David Bakhtiari Injury Knocks Packers From Perch as NFC Favorites

The Green Bay Packers enter the final weekend of the NFL regular season regarded by many as the favorites to represent the NFC at Super Bowl LV in Tampa. With a win over the rival Chicago Bears on Sunday, the Packers will capture the No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Packers are a balanced, talented 12-3 team playing their best football, having blasted the Tennessee Titans on Sunday Night Football in Week 16.

But as they prepared to face the Bears, they suffered a devastating injury—one that threatens their status as the favorites in the NFC and could derail their pursuit of a second championship in the Aaron Rodgers era.

As ESPN's Rob Demovsky reported, 2018 All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari suffered a season-ending torn ACL during a non-contact practice Thursday. Rodgers acknowledged Friday the news threw him for a loop.

"I got a call from him yesterday, late in the afternoon," he said. "I was hoping for some good news. Didn't get it. You gotta move on, but right now it's still a little raw. We're still sad and hurting for Dave, just because it's our brother and it's our left tackle, our teammate. It's been a tough time for us and times that by infinity is probably where he's at right now."

Paul Sancya/Associated Press

Green Bay head coach Matt LaFleur echoed the sentiment that the team is reeling.

"I think everybody kind of handles the grieving process a little bit differently," he said. "I think my job is just to stress to our guys the importance of what we have in front of us and to attack each moment of every day, trying to figure out ways and prepare to the best of our ability to go play a really good football team."

Make no mistake, "calamity" doesn't do the news justice. Bakhtiari was just named to the Pro Bowl for the second consecutive year, as, per Pro Football Focus, he allowed just one sack in 758 snaps. According to PFF, Bakhtiari earned the second-highest grade (91.8) of any tackle.

Bakhtiari is the best player on an offensive line that has allowed just 20 sacks—the fewest in the NFC. The Green Bay offense ranks first in defense-adjusted value over average, per Football Outsiders, in large part because of the holes opened by Bakhtiari and Co. for Aaron Jones. And the time afforded to Rodgers by Bakhtiari and Co.

And now he's out—just six weeks after signing a four-year, $103.5 million contract extension that could leave the Packers with some difficult salary-cap decisions ahead of next season, for which Bakhtiari might not be ready.

Brutal doesn't begin to describe it.

Of course, the Packers can't worry about September. They have to concern themselves with the Bears—and the postseason that will come after.

Matt Ludtke/Associated Press

There's a blueprint for how the Packers might handle Bakhtiari's absence—because this isn't the first time this season he has missed time. When Bakhtiari was out for three games in October and November with a rib injury, Billy Turner shifted to left tackle and Rick Wagner started at right tackle, per Demovsky. LaFleur said he's confident Green Bay will rally:

"I think Billy's done a tremendous job all season long no matter where he's played—right tackle, right guard, left tackle. He's got the right mindset, the right attitude. He comes to work every day ready to go. He's a true pro. That's all those guys in that room.

"Again, I've said it a few times: [offensive line coaches] Adam Stenavich [and] Luke Butkus do a great job with that room, but also those guy take it upon themselves to prepare the right way, and so we're lucky to have [this] group. This is the best offensive line group I've been around, and I'm not even talking about the players. I'm talking about in terms of just the mindset in that room, how the guys prepare, and then I would say it's the best O-line I've ever been around as well."

Wagner, however, has a knee injury, so the Packers could be forced to go back to the drawing board with an alternate plan for the alternate plan—such as moving versatile left guard Elgton Jenkins outside.

As Matt Schneidman of The Athletic noted, Rodgers was sacked just twice in those three games without Bakhtiari. But the Packers' opponents—the Houston Texans, Minnesota Vikings and San Francisco 49ers—missed the playoffs and rank in the bottom half of the league in sacks.

It's going to be different in the postseason—much different. The Los Angeles Rams lead the NFC in sacks. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers rank just behind them. The Arizona Cardinals, Washington Football Team, Seattle Seahawks and New Orleans Saints all rank inside the top 10 overall.

All could be in the NFC bracket.

Green Bay's strategy along the offensive line this year has been simple: rely on Bakhtiari to hold down Rodgers' blind side and give others help as needed. That's out the window now—and the timing couldn't be worse.

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

To be fair, the Packers aren't the only NFC contender who got bad news this week. The Saints (Alvin Kamara) and Buccaneers (Devin White) have had stars land on the reserve/COVID-19 list—placing their availability for the Wild Card Round in jeopardy.

But those players might be back. Bakhtiari won't be. And this isn't the AFC, wherein the Kansas City Chiefs are the clear favorites to reach Tampa. Green Bay's grip on the No. 1 seed isn't ironclad—Seattle and New Orleans could usurp it with help in Week 17. Never mind that one of the NFC wild cards (the Bucs) crushed the Packers 38-10 in Week 6—in large part because they dominated the line of scrimmage.

Getting to the Super Bowl takes more than just a good team. It takes more than just execution on the field. It also takes a bit of good fortune. Avoiding the kind of cataclysmic injury that can spoil a season.

We don't yet know if Bakhtiari's injury will spoil what has been an outstanding season.

But we do know the NFC is even more wide-open now than it was a few days ago.