If you had told me at halftime of the Wild Card game that I’d be writing about a "collapse," I would’ve called you crazy. Green Bay was up 21-3. At Soldier Field, no less. The 2025 Green Bay Packers season was supposed to be the year the "youngest team in the league" narrative finally matured into a Lombardi trophy. Instead, it ended with a fumbled snap, a missed PAT, and a long walk back to the locker room in Chicago.
It's been a week since that 31-27 loss to the Bears, and the air in Titletown still feels heavy. Honestly, the whole season was a rollercoaster that forgot to pull the brakes at the end. We saw Jordan Love look like an MVP and a confused rookie in the same month. We saw a defense that traded for Micah Parsons—yes, that Micah Parsons—only to watch him tear his ACL when they needed him most.
The 2025 Green Bay Packers season wasn't just another year of football. It was a 105th-anniversary campaign that felt like three different seasons stuffed into one. You've got the hot 5-1-1 start, the mid-season "Parsons Era" hype, and the absolute disaster of a five-game losing streak to close it out.
What Really Happened With the 2025 Green Bay Packers Season
To understand how it all fell apart, you have to look at the trades first. Brian Gutekunst went "all in" in a way we rarely see in Green Bay. He sent fan-favorite Kenny Clark to Dallas to get Micah Parsons. He let Jaire Alexander walk to Baltimore. It was a high-stakes gamble that initially looked like a masterstroke.
The defense, under Jeff Hafley, was aggressive. Parsons was a monster, racking up sacks and helping the team to a 9-3-1 record by early December. But then came Week 15 against the Denver Broncos. Parsons went down. Torn ACL. Just like that, the heartbeat of the defense was gone.
Without him, the pass rush vanished. The secondary, already thin after the Jaire move, couldn't hold up. The Packers lost their last four regular-season games. They backed into the playoffs as the 7th seed, largely because the Detroit Lions choked on Christmas Day against the Vikings.
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The First-Round Receiver Myth Is Finally Over
One of the weirdest storylines of the 2025 Green Bay Packers season was the draft. For 23 years, the Packers refused to take a wideout in the first round. That finally ended in April 2025 when they took Matthew Golden out of Texas with the 23rd pick.
- Matthew Golden: 4.29 speed, 84 yards and a TD in the playoff loss.
- Savion Williams: The 3rd-round pick from TCU who added some much-needed bulk.
- The Reality Check: Despite the pedigree, the offense still struggled with consistency late in the year.
Golden was good. Kinda great, actually. He showed that elite speed Gutekunst raved about, but one rookie can't fix a team that decides to stop playing for the entire third quarter of a playoff game.
The Jordan Love Paradox
Is Jordan Love the guy? If you look at the stats, the answer is a resounding yes. He finished the regular season with 3,381 yards, 23 touchdowns, and only six interceptions. His 66.3% completion rate was a massive jump from 2024. He even tied for third in the NFL with four fourth-quarter comebacks.
But then there's the pressure. Love was statistically one of the worst quarterbacks in the league when the pocket collapsed. He had zero touchdown passes under pressure all year. Zero.
In the Wild Card game against Chicago, he was 24-of-46 for 323 yards and four touchdowns. On paper? Elite. In reality? He led an offense that gained exactly one first down across four possessions in the third quarter. That’s where the 21-3 lead evaporated. You can't blame the defense entirely when the offense goes three-and-out while Caleb Williams is heating up on the other sideline.
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A Special Teams Nightmare (Again)
It wouldn't be a Packers season without special teams drama. Brandon McManus, brought in to provide veteran stability, had a day he'd probably like to delete from his memory.
- Missed a long field goal at the end of the first half.
- Missed the PAT after Golden’s fourth-quarter touchdown.
- Missed a 44-yarder that would have pushed the lead back to six.
That PAT miss was the backbreaker. It kept the lead at 11 points instead of 12, meaning two touchdowns from the Bears (with one two-point conversion) could win it. Which is exactly what happened.
Matt LaFleur: The Hot Seat That Isn't?
After the loss, everyone wanted to know if Matt LaFleur was safe. The "choke job" labels were flying. The Packers finished the year on a five-game skid. They've won exactly one playoff game in three years.
Surprisingly, the front office didn't flinch. On January 17, 2026, they gave LaFleur a multiyear extension. It’s a polarizing move. Half the fans think he’s the best coach in the league for getting a 9-8-1 record out of this roster; the other half think he’s the reason they can’t close out big games.
LaFleur himself was pretty blunt after the Bears game. He admitted they didn't pick up the corner blitzes. He said they "could not get anything going." It’s honest, sure, but honesty doesn't win rings.
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Lessons From the 2025 Campaign
The 2025 Green Bay Packers season taught us that "all-in" is a dangerous game. When you trade away foundational pieces like Kenny Clark for a superstar like Parsons, you're one injury away from a collapse.
Also, the North is changing. The "Cardiac Bears" won the division with six comeback wins. Caleb Williams is no longer a "potential" star; he's a problem that Green Bay has to solve twice a year.
What needs to happen next:
- Find a Kicker: The McManus experiment failed when it mattered most.
- Interior Defense: Without Clark, the run defense was porous. They need a big body next to Wyatt.
- Offensive Identity: Love needs to be better when the play breaks down. The "West Coast" system works until it doesn't, and when it doesn't, it looks ugly.
The Packers are still young, and they still have Love. But the grace period is over. 2026 can't be about "learning experiences." It has to be about actually finishing what they start.
If you're looking to track the offseason moves, keep an eye on the safety position. With Zayne Anderson on IR and the secondary in flux, Gutekunst is likely going back to the draft well. The 2025 season is in the books, and while it'll be remembered for the wrong reasons, the foundation is still there—if they can just learn how to hold onto a lead.