While there certainly have been other reasons why Green Bay has seemingly underperformed in the playoffs throughout the Aaron Rodgers era, one thing certainly stood out — special teams.
Those problems continued to persist in Jordan Love’s first season as a starter, as rookie kicker Anders Carlson made 27 of 33 field goals on the season, including 34 of 39 extra points. On top of that, Carlson struggled in the kickoff game. He kicked off 86 times but was only able to record 37 touchbacks, coming out to a 43 touchback percentage.
Green Bay’s kicking unit drastically improved in 2024 though; after an offseason of questioning and a few weeks of Brayden Narveson, Green Bay landed on Brandon McManus. McManus instantly provided production for the Packers, winning them two games on last-second field goals.
More than just the game-winning kicks for Green Bay’s special teams was the kick defense. In a tight game with Chicago on Nov. 17, the Bears lined up for a game-winning field goal. Packers defensive lineman Karl Brooks got an early push on the Bears’ offensive line and got his hand up to block the Bears’ game-winning attempt and win the game. This was the first game in a long time that Green Bay recorded a win because of its special teams, not in spite of it.
In Rich Bisaccia’s third season as Green Bay’s special teams coordinator, some aspects of the unit improved, while others continued to decline. The aspects that declined reared its head on the kickoff coverage team. In 2024, the Packers gave up the third most kickoff yards at 1,323. While those kickoff yards were somewhat masked by the Packers’ defense this season, giving teams starting field position beyond the 30-yard line is a slippery slope moving forward.
To add to the list of problems with the special teams unit, it seemed like that part of Green Bay’s game suffered a bit of a collapse in the team’s Wild Card matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles. The game immediately started with a fumble on a kick return from Keisean Nixon that gave the Eagles prime scoring position early in the game. Later on in the game, finding itself down 10-0, Green Bay had the opportunity to cut the lead to one score, but McManus missed a 38-yard field goal.
“I think that the fundamental part of alignment, assignment, key, technique, your eyes being in the right place, to some degree being fundamentally sound in the things that you are doing – it is certainly not the time a lot or trick-em type,” said Bisaccia, on what the most important thing about special teams during the playoffs is, when talking to media before Green Bay’s playoff game. “(It is) to be fundamentally sound and put yourself in the right position at the right time. You know, this time of year you would really like to stay away from the penalties.”
Special teams in the playoffs once again proved to be the Achilles’ heel for Green Bay as it looked to advance to the Super Bowl. Not that the team lost because of the special teams unit, but it just goes to show how important that unit is when making a playoff push, especially when those points that Bisaccia made aren’t coming to fruition.
Even though those problems presented themselves throughout the season, Bisaccia was re-signed on an extension to keep him in Green Bay through the 2026 season.
With the continued disappointment from the special teams, many teams probably would have moved on from its special teams coordinator, re-signing Bisaccia was probably the right decision for Green Bay, just based on his leadership capabilities. Overall, it is hard to give the Packers special teams anything better than a B- grade on the season, because while there were some good aspects, there are a lot that need to continue to improve if the Packers want to get back to the Super Bowl.
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