GREEN BAY – If only that game in Cleveland lasted just 55 minutes. Or one more extra-point attempt split the uprights in Dallas, instead of being blocked and returned for 2 the other way. There was the failed final drive against Carolina, the failed final drive against Philadelphia, the failed final drive in Chicago.
And that doesn’t account for the botched onside kick.
Nobody in the Green Bay Packers locker room needs to be reminded where they fell short last year. They lived through it, and when a football team experiences that, it doesn’t forget. The Packers may be on the verge of a new season as training camp opens July 29, but the memories from 2025 chased this team all through the offseason, serving as a how-to guide entering 2026.
“I’m not saying it’s a culmination of players’ failures,” tight end Tucker Kraft said, “but we’re not winning.”
He said each player must step up and own up.
“I think it’s that simple.”
It might be easy to target what needs to change for this franchise to take a leap from here to there. The word “finish” may as well be written on yellow paper in blue marker and taped above the locker room entrance, like a spin off on Ted Lasso. Fixing it is much harder. For this team, finishing is as comprehensive as it is intangible. It was the word heard at nearly every locker this spring, but it’s an action this team must still prove it can actually do.
Which is why, for all the notes scribbled in the next month, all the practice drills and charted reps on Ray Nitschke Field, the biggest question surrounding these Packers won’t be answered in camp. It’s when September arrives, and the same team that couldn’t close games last season holds a fourth-quarter lead.
Then what happens?
“I think it starts in practice,” safety Xavier McKinney said. “When we get late in practice, and everybody is tired or we have our down period where we might just be doing [special] teams and some people not going, when we go back out there, finishing a period. Making sure we’re not taking anything for granted. I think there might’ve been a couple times last year where we felt like during a game it was kind of good. We didn’t really let off the pedal, but I think we could’ve been a lot better in certain situations.
“But I think it starts in practice. So the later the practice gets, still having that same energy, that same mentality of trying to execute perfectly towards the end as we do towards the beginning. I think that will fix a lot of those issues that we might’ve had last year.”
There’s a temptation to rely on the cavalry to arrive, when the Packers are healthier with stars like Kraft, Micah Parsons, Devonte Wyatt and Zach Tom returning from injuries. It must be tantalizing to consider what this team could do with better injury luck, but nobody in this locker room was willing to hang their inexplicable losses from 2025 solely on injuries. The inactive list didn’t prevent the Packers from holding double-digit leads twice in games they lost in Chicago. Just as the Packers were healthy when they collapsed Week 3 in Cleveland.
What must change is the mentality. The Packers proved last season they’re talented enough to contend with anyone in the NFL, regardless who’s on the field. They learned the hard way no amount of talent can overcome bad fourth quarters.
“We’ve been up in those games despite injuries,” nickel corner Javon Bullard said. “So it for damn sure ain’t no excuse. We showed we were capable of winning those games despite some key players being injured, so we definitely showed our capabilities, but it’s all lip service at the end of the day if you don’t get it done. Then you’re living in regret. Then you’re living in the what-if. You don’t want to live in the what-if. That’s a sad place to be at.
“So we’ve just got to get the job done. We’ve got to finish those games.”
Said cornerback Keisean Nixon: “When you’ve got somebody on the ropes, you’ve got to finish them. Sometimes we don’t put teams away. We’ve got to learn how to put teams away. So that’s our emphasis.”
When last season ended, Bullard spoke of needing to become a team that ruthlessly ended games. It’s an identity that requires not just all 11 players on the field, but all 53 on the roster. “A DNA,” Bullard said, “built within a team.” Bullard looked around the locker room this spring and said he believes some players are capable of that mindset, but not yet everyone. More than anything, that’s what training camp will be for.
The fourth quarter isn’t sneaking up on this team in 2026. Whether the results will be different remains to be seen.
“You’ve just got to echo it,” Bullard said, “and finishing is probably at the top of that list. Because we know we’re a talented team. We know we can be one of the best, if not the best, teams in this league. But all that [expletive] is cliché if you don’t put the work in and actually show intention on just doing those things. It’s something that’s easier said and harder to do, but you’ve got to put a focus point on it. You’ve got to really lock in and emphasize that and put an immense amount of pressure on each other.
“This [expletive] is hard, man. Finishing is hard. When your [expletive] feet hurt and you’ve got to get yourself ready for another day of training camp, that [expletive] is hard. When your body is hurting and you’ve got nagging injuries that you’re dealing with, to get up and keep running is hard. But that’s the mentality. You’re finishing the day, you’re finishing practice, you’re finishing the game. Just finish.”
This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers know they must figure out how to finish to be better in 2026
Reporting by Ryan Wood, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Packers News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Ryan Wood, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
