Green Bay Packers' Mini Bye Comes at Perfect Time for Hobbled Offensive Line

There's no question that the Green Bay Packers' problems on offense this season, both in the run and passing games, have roots in the injuries to and struggles of the offensive line. 

The line was one of the Packers' biggest strengths heading into the season, as the entire starting five—left tackle David Bakhtiari, left guard Josh Sitton, center Corey Linsley, right guard T.J. Lang and right tackle Bryan Bulaga—would be intact from the 2014 season. 

That lineup accomplished great things last season. 

Per Pro Football Focus, Lang was the No. 2 right guard in the league in 2014, and Sitton was the No. 2 left guard. The Packers and the Baltimore Ravens were the only two teams to have two guards rank in the top 10 overall last season. 

Then-rookie Linsley finished the season as the No. 5 center in the league, per Pro Football Focus, a remarkable feat considering that Linsley, drafted by Green Bay in the fifth round last year, didn't even enter training camp as the starting center. 

But right off the bat in 2015, injuries struck, hampering the Packers before they could even start the regular season. Sitton dealt with an ankle injury that forced him to miss the preseason.

Bakhtiari had a knee injury during training camp. 

Bulaga was plagued by an ankle as well, while Lang went through the concussion protocol—all before the regular season kicked off. 

Unfortunately, the pattern has continued into the regular season. 

Bulaga missed Weeks 2 through 4 after sustaining a knee injury in practice prior to the game against the Seattle Seahawks. He had surgery to repair a torn meniscus, and while the initial news was that he would miss six weeks, as NFL Network's Ian Rapoport and Albert Breer reported, the Packers were lucky that he only missed three. 

Still, despite their perfect record during that stretch, it became clear even that early that the Packers were ill-equipped to handle injuries to the starting five. 

Veteran Don Barclay, starting at right tackle over that three-game stretch, allowed 18 quarterback hurries and, in Week 4 against the San Francisco 49ers, a whopping three sacks on Aaron Rodgers per Pro Football Focus, becoming a liability on the field. 

And in Week 12 against the Chicago Bears, every starter on the line appeared on the injury report. 

The situation reached a crisis in Thursday's matchup against the Detroit Lions, where the configuration of the line turned a few heads:

Given that lineup, it's no wonder that the Packers trailed Detroit by 20 points at one point and the offense looked so ineffective.

Indeed, Rodgers felt the effects of his makeshift line: His passer rating of 116.7 against the Lions while not under pressure fell to just 52.4 on the 20 drop-backs on which he was pressured, per Pro Football Focus. 

As Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette pointed out, he barely had time to even drop back before the Lions were in his face.  

The offensive line earned a pass blocking efficiency of 67.9 in Week 13 from Pro Football Focus, which measures "pressure allowed on a per-snap basis with weighting toward sacks allowed." The line allowed 17 pressures on 42 total passing plays. 

The grade was well below Green Bay's season mark of 79.1 in pass blocking efficiency, a strong suggestion that the replacements all over the line—save for at left guard—very much hurt the unit's performance. 

The Packers managed to scrape together a win, and the schedule gods smiled upon them, as they had a mini bye to heal up prior to their matchup against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.  

The Week 14 injury report has not been released yet, but the situation looks promising. Though Bakhtiari missed part of the game against the Lions, head coach Mike McCarthy said he planned on practicing "every day" in the week leading up to Week 14, per Wood.

We'll see whether Bulaga or Lang practice this week, but having the mini bye over the weekend will certainly help. 

If the Packers are going to make a late-season push to keep their spot atop the NFC North, Rodgers will need solid protection and a reliable run game. Getting the starting five back in the lineup is crucial to those goals.