Injuries Sidetracked Packers; Injuries Might Get Them Back on Track

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Micah Parsons remains sidelined by last year’s torn ACL. Jayden Reed and Zach Bako-Bewele suffered serious injuries during the opening plays against the Jets. Two-fifths of the starting offensive line was out of commission for the blowout loss to Atlanta.

The injuries have contributed to the Green Bay Packers’ staggering start to the season. Now, injuries could get them back on their feet.

On Sunday, the Packers will play at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their veteran quarterback, Baker Mayfield, suffered an injured thumb on his throwing hand in the waning moments of their loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

#Bucs QB Baker Mayfield appears to injury his right thumb after this INT to allow the #Vikings to seal a win. pic.twitter.com/jF3QGYVKAB
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 27, 2026

“He got a dislocated thumb,” Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles said after the game. “He’s going to get an MRI tomorrow just to see exactly what inside is wrong with it. So, we'll know more tomorrow. The X-rays didn't show [it was broken] but the MRI tomorrow will show more.”

The following week, the Packers will host the Chicago Bears in a rivalry grudge match. Bears quarterback Caleb Williams will miss Monday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles with a hamstring injury and he might not be ready to face Green Bay, either.

According to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter, the injury “could sideline him for three to four weeks,” which would mean Williams is out for the game at Lambeau Field.

Packers at Buccaneers

The Packers are having all sorts of problems, but everything is rosy compared to what’s going on in Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers are 0-3, the only winless team in the NFC. However, they lost by six at Cincinnati, four at home against Cleveland and seven at home against Minnesota.

“We’re 0-3 and we’re a game out of first place (in the NFC South). So, we have to get our stuff together,” Bowles said. “We have to reach down and do more. To a coach, to a person, to a player, we have to do more and figure out what we can do more (of) and how we can be better and come back tomorrow and get ready to go.”

Mayfield is a premier player but has struggled to start the season with an 80.0 passer rating. Mayfield was intercepted on the play he was injured, which came one play after the 2-minute warning. Undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels got one desperation drive and threw three incompletions.

“It's Jalon right now,” Bowles said. “We haven't really gotten into it yet. We'll see what the MRI says tomorrow and then we'll kind of talk amongst ourselves and see. But, right now, Jalon probably would go in.”

Daniels spent six seasons at Kansas. He had three seasons in which he topped 2,000 passing yards. As a senior in 2025, he completed 62.1 percent of his passes with 22 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Plus, he rushed for 550 yards and four touchdowns (but with 10 fumbles).

During the preseason, he completed 27-of-44 (61.4 percent) for 239 yards with one touchdown and zero interceptions.

“Learning the offense and being able to learn how to communicate with everybody on the team,” Daniels told Pewter Report on Sunday about the value of the preseason. “Going to be depending on those preseason reps. Going forward, we’re going to see what’s next.”

The Buccaneers are 20th with 20.7 points per game and 28th with 279.3 yards per game.

They were a woeful 2-of-17 on third down against Minnesota and were guilty of eight penalties for 81 yards. The Bucs gave up six sacks and 12 quarterback hits.

“It was a little bit of everything,” Bowles said in sounding a bit like Packers coach Matt LaFleur. “I’ve said it again and again. We've got to see what the penalty situation looks like. We've got to see whether it was play-calling, quarterback, offensive line – it's everybody included in that. We've got to do better on third down.”

Veteran Easton Stick is on the practice squad. He hasn’t played in a game since 2023, when he made all four career starts. The Chargers lost all four, but he threw three touchdowns and one interception.

Packers vs. Bears

If Williams is out with the hamstring injury sustained last week against the Vikings, the Bears’ other quarterback options are Tyson Bagent and Case Keenum. Bagent, who is the No. 2 quarterback on the depth chart, spent most of the week in the concussion protocol. He was full participation on Saturday and is off the final injury report for Monday’s game against the Eagles.

Bagent started four games in 2023 as an undrafted rookie from Shepherd. He completed 65.7 percent of his passes with three touchdowns, six interceptions and a passer rating of 71.4. He won two of the starts; the two losses were road games, where he threw five interceptions.

He threw two passes in 2024, four passes in 2025 and nine passes in relief of Williams last week.

Keenum is 38 and hasn’t played in a game since starting two games for the Texans in 2023. He’s started 66 games in his career.

“We’re fortunate here,” Bears coach Ben Johnson said this week of the quarterback group assembled by general manager Ryan Poles. “We've got three guys that can play ball in this league, that've won games in this league. Ryan's constructed the room in a way that we feel really good about whoever ends up playing for us and that showed in the preseason.”

Of Bagent and Keenum, Johnson said:

“There's a different skill-set, obviously. One guy [Bagent is] a little bit more mobile than the other, and yet both are very cerebral players. I know they'll be mentally prepared for the game, and we'll see what it looks like, but there's a reason why Tyson was the backup as we ended camp. We felt good about who he is as a player and what he can bring to the table with this offense.”

Of course, the Packers have to clean up their own house and can’t count on beating backup quarterbacks.

Receiver Christian Watson believes the team can turn it around. Why?

“The fact that we’ve seen it,” he said. “We’re out there busting our ass every single day to get better. Obviously, throughout the offseason and the start of OTAs, through training camp, I think we saw a lot of great things. We just got to find a way to put it together. It gives me hope that I’ve seen it, but potential only takes you so far. We got to find a way to put that out there on Sunday … or Thursdays.”

Belatedly due to some personal stuff, here are this week's Packers Overreactions, featuring

The offensive line
The stupidest decision from Thursday
An updated prediction for the season record ⬇️https://t.co/k7HLdg61pV
— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 26, 2026

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