GREEN BAY — Following Friday’s practice, coach Matt LaFleur had longtime offensive lineman Bryan Bulaga — fresh from ceremonially retiring from the NFL as a member of the Green Bay Packers, his team for 10 of his 12 pro seasons — address his guys.
Although Bulaga had become the youngest player in NFL history to start a Super Bowl as a 21-year-old rookie first-round pick on the Packers’ Super Bowl XLV-winning 2010 team, he suffered through a few difficult seasons during his Packers career, too.
Coming off a surprise appearance in the 2016 NFC Championship Game and off to a promising 4-1 start, the 2017 team lost future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers to a broken collarbone and wound up finishing 7-9.
And so, as the current Packers, sitting at 3-6 and having lost five of their last six games, prepped for their Sunday matchup with the Los Angeles Chargers (the only other NFL team Bulaga played for) at Lambeau Field, Bulaga wanted them to understand the importance of team unity and connectivity during difficult stretches.
“Times weren’t always good for even us. I mentioned 2017 and ‘18, (how) we went through some hard times,” Bulaga recounted. “But the thing we believed (was that), in that locker room, with the guys that we had, we could come out the other side better than what we were (at the time). We trusted in each other and we stuck together.
Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander practices, but will he play against the Chargers?
“There was never any finger-pointing, there was never any getting down on each other. We knew we had the guys. We just needed to pull it together and get it together, and we eventually did.
