The Green Bay Packers will have a ton of questions to answer this offseason after their ugly 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears on Saturday night in the Wild Card Round of the NFL playoffs.
The top question on most Packers fans' minds following the disastrous loss is what will Green Bay do with head coach Matt LaFleur, who blew a 21-3 lead and then a 21-6 lead at the top of the fourth quarter?
In addition to LaFleur, the Packers will have to figure out what they want to do at the No. 2 cornerback spot, which was a huge talking point throughout the season. Nate Hobbs was the starter initially, but due to poor play, he was benched for Carrington Valentine.
At first, Packers fans were excited to see Valentine get an opportunity start as he looked like an immediate upgrade over Hobbs. However, Valentine’s flaws appeared during the second half of the season, giving fans some pause on whether he should be a reliable contributor moving forward.
In Saturday night’s heartbreaking loss to the Bears, Valentine did not do himself much justice to keep his starting job in 2026, which makes you wonder if the Packers will consider bringing back Trevon Diggs to make him CB2.
Carrington Valentine’s Flaws Could Doom Packers' Future
In the second quarter, on fourth down and six, Valentine intercepted Bears quarterback Caleb Williams at the Packers’ 12-yard line (h/t @danwiederer). Most Packers fans were excited to see the young cornerback make a play on the ball, as this defense was riding the momentum of the offense going down and scoring a touchdown on their first possession.
However, there was a subsection of Packers fans annoyed by Valentine intercepting the pass. As they would’ve rather the 24-year-old defensive back bat the ball down, which would have given QB Jordan Love and Green Bay’s offense much better field position at the 40-yard line.
Luckily, Valentine’s decision did not come back to haunt the Packers as the offense went down the field, putting together a 10-play, 87-yard drive, which ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass from Love to wide receiver Jayden Reed.
Along with the interception, Valentine once again struggled with tackling (h/t @AndyHermanNFL), which has been an issue this season. Heading into Saturday night’s game, Valentine had eight missed tackles, which is absurd to think about.
When you combine that, plus Valentine’s 121.7 pass rating allowed and his giving up seven receiving touchdowns, it doesn’t inspire much confidence that he should start opposite Keisean Nixon in 2026.
Therefore, the Packers’ best bet would be to re-sign Diggs, who could be your CB2 or maybe CB1, depending on Nixon’s future. And if that were to happen, it would also signal that they do not trust former seventh-round pick, and he would be suited in a reserve role next year, and then go elsewhere following the 2026 season.