GREEN BAY, Wis. – In 2010, the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl. With Aaron Rodgers powering a high-powered offense and Charles Woodson leading a dominant defense, they looked like a potential dynasty, a team capable of winning two, three or more championships.

At the same time, the small-market Milwaukee Brewers in 2010 finished 77-85. As the Packers basked in Super Bowl confetti, the Milwaukee Bucks were in the midst of a 35-win season, part of a stretch of nine losing seasons in 10 years.

Fast forward to October 2026, who could have possibly thought that the Packers would have the longest championship drought among those teams?

The Brewers improbably won the World Series on Wednesday night. The small-market Brewers did all the right things en route to winning their first championship. The Packers? Not so much.

Draft and Develop

Comparing the NFL Draft to the MLB Draft is like comparing a Stephen King novel to Dr. Suess. Nonetheless, both teams rely on the draft to provide the bulk of their talent. The Brewers fielded what was largely a home-grown roster, whether those players were drafted by the Brewers or acquired as minor-league players as part of bigger trades.

Jackson Chourio, Jacob Misiorowski, Brice Turang, Cooper Pratt and so many others were drafted by the Brewers. They are all young stars and franchise building blocks.

The Packers have prided themselves on drafted-and-developed teams, too. They just haven’t hit it out of the park with Pro Bowlers or All-Pros. In fact, general manager Brian Gutekunst hasn’t drafted a Pro Bowler since landing Rashan Gary and Elgton Jenkins in 2019.

They have had some quality drafts, to be sure. In 2024, the Packers drafted linebacker Edgerrin Cooper, nickel Javon Bullard and safety Evan Williams. They didn’t have a first-round pick this year but selected promising starting cornerback Brandon Cisse in the second round.

As a sign of too many draft misses resulting in holes on the roster, the Packers have 11 players on their roster who they drafted in 2025 and 2026 compared to 21 players who were signed as unrestricted free agents, street free agents, undrafted free agents or off practice squads the past two years.

The Little Things

The Brewers do the little things. This isn’t the modern-day version of Harvey’s Wall Bangers. They hit some key home runs, no doubt, but they put the ball in play. They were patient at the plate. They played good defense. Their next-men-up on the pitching staff, the relief staff, was dominant.

The Packers are the equivalent of Harvey’s Wall Bangers. Jordan Love leads the NFL with 30 completions of 20-plus yards, according to Stats Perform’s Opta data provided to Packers On SI. The offense is almost wholly dependent on Love hitting home runs, though.

The play-to-play consistency is lacking, whether it’s drops in the passing game, a nonexistent running game that is on pace to be the worst in NFL history or shoddy pass protection.

Coming Up Clutch

The Packers were handed on a silver platter an opportunity to win last week’s game at Detroit. Lions coach Dan Campbell leaned on analytics rather than common sense when he went for it on fourth-and-1 from his 24 in the final minutes on Sunday. Keisean Nixon blitzed and dropped Jahmyr Gibbs in the backfield for a turnover on downs.

The Packers practically set up shop in the red zone. Instead of scoring the potential game-winning touchdown, Josh Jacobs dropped a pass in the end zone and Trey Smack’s field goal was deflected. The Lions then drove straight down the field to win the game. Just like that, the Packers’ three-game winning streak was snapped and they fell into last place in the NFC North.

While the Packers squandered that game against Detroit, just like they did in Week 1 at Minnesota, the Brewers just stormed through the postseason with an 11-2 record. They swept the dynasty Dodgers to get to the World Series and almost swept the Rays in the World Series. They did it by showing an incredible mental resolve, whether it was game-winning hits on offense, clutch outs on defense or rallying from deficits.

State of the Packers

It takes some luck to win a championship.

All three teams know that.

The Brewers in 2018 got all the way to the National League Championship Series before losing 4-3 to the Dodgers. Late the following season, Brewers star Christian Yelich fouled a ball off his knee. A fractured kneecap ended his season and derailed their hopes of making a run. In following years, losses against big-market teams led to one heartbreaking finish after another.

