The Green Bay Packers have been looking to find a way to get over the hump in the NFC for years now. But the 2025 NFL season ended just like every campaign has ended for the Green and Gold since Aaron Rodgers’ final MVP year: In the playoffs, but short of the conference championship game.
Finding an edge in a division and conference that seemingly gets better by the year has not been easy. Every little bit matters. And the Packers’ special teams shortcomings became a hot-button topic once again, with coordinator Rich Bisaccia receiving much of the blame over the last few years.
Now, that chapter is officially closed.
NFL insider Tom Pelissero reported that Bisaccia is stepping down from his role as assistant head coach and special teams coordinator, ending his four-year run in Green Bay. The move comes weeks after defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley was replaced, leaving Matt LaFleur searching for answers yet again.
But has the special teams unit ever really been good in Green Bay?
Their struggles in this realm can be attributed to a variety of factors, not the least of which is coaching. Poor roster construction is another explanation, and a lack of emphasis on that facet of the game has long been a criticism tied to branches of the Shanahan-McVay coaching tree.
Packers insider believes Green Bay’s special teams issues transcend Rich Bisaccia
The Athletic's Matt Schneidman said the quiet part out loud about both the Packers' special teams blunder and Bisaccia himself, who has become a polarizing figure in Green Bay, in his recent mailbag:
"I think Green Bay’s special teams issues go well beyond Bisaccia. Ron Zook, Sean Mennenga and Maurice Drayton couldn’t figure it out, either," Schneidman wrote.
That statement didn’t exactly inspire confidence at the time. Fans believed Bisaccia, with decades of NFL experience and even a playoff run as the Las Vegas Raiders’ interim head coach on his résumé, would finally stabilize the unit.
Instead, his tenure ended much like the others.
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It wasn’t just the obvious issues, either. Penalties, lack of explosive returns and missed field goals were part of it, but the finer details consistently hurt them. Fair catches inside their own 10. Letting punts bounce and flip field position. Failure to pin opponents deep. Questionable decisions on kickoff returns.
Would a new coordinator come in and immediately solve all of these problems? Certainly not, and the Packers seem to have no interest in testing that theory. But something reeks in Green Bay when it comes to special teams; it has somehow metastasized and become an organizational issue.
Fans knew it. It seemed hopeless to feel that way. But Schneidman said the quiet part out loud.