The Seahawks are the NFL champions as the babysitter's (John Schneider) team came out on top of the kid's (Eliot Wolf) team on Sunday evening. Schneider's transformation of his team, highlighted by the bold move of trading away their Super Bowl Champ QB Russell Wilson, makes one wistfully long for the Packers having enjoyed the same success after parting ways with Aaron Rodgers. But they haven't. To their credit, the Packers deftly navigated a rebuild that hardly seemed like one, but they haven't been able to get over the hump from being a "really good" team to one that makes it to the Super Bowl. You can point the finger of blame in many different directions. The Packers have not hit on their early draft picks like the Seahawks have. The Packers coaching staff have not created the "killer instinct" ethos the Seahawks apparently have. Finally the players have not produced when it mattered the most.
Despite all of this, the 2026 Packers had a team capable of competing for the ultimate prize had injuries not put some of their highest impact players in street clothes watching from the sidelines. You can call that coping, you can call that making excuses, call it whatever you want. I call it being realistic and factual.
But now we look forward to 2026, which will bring much change, some of it having already occurred with the coaching staff. Eight coaches from the 2025 staff (plus Nathaniel Hackett) have taken jobs elsewhere, either joining Hafley in Miami or moving onto the Eagles' or Cowboys' staffs. The Packers have filled five of those positions so far and here's the good news - not a single one has been an internal promotion. I understand that you can "develop" coaches like you do players and it's something you want to do if you think you have a diamond in the rough with a particular young assistant. But there are two counterpoints to that.
When you have turnover on a staff, especially when a coordinator leaves, those rising star coaches are the ones that get picked off by other teams. There is no better way to discern how a team's assistants are viewed by the rest of the NFL than by paying attention to who gets pursued, and just as importantly, who doesn't. It's fair to assume that eight of the Packers' best assistants have been the objects of other teams' desires. So do you then just promote from who's left within and bring in new junior-level assistants? My answer is, it depends.
My second counterpoint to promoting from within is that I'm not a fan of coaches moving into higher-level spots for entirely different position groups than they have had experience in. That's fine for junior-level assistants, but your top assistants should have considerable experience with the position group they have been picked to lead. The recent example I go back to is Ryan Mahaffey, who was an assistant offensive line coach with Green Bay for two years and then promoted to wide receivers coach. Could this be why drops have been such an issue among Packers receivers - because they catch like offensive linemen? (that's a joke).
But seriously, looking at the coaches that have been hired so far, one word stands out - EXPERIENCE. And not just experience in years, but experience coaching the position group and/or doing the job they will have with the Packers. Here's a quick look.
Johnathan Gannon - Seven years as a defensive backs coach, two years as a DC and three years as a head coach.
Sam Siefkes - Eight years as a linebackers coach including college DC experience.
Bobby Babich - 12 years as a defensive backs coach including college & Pro DC experience.
Daniel Bullocks - 13 years coaching defensive backs, the last nine with the 49ers.
Noah Pauley - 10 years coaching wide receivers, all at the college level.
I hope this new approach is intentional and strategic, but whether it is or isn't, I like it so far!
Go Pack Go!