4 Packers Who Need to Be Benched After Ugly Win Over Bears

Quay Walker

At this point, it’s hard to pin more blame on Quay Walker than we already have. He is what he is, and it’s time to shift some accountability to defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.

Ten games in, Hafley has seen enough of Walker to know what’s coming. Matt LaFleur and the front office have had two and a half years to assess the situation. Walker’s mistakes aren’t new—they’re reruns of a bad sitcom we’ve all seen before, with no promise of a better script.

Walker has made a habit of taking himself out of plays entirely. On outside runs, he inexplicably cuts inside, leaving the edge wide open. That’s exactly what happened on D’Andre Swift’s long touchdown run. The Bears tossed it outside to Swift, and Walker darted into the wrong gap like a moth to a flame. One pancake block and a Xavier McKinney missed tackle later, Swift was waltzing into the endzone untouched.

Walker’s miscues weren’t limited to that one play. At the goal line, he missed tackles in the backfield that could have saved points. On a pivotal fourth-down play, instead of sprinting at Caleb Williams to pressure him, he casually strolled into the pocket, giving the Bears’ quarterback ample time to find the open receiver and convert the critical down.

There’s no sidestepping the reality anymore. If Walker sees the field against the San Francisco 49ers next week, the Packers coaching staff should face serious scrutiny. At this stage, there’s no justification for playing him over Edgerrin Cooper, Eric Wilson, Isaiah McDuffie, or even Ty’ron Hopper. It’s time to make the tough call—Walker needs to take a permanent seat on the bench.