really good things during the season, there also were some major disappointments, but I really do like the guys we have in that locker room, the guys that are coming back and we’ll continue to add to that."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt is rare to hear Gutekunst refer to anything about his team with such strong words as a “major disappointment." His season ending press conference certainly struck a more frustrated tone than in previous years.
After the Packers blew a lead to the Broncos and twice to the Bears late in the year, Gutekunst said: “Finishing games is certainly something we’ve gotta concentrate on as we head into 2026."
Asked about the reason for those issues late in games, he said: “It’s all of us. It’s players, it’s coaches, it’s everybody. In situational football, we have to be better, we have to be more consistent."
“For me, there’s two things: do we have the right people out there that can handle those situations, and are we doing everything to give them the best chance to succeed?”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGreen Bay has been the youngest team in the NFL for the last three years. When asked if he thought youth was a contributing factor to the late-game collapses, Gutekunst simply replied: “No, I don’t."
The Packers lost their final five games of the year including the postseason, and Gutekunst expressed concern over the team’s inability to play their best football at the most important time in the last couple of seasons.
He said: “Matt (LaFleur’s) first five years we were 25-8 in December and January, we’re 3-9 the last two years. We’re looking at that from a lot of different angles to make sure we’re playing our best football in December and January.”
“We didn’t evolve and develop into a team that can consistently win when we needed to."
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementInjuries were a pretty reasonable explanation for how the Packers’ season spiralled, with the team losing crucial players like Tucker Kraft and Micah Parsons during the year. Parsons' injury in particular seemed to be a sudden dealbreaker for a team with championship aspirations.
But Green Bay’s GM was not in the mood to accept the excuse of injuries, saying: “I felt through the end of the season and into the playoffs, we had everything we needed to win those football games. I never felt underhanded at any time."
“I’ve got one ring since I’ve been doing this, and it was the year we had more injuries than any other. In those moments, that’s where your leaders better step up and be ready to go, not only your players, but your coaches and myself included."
Tellingly, Gutekunst did not willingly indulge the idea that his decisions or the team’s wider roster-building philosophies played a part in the disappointing season.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementWhen asked what he, LaFleur and company need to do to get over the hump, Gutekunst said: “We’ve gotta win the games that matter the most in December and January, that’s kind of been the tale of the last couple of years. This team’s ready to do that and we haven’t done that.”
Whether his comments were more aimed at the players, the coaching staff or a combination of both, Gutekunst made it quite plain on Wednesday’s that he feels he has built a team capable of winning a Super Bowl, and was not in the mood to ease the pressure or lower expectations.
This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Brian Gutekunst is clearly very unhappy with Packers' 2025 performance
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