Usually, the final media availability of the football season is filled with disappointment. Not on Monday as the Packers cleared out their lockers for the year.
It’s not just the losses that hang heavy. The team’s free agents face uncertain futures. Friendships and bonds will be broken.
Put simply, there’s nothing like the joy and jubilation of a winning locker room, of a group of men pulling successfully toward a final goal. There’s also nothing like the sour, sullen mood of a season that just ended, a group of men parting ways after spending just about every day together for the past five months.
Monday’s final locker room, no matter the disappointing ending of the playoff loss at the San Francisco 49ers, was different. Incredibly different.
Yes, Saturday’s game marked the end. The end of the season. The end of careers in Green Bay.
On Monday, there was the incredible scene of guard Jon Runyan unsuccessfully fighting back tears. Drafted by the Packers in 2020, he’s headed toward free agency. Having split snaps through the second half of the season with 2022 draft pick Sean Rhyan, Runyan is smart enough to see the reality of his situation.
“It was awesome,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s a better organization out there,” Runyan said. Wiping his eyes, he continued, “I think it’s just the brotherhood is unreal. This organization, everybody inside, the people out of the facility, the fans, it’s a special place. There’s some really good people here. I hope I don’t leave. It’s a good time. I really appreciate it.”
Otherwise, the mood was positively upbeat, the team’s upward trajectory outweighing the sting of falling a game short of the NFC Championship Game.
And why not? The players see the same reality as most of you. They’re young, talented and ascending. And they’ve got a great quarterback.
With a great quarterback, anything is possible. You know it. I know it.
The players in the locker room know it.
“To take it all the way,” guard Elgton Jenkins said of his expectations for next season. “Most definitely. Get better as an offense, trust in the process and get better individually so collectively we can be better and take it all the way.”
Immediately after the game, outside linebacker Preston Smith said the team needs to attack the coming months with a “championship offseason.”
That’s the intent. The youngest roster in the NFL this season and the youngest team to win a playoff game since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger has gotten a taste of success and wants more.
“It's not underdog mentality. It’s a championship mentality,” Rhyan said. “Training like we're going to go win the Super Bowl next year and training hard with that mentality that we got a long season next year and we're going to go out there and do it.”
Continue Reading @ Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated wrote: