Packers Can Launch Another Run by Righting 2023's Wrongs

With just over six minutes to go in the Packers’ divisional round tilt against the San Francisco 49ers, Anders Carlson found himself in the hot seat. Staring down a 41-yard field goal, Carlson — and the Packers — had a golden opportunity to extend their lead, potentially sealing the deal and paving the way for an NFC Championship matchup with the Detroit Lions. The same Lions, mind you, whose star players had publicly admitted the Packers were the one team in the NFC field that they were scared to play

Carlson has, to put it bluntly, never been an overly accurate kicker. In college, he made just 64% of his kicks from between 40 and 49 yards and was just 4-of-16 on attempts from 50 or more yards. Even if he didn’t appreciate Tom Rinaldi’s reporting on it, you could understand why Matt LaFleur might seek some divine intervention when Carlson took the field.

But this was the player Brian Gutekunst had wanted. He wanted him for his connections to special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia. He wanted him for his big leg. He wanted him for his mental toughness, the fortitude to make the big kicks when it mattered most.

Carlson’s kick started left and stayed left, opening the door for the 49ers to win the game with a touchdown. 12 plays later, Christian McCaffrey happily strolled through that door, giving the 49ers what would turn out to be an insurmountable 24-21 lead. 

Thus ended the house money run. The Packers had a chance to play a team that was scared of them. Instead, in part because of the decision to take a kicker whose accuracy has been a question since day one, the young Packers are at home.

Carlson’s miss wasn’t the only issue. The 2023 Packers died from a host of self-inflicted wounds. But drafting Carlson and the now obviously misguided move to hire Joe Barry were two of the biggest if only because everyone saw them coming from the word go. You can draft a kicker who’s never been accurate and hope he becomes so by working with your special teams coordinator. You can hire a defensive coordinator who’s literally never run a good defense and hope that third time’s the charm. But hope isn’t much of a strategy, much less one that will reliably bring you good results.

But from failure springs opportunity. The Packers have a mountain of draft capital coming their way this spring. Of their 11 picks, five come in the top 100, and three come in the top 60. They’ve already brought in a kicker to compete with Carlson. They’ve already fired Barry. If the rebuild is ahead of schedule, the Love-era Packers can now start to become what resembles their final form.

Hopefully, that means they’re about to grow into a team that scares more than just the Lions. “Make everyone afraid” seems to be a good enough goal for 2024 and beyond. Repairing the failures of 2023 (or, in one instance, 2021) is a step in the right direction.