GREEN BAY — Among the various emotions Packers players expressed as they cleaned out their lockers Monday — from motivation and hunger before the offseason to anticipation for the future to gratitude for their teammates and the opportunities – one was more palpable than all the others.
“Well, we certainly didn’t win anything,” tight end Tucker Kraft said, less than 24 hours after Philadelphia’s 22-10 NFC Wild Card playoff loss to the Eagles ended to Green Bay’s season.
“The last few games we played, you could kind of sense what was coming for us.”
The playoff loss ended a three-game losing streak in which the offense slipped, the defense held strong but lost its discipline at times and the special teams made game-changing mistakes.
A few weeks ago, an 11-4 record that seemed full of promise didn’t mean much as the Packers fell to the lowest seed in the playoffs and bowed out as contenders as well.
Kraft summed up the frustration best.
“I couldn’t finish,” he said. “That’s what I think about this team. We’re all sitting here in this locker room, frowning. People are packing up their (stuff), ready to go home. People are talking about the offseason, the holidays It’s just a bunch of (stuff), man. We should get ready to play the next playoff game.
They won’t play another game because they’ve never managed to beat a top-three team in the NFC, despite six tries against the Eagles, Lions and Vikings.
A win or two against them in the regular season could have changed the Packers’ playoff position. Or, exorcising such a demon on Sunday would have not only continued the season, but also validated the efforts made to try to reach another level that the Packers believed was there for them.
Players expressed that they didn’t feel that far away from these top teams. Rookie safety Evan Williams said “we’re there,” while veteran Keisean Nixon described the gap as “small as hell.”
But at the same time, going 0-6 against the NFC’s elite is a reality they know they can’t ignore.
“Shoot, you gotta beat them,” rookie safety Javon Bullard said. “Good teams beat good teams. You can’t call yourself one of those elite teams if you haven’t beaten them. You know what I mean?
“I feel like we’re a good team in this league, and our record shows we’re a good team in this league. But to be an elite team, you have to beat an elite team, and we don’t do that.”
Nixon added: “Big teams in big games, we have to win. We just haven’t won the big games.”
And now this specific group doesn’t stand a chance. Roster turnover is the norm in the NFL, so players recognize that this team, as currently constituted, will no longer play together.
Relationships are important in this industry and relationships drive culture, but within any given team, change is constant.
“There are a lot of special people in this locker room, a lot of special people,” Williams said. “It’s my first year, but I felt like there was a lot of love for each other, a lot of appreciation for the sacrifice that everyone made to get to this point. Just l “The love and culture that we have developed, it’s hard to let go, that’s for sure.”
Like any team, the Packers have a long list of pending free agents, while veteran acquisitions and draft prospects will head to Green Bay looking to make their own mark.
It’s still difficult to deal with, “knowing the locker room won’t be the same,” receiver Jayden Reed said. “That’s the hardest part, chasing a goal as a team and not achieving it.”
Two years into a major transition at the franchise quarterback position has brought an influx of young, developing talent. Last year we adopted a defensive approach which also proved successful.
In total, the changes produced two playoff appearances, but this team wanted more than a 1-2 playoff record.
As one of the Packers’ rising stars, Kraft emphasized that his offseason will cover a lot of ground. He will train, as usual, to improve and stay healthy, hoping to put behind him for good the torn pectoral that cost him last offseason. (Elsewhere in the Health Department, Reed said he would not need surgery on the shoulder he injured in Philadelphia, and Bullard expects to have surgery for the ankle injury that sidelined him in December.)
But Kraft also emphasized that he will dig deeper to bring more leadership to the table. While he expressed his displeasure with the season’s conclusion, he wasn’t calling anyone out for a lack of leadership, just looking inward to see what else he could bring to the table.
At the same time, perhaps he was sending a message to other young players like him that their influence in the dressing room can grow if they want it to and if they go about it the right way. They will soon be the veterans everyone turns to.
“As a team, we need to wake up,” Kraft said after Sunday’s still-brutal loss. “Everyone says we’re not on board with making the playoffs, but we haven’t taken that step yet.
“I feel like I have a lot to offer in that aspect (of leadership). It’s not the end, not at all. It’s just the beginning of a long road to the year next.”
