Packers' Barnett Out For Season

Green Bay Packers linebacker Nick Barnett will miss the rest of the 2008 with an apparent knee injury he sustained Sunday in the Packers 28-27 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

Barnett appeared to be injured on the Packers first defensive series of the second half and never returned to the game. Backup Desmond Bishop finished out the game as the middle linebacker.

"I shot downhill, fast, trying to get a shot on him [Peterson], and he cut back," Barnett said after the loss Sunday. "So I tried to cut, and it was just bad footing."

Packers coach Mike McCarthy wouldn't say it was an ACL tear, but told the Green Bay Press-Gazette that he would miss the rest of the season.

"We've lost Nick Barnett for the season because of a ligament tear in his knee," McCarthy said Monday. "So, we just got the word here about a half-hour ago. He's very disappointed. It's unfortunate. But we need the other guys to step up."

Surgery has yet to be scheduled for Barnett, but there's already talk in Packer camp about finding Barnett's replacement for the remainder of the season.

"Well, that's what we're talking about," McCarthy told the Press-Gazette. "We talked about it as a defensive staff this morning, the potentials. Obviously, Desmond Bishop, A.J. Hawk and Brandon Chillar also factor into that, too, so we'll probably make that call [Tuesday]."

Losing Barnett only adds to the Packers' struggles in run-defense, a unit that ranks 28th in the NFL in stopping the run (154.6 yards per game) and gave up 220 yards in Sunday's loss. Peterson ran for 192 of those yards, and scored the game-winning touchdown on a 29-yard scamper with just over two minutes left in the fourth.

Bishop, a second year player out of California, showed his inexperience on a crucial play. Vikings running back Chester Taylor caught a pass on the sideline, side-stepped Bishop, then ran into the endzone untouched for a 47-yard touchdown that put the Vikings up 21-10 in the second half.

"I definitely could've done better," Bishop said about his performance. "The touchdown I gave up was bad."

The Packers play the Chicago Bears Sunday.