Brian Gutekunst Clearly Believes He Has Built A Championship Roster

Poll 100 people about what caused the Green Bay Packers to lose five in a row to end the season, and you'll get a variety of different answers.

Some will chalk it up to injuries. Others will point to collapses and blame Matt LaFleur. Others may bring up the depth of the roster at certain positions. One thing that's evident after Brian Gutekunst spoke to reporters at the NFL Combine, though, is that he believes he's built a championship roster.

Gutekunst's

on Tuesday didn't have much substance. However, a recurring topic was Gutekunst's belief that the team is in place and that the group just needs to figure out how to close games. That speaks volumes for a general manager who believes he's doing his part on the personnel side and that the coaching staff needs to finish the job.

It isn't difficult to find the star talent that Gutekunst has accumulated. The cherry on top was the Micah Parsons trade immediately before the start of last season. If the pieces are in place, which Gutekunst seems to believe, all eyes will focus on LaFleur to find the rest of the answers. That’s what Gutey seems to think the team must do to become a true Super Bowl contender:

We've talked a lot about this. Our ability to be more consistent in situational football and finishing off games. A number of our games the past couple of years, we've been up in the games and have just not been able to close them out. Our group ... we've got to get to that point.

Instead of talking about roster construction or player development, Gutekunst spoke specifically about a part of the game that requires better execution and better game management from the head coach. Whether you believe it's the biggest hurdle for Green Bay or not is a matter of debate, but it's absolutely been part of the issue.

Gutekunst doubled down by stating his belief in the group they currently have on the roster.

Our 2026 will be defined mostly by the guys who are already here, and what they do to get better and better our football team. I’m excited about that, because I really do like the group of guys we have in that locker room. There’s some guys that are really coming into the best years of their career. They’ve got a lot of experience under their belt now. We’re a seasoned team. I think right now what we have to do is we have to be able to get in those moments that we’ve struggled with the last two years and finish them off, and I’m excited about that.

What Gutekunst said isn't controversial. It shouldn't create any friction between him and the coaches on staff. Even with all the key injuries the Packers accumulated last year, they still led the Chicago Bears on the road, 21-3, at halftime in the playoffs and 21-6 entering the fourth quarter. A few weeks before that, Green Bay led Chicago, 16-6, with two minutes to go and still lost. Early in the season, with a much healthier roster, the Packers led Cleveland 10-0 with four minutes left in regulation, yet lost 13-10.

Obviously, there's always room for improvement. Green Bay at least needs to add talent at cornerback and the interior of the defensive line. No general manager is ever completely satisfied with the product they've molded together. Gutekunst said as much:

You're always looking for those guys that are wired a certain way. Because in the National Football League, whether you're up by two touchdowns and things start snowballing on you, whether you're behind by two touchdowns ... you have to have the kind of guys in your locker room that can handle all those situations whenever they're thrown at you.

But he believes they have plenty of those guys in the locker room already.

I think we have a ton of 'em, but that's really important as we move forward, making sure that what happened to us really over the last couple years doesn't happen to us anymore.

Gutekunst had made his point. Now Matt LaFleur must prove it.

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Brian Gutekunst Clearly Believes He Has Built A Championship Roster

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