With two second-contract players and four first-round draft picks on the defensive front, Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur had a vision for the defense being installed by first-year coordinator Jeff Hafley.

That vision turned into a mirage when the hyped defensive line, under the tutelage of now-former defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich, spent the season spinning its wheels like a front-wheel drive truck on icy backroads.

“I envisioned rushing four and playing three deep/four under (coverage) a heck of a lot more,” LaFleur said during his season-ending news conference on Tuesday, “and we ended up doing a lot of simulated blitzes and different pressures and playing a bunch of Cover-2.

“But you always evolve throughout the course of the season, through the offseason, but that was the foundation, I would say, of the defense. But I thought our guys did a great job of adjusting. I thought we were playing some pretty good football at the end.”

There’s a reason why Hafley is a candidate for at least one NFL head coaching job.

With a sporadic pass rush and his best cornerback on the field for less than one-third of the defensive snaps, the Packers finished fifth in total defense and sixth in points allowed. It was the best marks in those categories since finishing fifth in total defense and second in points allowed in 2010.

It was a remarkable feat considering the lackluster production from the presumptive driving forces of the defensive line.

Defensive tackle Kenny Clark, a former first-round pick and third-contract player, had one sack, five quarterback hits and four tackles for losses in 2024. In 2023, the final season under former coordinator Joe Barry and former defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery, he had 7.5 sacks, 16 quarterback hits and nine tackles for losses.

Defensive end Rashan Gary, a former first-round pick and second-contract player, had 7.5 sacks and 15 quarterback hits in 2024 after nine sacks and 22 quarterback hits in 2023, when he was coming off a torn ACL. At least he set a career high with nine tackles for losses.

Defensive end Lukas Van Ness, a former first round pick, had three sacks, six quarterback hits and six tackles for losses in 2024. So much for a second-year jump: Those numbers were down from four sacks, 10 quarterback hits and eight tackles for losses as a rookie.

Defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt, a former first round pick, had five sacks, nine quarterback hits and nine tackles for losses in 2024. Even while playing in three fewer games with 190 fewer snaps, that was about on par with his 5.5 sacks, 11 quarterback hits and six tackles for losses in 2023. Hafley’s scheme was supposed to suit Wyatt, and it did.

Those four players along with veteran Preston Smith, who had eight sacks in 2023 but was traded after producing 2.5 sacks in nine games in 2024, were supposed to be the powerhouse behind the new defense.

Instead of winning with them, the Packers practically won in spite of them from a passing-play perspective.

“I was encouraged in training camp, just because I thought we were really humming in training camp at times,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said on Thursday. “And then there was just some inconsistencies through the year. You know, there’s times we kind of broke out, and then there’s times we’d have these lulls where we just weren’t playing as well as we would like.”

The Packers finished the season with a nine-man rotation of ends Gary, Van Ness, Kingsley Enagbare and Brenton Cox and tackles Clark, Wyatt, TJ Slaton, Karl Brooks and Colby Wooden.

Really, the only player from that group who had a breakout season was Cox. As an undrafted rookie last year, he barely played as a rookie and didn’t play at all in the first nine games of this season. The trade of Smith opened the door, and Cox produced four sacks in seven games.

While Green Bay’s run defense was much tougher this season, the pass rush – in spite of the incredible investment – fell flat.

How important is pressure? The Packers finished 16th in pressure percentage, according to SportRadar, and 17th in quarterback hits, according to the official league stats. Of the teams ranked below them, only the Eagles and Rams remain alive in the playoffs.

The one known candidate to replace Rebrovich is former Jets defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton, who has a proven history with front-four-driven pass rushes like Hafley and LaFleur were looking for but didn’t get this season.

“Yeah, I do,” Gutekunst said when asked if he’s got the pieces in place to have a better pass rush. “I thought there were times this year we did that – we were able to rush with four. I think every team in the league, that’s how you prefer to do it: rush with four and affect the quarterback with just four. There were periods of time where we didn’t do that well enough. I think everybody understands that, and that affects your football team.”

Nobody expected an easy transition following the change in scheme and coordinators. However, the Packers had one sack against a mediocre Vikings offensive line in Week 17, one sack against Chicago’s woeful offensive line in Week 18 and two sacks in what turned out to be a blitz-happy playoff loss.

“There was some transition to a new scheme,” Gutekunst said, “but I think we didn’t grow into that consistent front like we had hoped, but there were times that we showed it, so I know it’s capable.

“I think we’ve got the right guys. They’re workers in there, I think they’re all passionate about the game, they’re unselfish team guys, so I expect us to get better there.”

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