The Green Bay Packers finished the regular season with the best record in the NFL but they found themselves sitting at home watching the NFC Championship Game. While they certainly had a lot of reasons for their loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the Divisional Round, special teams especially doomed the Packers, just as it had all season long.
It appears that the Packers only had 10 players on the field during the 49ers' game-winning field goal 😬 pic.twitter.com/6moIBwlkNM
— SB Nation (@SBNation) January 23, 2022
By many accounts, the Packers’ special teams unit was the worst in the NFL. So it’s not too much of a surprise to find out that special teams coach Maurice Drayton will not return next season.
Drayton was the team’s assistant special teams coach for three seasons before taking over as coordinator this year. He had spent two years as the special teams’ coordinator for the Colts before that. Certainly, there were issues with the Packers’ special teams unit before Drayton took over but he won’t be the one to fix it. Instead, Matt LaFleur will be onto his third special teams’ coach in three seasons.
One name that has been thrown out there is Rich Bisaccia. The former Las Vegas Raiders interim coach who didn’t get invited back for the full-time gig was a longtime special teams coach before that, winning a Super Bowl in that role with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002.
While we wait to see who the Packers bring in to fix their very broken special teams unit, Tuesday’s move certainly had a lot of people talking in NFL circles.
I wonder who's going to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts next season https://t.co/603JNSJO72
— Daniel ''Master of the Elements'' Kotnik (@DKalltheway) February 1, 2022
What took them so long? https://t.co/rdjHLzqJiP
— Kelly (@kellyinvegas) February 1, 2022
#Packers have had a long history of not providing special teams the resources it needs to succeed. This goes back all the way to the Mike Holmgren era, although Ron Wolf was the one GM who made sure he always had a quality punter, long-snapper, returner and kicker. https://t.co/D9uFQzZ7wm
— Tom Silverstein (@TomSilverstein) February 1, 2022
Can confirm @TomSilverstein's report that #Packers are moving on from Mo Drayton. Really well-liked on the staff and in the building, so couldn't have been easy for Matt LaFleur. Special teams about to have their fourth coordinator in five seasons (Zook, Mennenga, Drayton, TBA). https://t.co/U1IeGKEOQz
— Jason Wilde (@jasonjwilde) February 1, 2022
The Packers have a lot of personnel decisions to consider and deal with this offseason, but fixing their special teams might be near the top of the list if they want to get back to the Super Bowl anytime soon.
