GREEN BAY – With the Packers locked into the No. 7 seed for the NFC playoffs, Head Coach Matt LaFleur was noncommittal Sunday about how to handle the Week 18 game at Minnesota with nothing at stake.
Discussions are underway, with more updates coming as the week unfolds. Certainly the Packers are banged up, with a lengthy list of players on the injury report as the regular season winds down. Getting rested, recovered and as healthy as possible for the playoffs will be a strong consideration.
“Nothing’s been decided,” LaFleur said. “It was a tough lesson a year ago in regards to what we lost going into the wild-card round.”
LaFleur was referring to receiver Christian Watson’s season-ending knee injury and quarterback Jordan Love’s injured hand from last year’s regular-season finale, during which the Packers only could’ve improved their playoff seed by one spot.
Currently, Love is still working his way through the concussion protocol, while two defensive reserves in lineman Jordon Riley (Achilles) and cornerback Kamal Hadden (ankle) were both lost for the season in Saturday night’s loss to Baltimore. Three other players – cornerback Nate Hobbs (knee), safety Zayne Anderson (ankle) and receiver Dontayvion Wicks (concussion) – also exited the game.
Backup QB Malik Willis came out late due to a reaggravation of his shoulder injury, though he could’ve returned if the Packers had still been within striking distance. He’s expected to be available this week, but LaFleur confirmed Love will be the team’s starter for the playoffs once he’s medically cleared.
With the team struggling through a three-game losing streak, getting things back on the right track will be part of the thought process for Week 18 as well. Regardless, with just a 53-man roster and a litany of injuries, plenty of starters will have to play against the Vikings. It’s not like a preseason game with a 90-man roster where all the starters can sit out.
“Whether you rest certain individuals, you’re kind of limited, especially (in) our situation right now with the number of injuries that occurred,” LaFleur said. “Guys are gonna have to play ball. They better approach it in such a way that they’re getting their mind ready to go play ball.”
Top of mind to get squared away will be the run defense, which provided little resistance against the Ravens’ 300-yard rushing attack, led by Derrick Henry’s 216-yard, four-TD night.
After digesting the game film, LaFleur lamented all the “mis-alignments and missed assignments” he saw and admitted it was “really bothersome” to see such basic miscues and breakdowns in the 16th game of the season when the calls go back to training camp playbook installations.
Players were brought in Sunday for a difficult film review session, and LaFleur suggested some might’ve been trying to do too much against the Ravens, losing sight of their responsibilities in the process. To get things fixed, he started to say players have to step up their game, then caught himself.
“They’ve got to do their job. How ’bout that?” he said. “All 11 on the field, gotta do their job. Nothing more, nothing less.
“Everybody does their job, we got a chance.”
For the third straight year, the Packers hold the bottom seed for the playoffs and will be road warriors for as long as they last, starting with a matchup against the conference’s No. 2 team, which will be either the Bears or Eagles. It’s not the position they wanted to be in, but it’s a familiar one.
“It’s the mindset (of) anytime, anyplace, anywhere,” LaFleur said. “You’ve just got to be ready to play ball.”
