The Green Bay Packers have made the playoffs in each of Jordan Love’s three seasons as their starting quarterback. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell believes that streak is about to end.
Barnwell released his 2026 NFL playoff predictions on Sept. 9 and left Green Bay out of the NFC field. That’s a major reversal from an analyst who picked the Packers to win the conference and reach the Super Bowl in each of the past two seasons.
His reasoning isn’t about Love. It’s about everything suddenly surrounding him for the upcoming season.
ESPN Predicts Packers Miss Playoffs in 2026
“After picking the Packers to win the NFC and make it to the Super Bowl each of the past two years, I’m reluctantly forced by the structure of this column to bow out and hop off their bandwagon this year,” Barnwell wrote.
Barnwell still praised the core of Green Bay’s roster and called Love one of the NFL’s most underappreciated quarterbacks. But he pointed to a growing list of questions around a team coming off another early postseason exit.
Micah Parsons will begin the season on the physically unable to perform list as he works back from a torn ACL. Green Bay also traded Rashan Gary during the offseason, leaving Devonte Wyatt — with four sacks in 2025 — as the team’s top returning sack producer entering Week 1.
The defense also has a new voice in Jonathan Gannon after coordinator Jeff Hafley left to become the Miami Dolphins‘ head coach.
The Packers’ concerns don’t stop there, though.
Rasheed Walker and Elgton Jenkins are gone from the offensive line, with former first-round pick Jordan Morgan moving to left tackle. Barnwell noted that Green Bay’s five backup offensive linemen have combined for only 76 career offensive snaps.
Luke Musgrave is also out indefinitely with a neck injury.
Then there is the Josh Jacobs situation.
Packers Said The Are ‘Hanging on for Dear Life’
Jacobs was placed on the commissioner’s exempt list before the season, leaving Green Bay with MarShawn Lloyd, Chris Brooks and Kaleb Johnson in the backfield.
None of the three has ever logged more than 40 carries in a single NFL season, a concern that became even more notable when offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich said the Packers would use a running-back committee “for a little bit” while determining where everyone stands.
“It already feels like the Packers are hanging on for dear life, and the season hasn’t even begun,” Barnwell wrote.
Barnwell doesn’t believe Green Bay lacks talent. In fact, he acknowledged that he believes the Packers are better than the New York Giants, one of the teams he picked to make the postseason.
The reality is simple, though: the Packers enter 2026 without their top running back, without their top two 2025 edge rushers, with a reshuffled offensive line and without Parsons for at least the start of the season.
For a team that has spent the last three years getting into the playoffs but failing to get past the divisional round, this may be one of those seasons where the ending result is much worse that year’s prior.
ESPN Analyst Says Packers Are ‘Hanging on for Dear Life’