The Packers are missing a chance at "urgency" by keeping Rich Bisaccia

Pro sports teams tend not to operate like the vast majority of other companies when it comes to hiring coaches and it's hurt Green Bay already.

Before the 2023 season, the Green Bay Packers had a chance at a massive upgrade. Brian Flores had just spent the year with the Pittsburgh Steelers under Mike Tomlin, and after one season, Tomlin allowed him to go and find another opportunity as defensive coordinator. Matt LaFleur had a DC under contract he intended to keep for the upcoming season, so he did what nearly every team in every pro sport would do: nothing. Instead, Flores signed in Minnesota to make life hell on defense for the Packers for the next two years (at least), and the Packers had to go through a DC search in a year anyway. If the Packers want to show “urgency” as Brian Gutekunst suggested, then they can’t act like every other team.

On Tuesday, the Tennessee Titans hired John “Bones” Fassell, one of the NFL's more respected special teams coaches. The latest report is that ex-Saints interim coach Darren Rizzi is headed to Chicago with Ben Johnson as the special teams coach. You may remember Rizzi from such roles as, “The guy the Packers tried to hire for LaFleur but wouldn’t pay up.”

Meanwhile, Rich Bisaccia oversaw yet another calamity in the playoffs with a missed chipshot field goal, and a fumble on the opening kick. Neither is his fault in any direct way, but that tends not to matter in an outcomes-based business like football. But we aren’t that far removed from the Packers getting got by a Chicago Bears punt return fake the same team ran against them a decade earlier than Bisaccia admitted he didn’t have the team prepared to defend.

The kicking situation only got better because they were able to sign Brandon McManus off the street thanks to sexual misconduct allegations. Otherwise, they would have had to roll with Brayden Narveson, a non-NFL player currently while Anders Carlson thrived in New York for long stretches.

Green Bay finished the season last in Pro Football Focus’ special teams grading, and while there have long been flaws with those grades, they tend to be accurate on the extremes; if they graded something well, it was probably pretty good, and if they graded it bad, it was probably bad.

And the Packers’ special teams were once again bad. Fassell or Rizzi would have been upgrades over Bisaccia who appears to have been hired for both his special teams acumen and the help he offers LaFleur as assistant head coach.