Packers Discussion: Rank The Packers Playoff Heartbreakers

Let’s open some old wounds for fun!

Summarized by AI ⓘ

What is the story about?

It’s been a few days now since the Green Bay Packers lost in devastating fashion to the Chicago Bears in the first round of the playoffs, ending a very up-and-down season with a five-game losing streak. Now that the dust has settled, what better way to reflect than to relive some trauma? So let’s rip that band-aid off and re-open some wounds!

In 2024, our APC fearless leader, Justis Mosqueda, was asked to rank the Packers’ heartbreaking losses based on how much they hurt, beginning with 2007. The

last 2 seasons, he’s updated his rankings to include the most recent playoff loss. It’s turning into a depressing but almost therapeutic annual tradition. Therapeutic in the “wow, look how much we’ve been through, how am I still alive?” kind of way, but therapeutic nonetheless.

After Saturday’s loss, Justis updated his list, putting the loss to the Bears in the second spot behind *that* loss to the Seattle Seahawks. I align with a lot of his rankings, but I do have some variance for a few reasons. What went into my rankings is how I viewed the team at the time, my personal experience, and my ability to cope with the loss (aka brutality level). So, let’s reopen some wounds!

My Thoughts: I’m not going to do all of these games, instead I’ll just do my top 5.

2014 NFC Championship (28-22 loss to Seahawks): This one’s a no-brainer. I’ll leave it at that.
2021 Divisional (13-10 loss to 49ers): The Packers finally got their home playoff game, in snowy Green Bay weather, and the team could not get it together. The defense held the 49ers to just 6 points, but a blocked punt returned for a touchdown (special teams, shocking, I know) gave the 49ers the 13 points they needed because the Packers couldn’t generate much offense.
2020 NFC Championship (31-25 loss to Buccaneers): We got the Tom Brady-Aaron Rodgers playoff game we all hoped for. The Packers had the game in their clutches, but couldn’t get over the hump. This one hurt a lot because it was a roller coaster of emotions. The defense made a lot of stupid plays but also picked off Brady 3 times. The offense didn’t capitalize enough on those turnovers, but still played a solid game. It really felt like the team could have won it all that year.
2011 Divisional (37-20 loss to Giants): As Justis put it, “Losing to Eli immediately after going 21-1.” The offense felt unstoppable for the 2011 season. They started that season 13-0, and while the defense wasn’t as good as the prior year, the offense didn’t score under 20 points all season outside of their one loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Getting completely stifled at home was unexpected and honestly a shock to the system.
2013 Wild Card (23-20 loss to 49ers): I’ve been to a handful of playoff games, but this one was the only loss. So, it gets a boost on my pain scale for that alone. We were in the middle of a polar vortex, so it was like 2 degrees with a negative 20-degree wind chill, and I had to sit there and watch Colin Kaepernick run for nearly 100 yards over our defense. Excruciating. I was also probably way too naive in thinking that they’d go on some magical Cinderella run after Rodgers returned from his collarbone injury and beat the Bears to take the division, which made it hurt that much more.

While I understand Justis putting the Bears game at #2, because that was one of the most crushing chokes I’ve seen as a Packers fan, my expectations for the postseason made it a little easier to process. That defense wasn’t going to stop most of the offenses in the playoffs, and the offensive line was way too inconsistent all season for me to feel good about going up against some of these defenses. The team was just way too injured for me to feel good about winning anything. So while the loss was brutal, especially since it was a division rival, but somehow it didn’t bother me nearly as much as the ones I’ve listed. Or maybe my brain is just protecting itself from feeling any more Packers pain, so it’s just refusing to process it, who knows!

But now it’s your turn, Packers fans. What’s YOUR top 5 most heartbreaking losses in Packers history?