During the 2019-20 NBA season, the Bucks were dominating the league until COVID struck and shut down the league for almost four months. They weren’t the same team upon their return and were ousted 4-1 in the conference semifinals.

The Bucks won the championship the next season. Two years later, in the first round of the 2023 playoffs, superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo suffered a back injury in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs. The Bucks were shocked in the opening round and, really, never were heard from again.

The Packers, of course, have suffered an incredible amount of luck-related heartbreak. The biggest of them all came in 2020, with the Packers rolling to the No. 1 seed when All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari suffered a torn ACL during a late-season practice. Without Bakhtiari, the Packers gave up five sacks in an NFC Championship Game loss to Tampa Bay in a mostly empty Lambeau Field due to COVID.

Last year, Micah Parsons, who was acquired in a blockbuster trade to put the Packers over the top, suffered a torn ACL at Denver. The Packers, of course, lost that game as part of a five-game, season-ending losing streak.

Packers’ Championship Drought

Since winning the Super Bowl in 2010, the Packers reached NFC Championship Games in 2014, 2016, 2019 and 2020. They also were the No. 1 seed in 2011 and 2021. All six of those teams failed to get to the Super Bowl, let alone win the Lombardi Trophy.

Now, the Packers seem stuck in a cycle of mediocrity. They have settled for the No. 7 seed in the playoffs each of the last three years. If the season were to end today, they’d be the No. 7 seed again. It’s like a hamster on an exercise wheel, running and running and running but winding up at the same spot.

No discernible progress toward winning a championship has been made since they rebooted at quarterback in 2023. Love has clearly grown as a quarterback, but the running game is in the tank to such an extent that the 2026 offense under coach Matt LaFleur isn’t all that different from the 2018 offense under then-coach Mike McCarthy. As was the case with Aaron Rodgers, the offense depends on Love making something happen and playing almost perfectly because sustained success seems out of their reach.

Injuries are a problem. The offensive line is a problem. Drops are a problem. Kicking is a problem.

Soon, the salary cap will become an even bigger problem. The Packers won’t have the finances to keep all their top free agents, so tough choices will have to be made. That will require excellent drafts, which the Packers haven’t delivered.

But, hey, anything is possible. (Unless you’re the Bucks, who are in the infant stages of a massive rebuild.) The Brewers under manager Pat Murphy were swept by the Dodgers in last year’s playoffs. Expectations were practically nonexistent for this year’s team. But Murphy is an exceptional coach and leader of men and young players like Misiorowski and Chourio took the next step in their careers to become stars.

Never mind the X’s and O’s, is LaFleur capable of being that type of an X-factor leader? Is Gutekunst capable of making all the right personnel moves to build a solid all-around roster, like counterpart Matt Arnold has done in Milwaukee? Is there a Misiorowski or Chourio on the roster ready to take the league by storm?

The answers appear to be no.

The Packers’ championship drought is at 15 years and counting. Every year, Mount Super Bowl appears to recede further and further from their grasp.

The Brewers reached the mountaintop on Wednesday night, defying the odds every step of the way, whether it was making agonizing personnel and financial decisions or doing the right things on the field.

The Packers have made too many personnel missteps and are challenged in doing the right things on the field. Time is of the essence for Gutekunst, LaFleur and Love to get it turned around.

With a looming trade deadline and a widening gap between themselves and the Vikings in the division, Thursday night’s game against the Panthers would be a good starting point in getting the franchise pointed back in the right direction.

The Bears went all-in on Jeffery Simmons today. Almost exactly 14 months ago, the Packers went all-in on Micah Parsons.

The Bears obviously see a Super Bowl window. The Packers with Parsons should see the same. ⬇️https://t.co/9XLKZ2UEAe

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) October 29, 2026