The Green Bay Packers find themselves on a startling two-game losing streak that has thrown their playoff hopes up in the air. After losing to the Carolina Panthers in a massive upset in Week 9, the Packers scored just seven points in Week 10 against the Philadelphia Eagles, which led to them suffering yet another loss.
Considering how Green Bay only managed to score 13 points against Carolina, it’s safe to say the offense has some issues that need to be fixed immediately. Of course, it doesn’t help that kicker Brandon McManus has struggled in his return from a quad injury. However, McManus claims he is fully healthy, and he recently shot down an errant injury report from Troy Aikman.
For much of his career, McManus has been one of the consistent kickers in the NFL, but that hasn’t been the case in 2025. In seven games, McManus has made just 11 of his 17 field goal attempts, and his struggles have been particularly notable since he returned from a two-game absence due to his aforementioned quad injury.
In all three of the Packers’ losses this year, McManus has missed a field goal attempt, and he also missed his lone extra point attempt of the season in the team’s tie with the Dallas Cowboys. With Lucas Havrisik still on the roster after he briefly filled in for McManus, questions about the kicker position have continued to pop up in recent weeks.
For the time being, Green Bay is sticking with McManus, even though questions about his health linger. Despite not being on the team’s final injury report last week, Monday Night Football commentator Troy Aikman claimed that McManus still isn’t fully healthy during ESPN’s broadcast of the Packers’ loss to the Eagles. Once he caught wind of Aikman’s comments, McManus quickly shot them down.
“That was news to me when I heard that I had said that,” McManus said to reporters on Thursday when asked about Aikman’s claim. “As you work through the progression of being injured, obviously, the pain tolerances and everything get better and better. Last week was when I felt almost back to normal – pretty much back to normal. Pretty much no pain, didn’t feel anything in my leg.”
GettyKicker Brandon McManus of the Green Bay Packers.
Havrisik’s presence on the roster looms large, due in large part to how well he kicked in McManus’ absence. It’s admittedly a small sample size, but Havrisik made all four of his field goal attempts and all six of his extra point attempts during his time on the field for the Packers. If McManus can’t figure things out, should Green Bay turn to Havrisik?
It’s a question the team is going to have to at least consider, especially since McManus is apparently fully healthy now. He isn’t on the team’s injury report heading into Week 11, so he will be on the field once again for the team’s clash with the New York Giants. If McManus misses another kick, though, he could truly be on the hot seat moving forward with Havrisik looming as a viable option behind him.
Recent intel suggests that General manager Mike Borgonzi and the Tennessee Titans’ front office are seemingly casting a wide net to find Brian Callahan’s successor. They’re scouring the NFL landscape to poach an assistant from another staff to become their next head coach. However, an interesting candidate from the collegiate ranks could reportedly emerge: Lane Kiffin.
Kiffin is currently in his sixth season calling the shots at Ole Miss. His role overseeing the Rebels’ program has garnered attention around the league, with the Titans ostensibly taking notice.
The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman revealed that a little birdie told him Kiffin is on the Titans’ radar during. This would certainly profile as an outside-the-box hire, albeit one with a notable connection to the Volunteer State.
New-age fans may be too young to remember, but Kiffin was the head coach of Tennessee’s Division I football squad in 2009. He guided them to a Chick-fil-A Bowl (AKA the Peach Bowl) appearance in his lone campaign before jettisoning for USC’s vacancy roughly two weeks later. With that in mind, not everyone may have fond memories of him, though that apparently doesn’t bother Borgonzi and Co.
“One industry source said there was at least a modicum of interest in [Lane] Kiffin among decision-makers with the Tennessee Titans,” Feldman wrote ($).
It’s worth mentioning that Feldman prefaced Kiffin’s reported ties to the Titans’ vacancy by higlighting that Ole Miss is likely to retain its sideline general. The former pointed out that the latter’s family is “all settled in Oxford,” so this is far from a foregone conclusion.
Nevertheless, Kiffin is perhaps the most shocking candidate to emerge among the rumored names the Titans might be eyeing. His nearly three decades of coaching experience in various roles are valuable. Yet, he has just three years in the pros, two of which were quite forgetful.
Before leading the Volunteers, Kiffin was a defensive quality control assistant for the Jacksonville Jagaurs in 2000. He also had a brief stint as the Las Vegas (then Oakland) Raiders’ head coach, getting fired just 20 months after being hired. Be that as it may, his success at Ole Miss (53-19 record) may be enough to give him another chance.