The Packers are sticking with rookie kicker Trey Smack. Should they?

DETROIT -- The Green Bay Packers might have a Trey Smack problem.

They knew these ups and downs would come with a rookie kicker. Asked this offseason about what he learned coaching rookie kickers Anders Carlson (2023) and Brayden Narveson (2024), Matt LaFleur stressed one word: patience.

That patience is being tested right now.

Smack, whom the Packers traded into the sixth round for in the 2026 NFL Draft, missed two more field goals in a 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday while making one from 43 yards. The first miss came from 26 yards in the first quarter. The second, which was tipped, was a 35-yarder in the fourth.

It was easy to stomach Smack's two misses in a 31-7 win over the Chicago Bears two weeks ago. Not so much now.

The Florida product has the second-worst field-goal percentage among kickers with double-digit field-goal attempts (68.8, 11 of 16). He also has the fourth-worst extra-point percentage among kickers with double-digit PAT attempts (86.7, 13 of 15)

Two of those missed field goals hit an opponent's hand, but the Packers still need Smack to be better.

"It's a rough loss. I take accountability for my actions," Smack said. "The sun rises every morning, and it's not gonna stop for me."

LaFleur was asked postgame if Smack would be the team's kicker moving forward and simply responded: "Yes."

Why?

"He's proved that he can do it, and I know he can do it," LaFleur said. "We gotta wipe this one clean and gotta move on and hopefully we can be a little bit better."

The wind factored into Smack's misses against the Bears at Lambeau Field, but there's no such justification indoors at Ford Field.

On the chip shot he pushed wide right on the Packers' opening drive, Smack said he made bad contact. On the second chip shot he missed late in the fourth quarter, edge D.J. Wonnum got a hand on it while being blocked by right guard Travis Glover and right tackle Anthony Belton. It's unclear whether the kick would've gone in.

Special teams coordinator Cam Achord said after Smack's rough day against the Bears that it's good to have a bad day when you're winning.

"You're a rookie. There's going to be a bump in the road, and he's got the right mental makeup to trust the process, trust what we're doing in practice, trust what he did the first four weeks," Achord said. "Good contact on the ball and just trust it. And I think he's going to be fine. I have no fear about that."

Perhaps Achord still isn't worried, but the vast majority of the fanbase probably wouldn't say the same.

Over the first four games, Smack's lone miss in seven field-goal tries occurred because Belton blew a block. He also missed an extra point in Week 1. Over that span, he made kicks of 58 and 59 yards.

In the past three games, Smack has missed three field goals (that weren't tipped or blocked) from 26, 43 and 47 yards while making five. His longest make during that stretch was from 44 yards. He also missed an extra point in Week 5.

Carlson, drafted in the sixth round in 2023 to replace 16-year veteran and future Packers Hall of Famer Mason Crosby, made all seven field goals and 10 extra points in his first five NFL games. Then it went south, and he didn't make it to a second season.

Smack appeared on the right track to start his career, but could the same fate await him?

The Packers haven't found a long-term answer at kicker since Crosby left. Carlson, Narveson and veteran Brandon McManus have been the main guys, but the likes of Lucas Havrisik, Greg Joseph, Alex Hale and others you probably don't recall have cycled through the practice fields in Green Bay to no avail.

One of the most perplexing decisions in the post-Crosby era was the Packers' refusal to give Smack any competition. For a franchise that treats competition as its core philosophy, cutting McManus -- just one year into a three-year, $15.3 million extension -- less than two weeks after drafting Smack made little sense.

Has Smack struggled because he wasn't hardened by preseason competition? Maybe. Maybe not.

What we do know is that the Packers can't afford for a rookie kicker to doom them once again. Heck, they can't afford for any kicker to do that. Packers kickers have missed important field goals in three straight postseasons, first from Carlson in 2023 and then from McManus in 2024 and 2025.

Why should fans believe Smack won't do the same based on what he's done -- or hasn't done -- so far?

Smack wasn't the only reason the Packers lost to the Lions on Sunday, but he needs to fix whatever's ailing him before it's too late.

So what now for Smack?

"Just keep trying to do my job."

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.