GREEN BAY – The stretch run of last season and the early stages of this one share a common course of action for the Packers.
Navigating injuries, and significant ones.
As far as the big picture is concerned, with an NFC North home showdown versus the Bears arriving Sunday, the key difference is in the timing.
The worst of the Packers' injuries last year came late in the season, providing little time to adjust and compensate to keep things on track.
This year, if there's any silver lining to the key players the Packers have lost, it's that there's enough time to figure out what's needed without them and establish a new way to move forward.
New linebacker and defensive captain Zaire Franklin put that in perspective this week in discussing the latest season-ending injury, to his position mate Edgerrin Cooper.
"I had a coach tell me once, every season, you're gonna lose somebody that you thought you couldn't live without, whether that's off the field, injury," Franklin said. "It's just the teams that continue to grow and build through that adversity and those changes that are ultimately successful at the end. I think you just keep rolling with the punches, keep staying together as a group and keep getting better every week."
That's exactly what the Packers weren't able to do a year ago when the major injuries to prominent players piled up.
The offense managed to recover from the loss of tight end Tucker Kraft in early November, having a rough showing the following week (seven points at home vs. Philly) but then averaging 27 points per game over a four-game winning streak thereafter, in part due to the return of Christian Watson from a long injury absence.
But once defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt went down on Thanksgiving, followed by star pass rusher Micah Parsons and right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele in mid-December, there wasn't enough runway left in the season to settle in without them. It felt too late, and the results indicated as much.
This season, once again Bako-Bewele is out for the year, along with receiver Jayden Reed and now Cooper. Adjustments are being made, as Anthony Belton has taken over at right tackle, Skyy Moore is getting more snaps at receiver with Savion Williams soon to come off injured reserve, and some combination of Isaiah McDuffie and Ty'Ron Hopper will fill the linebacker void.
The NFL schedule waits for no one, and things always must be processed quickly. With plenty of games left, the Packers can see if they've found the right answers or must search for more.
Regarding the latest with Cooper, "replacing" him could involve a lot more than the linebackers. Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon turned to safety Evan Williams as a crunch-time blitzer last week at Tampa Bay, and fellow safeties Xavier McKinney and Javon Bullard could get those chances at any point now, too. They won't be shying away from the responsibility.
"I don't know nobody that don't want to get their number called to make plays," Bullard said when asked about possibly getting more impact-play opportunities. "If you don't want to get your number called, there's something wrong with you. You want to be the guy that changes the game. If my number's called and I'm able to make that play, God willing, I'm going to make that play. So (shoot), I hope so."
There's no telling if the big injuries are done, obviously. More could always crop up, but at least for now, the list of changes can be tested, or perhaps augmented down the road.
The other factors in the 2026 picture are the eventual return of Parsons to the defense and the re-emergence of the old Kraft on offense.
Kraft is the first to admit he's not all the way back to the player he was prior to reconstructive knee surgery. He's fully healthy, but after all the time he missed, picking up where he left off as one of the offense's most dangerous weapons wasn't realistic.
He has 15 catches for 148 yards and found the end zone for the first time last week, but he's uncharacteristically dropped a few passes and been flagged for a couple penalties. He said this week he's "still waiting for the big one," that yards-after-catch explosive play during which he runs through a couple tacklers and fires up the whole sideline and home crowd.
"I'm going to continue to attack that," Kraft said. "The football is coming to me. What am I doing with the ball?
"I want to bear the stress of the offense. I want it to be, drive's on line, game's on the line, my number gets called. There's some things we have to clean up for sure but as I said, season's young. We're going to continue to keep it rolling."
Season's young. There's time for the injury adjustments to take root and for a couple of stars to return to full capacity.
The Packers just have to chalk up enough wins to stay in the hunt until all that happens. Beating the Bears would almost count for two.
