Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator and assistant head coach Rich Bisaccia announced that he was stepping down from those positions on Tuesday, ending his four-year tenure with the club. Unfortunately, the performance of the special teams units remained disappointing during Bisaccia’s tenure. Now, the Packers will begin the search for a replacement who hopefully can improve these units in 2026 and beyond. The key now is the future. The Packers need answers on special teams now that Rich Bisaccia has stepped down.
Head coach Matt LaFleur released a statement on Bisaccia shortly after the announcement became public. “While we are disappointed to lose a person and coach as valuable as Rich, we respect his decision to step down from the Packers,” LaFleur said. “Rich was a tremendous resource to me and our entire coaching staff who had a profound impact on our players and our culture throughout the building. We can’t thank him enough for his contributions to our team over the last four years.”
The Packers Need Answers On Special Teams Post Rich Bisaccia: The Issues
The Packers special teams have been a problem since long before Bisaccia arrived in Green Bay back in 2022. Unfortunately, multiple special teams coordinators have come and gone over the last decade plus and the problem has persisted.
This season was no different. The Packers special teams ranked 20th in the NFL according to Sports Illustrated’s rankings. However, that number was inflated because the Packers had the league’s highest ranked punter in Daniel Whelan. The Packers kick return coverage finished the season 11th in the league while the punt return coverage was 21st.
The kick and punt returns were poor. The Packers were 24th in the league in kick return average and dead last in the league returning punts.
Costly Mistakes Continued
Special teams continued to cost the Packers football games. A blocked field goal led directly to a loss to the Browns in Week 3. The following week, the Packers settled for a tie against Dallas when an extra point was blocked and returned for two points. Dallas exploited the fact that the Packers had the inexperienced Brant Banks next to mediocre blocker Luke Musgrave on the right side of the line. This proved to be a turning point in the game.
The Packers also saw special teams cost them again in their two losses to the Bears this season. They failed to recover an onsides kick during the regular season loss and then saw kicker Brandon McManus miss two field goals and an extra point in the playoff loss.
Too often, the Packers took untimely penalties on special teams, allowed long returns against them at the worst possible time, or didn’t have the right number of players on the field. Mental mistakes and poor execution continued to plague the special teams unit for most of Bisaccia’s tenure.
Ultimately, this was the right time for Bisaccia to step down. While Bisaccia may not have been the cause of the Packers special teams problems, he couldn’t find the solution for them, either. After four years, it became clear that it wasn’t going to change any time soon.
The Packers Need Answers On Special Teams Post Rich Bisaccia: Looking Ahead
The Packers now have to find a replacement for Bisaccia. Byron Storer had served as assistant special teams coordinator because the Cleveland Browns hired him to be their coordinator earlier this offseason.
The Packers approach to fixing special teams must now be two-fold. First, they need to find a replacement for Bisaccia. Someone who has proven they can get the job done and maybe who has experience cleaning up special teams units that have been struggling in the past.
Second, the Packers front office has to dedicate more time and effort to improving special teams. Yes, the team has signed some special teams players like Kristian Welch, Zayne Anderson, and Nick Niemann, but the results still haven’t been there.
The team needs to make special teams better after it cost them at least three games in 2025. Bisaccia should be thanked for his efforts, but it was time to move on, and he seemed to sense it. This gives the Packers a chance to fix a long-standing problem. If they hope to contend for a Super Bowl, they have to take advantage of that opportunity.
Follow Gil Martin on Twitter @GilPackers
Click here for more great Packers coverage
Check out our YouTube channel here
