It was a peaceful week away.
No trips to Lambeau, press conferences or zoom sessions. The hiatus ended today as Packers Head Coach Matt LaFleur met reporters for the first time since the day after his team beat the Los Angeles Rams to hit their bye week with a 9-3 record and a comfortable lead in the NFC North race.
It got even more comfortable during the NFL Sunday without the Pack as the Detroit Lions stunned the Minnesota Vikings 29-27 with a walk off touchdown for their first win of the season, dropping Minnesota to 5-7 and the Pack’s next opponent, the Chicago Bears, slipped to 4-8 falling to the Arizona Cardinals 33-22.
A third straight division title could be clinched as early as this Sunday night if Minnesota falls again at home to Pittsburgh Thursday and Green Bay makes it a season sweep of the Bears.
LaFleur said the week off was spent going over the first 12 games, what went right, wrong and how they can get better for the final five game stretch. With the bye coming so late, he said there might be a sliver lining taking a fresher team into the December drive than the opponents left on the schedule.
A glimmer of hope emerged from today’s media session when LaFleur said “potentially” David Bakhtiari, Jaire Alexander and Za’Darius Smith could return to the practice field on Wednesday when the Chicago preparations begin in earnest. There’s no guarantee they’ll play this week or even next however as all three are returning from significant injuries and taking part in practice is just the first step in ramping up to become game ready. Still, it looks like a little light at the end of a long tunnel for Bakhtiari who would be making his season debut, Smith, out since the opener and Alexander who has has had to sit through 8 games.
Rookie center Josh Myers however, still isn’t close after dealing with a finger and then a more serious knee injury.
Linebacker De’Vondre Campbell continues to quarantine after being placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list last Tuesday. LaFleur said Campbell is asymptomatic and will be involved virtually with meetings and the hope is he’ll get back in the building by Friday and be available for Sunday’s game with Chicago.
Late Monday afternoon, the Packers announced that Jordan Love has been placed on the Reserve/COVID-19 list. When forced to start with Aaron Rodgers on the list for the Kansas City game, Love revealed he has been vaccinated so it must have been a positive test when he returned from the weekend off. There’s an outside chance he’ll be back for the weekend if he tests negative on consecutive days by week’s end. If not, Kurt Benkert, who just came out of COVID protocols, will be the backup for Rodgers.
Aaron’s broken left pinkie toe continued to heal with off-week treatment and rehabilitation and he might not get a lot of practice reps again this week so Benkert could handle some, if not all the snaps.
Rodgers had indicated surgery on the toe was still a possibility but when asked if a procedure was scheduled, LaFleur said “not to my knowledge.”
The team gets back on it’s regular routine after conducting meetings today, a Tuesday off before Bear week begins on Wednesday.
