There was a clear message sent by Packers players as they cleared out their lockers in Green Bay on Monday.
Sunday’s 22-10 loss to the Eagles ended their season and it continued a season-long struggle against the top opponents on their schedule. The Packers won 11 games over the course of the season, but the playoff loss to the Eagles came after they opened their season by falling to Philly in Brazil. They also went 0-4 against the Lions and Vikings, which made it easy for safety Javon Bullard to identify what needs to happen in 2025.
“Shoot, you’ve got to beat ‘em,” Bullard said, via the team’s website. “Good teams beat good teams. You can’t consider yourself to be one of those elite teams if you haven’t beat ’em. 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 ain’t do that.”
Tight end Tucker Kraft agreed with his teammate and said the Packers have talked about not being content just to make the playoffs, but “have yet to walk the walk” and taking that next step will be essential to a happier ending to the next Packers season.