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Packers-Bears Inactives: Will Kevin Zeitler Start? Another Surprise on O-Line?

Will Kevin Zeitler play? How about Javon Hargrave? And the Bears’ key injured players? Here’s who’s in and who’s out for Sunday’s Packers-Bears showdown.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Travis Glover will start at right guard against the Bears.
Green Bay Packers offensive lineman Travis Glover will start at right guard against the Bears. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Kevin Zeitler is active for the Green Bay Packers for Sunday’s rivalry showdown against the Chicago Bears, but he will not be the team’s starting right guard.

Based on pregame warmups, Travis Glover will join the No. 1 line alongside left tackle Jordan Morgan, left guard Laken Tomlinson, center Sean Rhyan and right tackle Anthony Belton for the second consecutive week. It marks the first time this season they will use the same starting line.

“I thought they did great,” coach Matt LaFleur said this week of the play of Tomlinson and Glover against the Buccaneers. “I know they each had a penalty, I know Tomlinson had two, but I thought all in all just the whole unit played – that was the best we’ve played together for one game. It wasn’t perfect all the time, but the thing that I liked too was I saw the guys straining up front, there was some physicality that we needed to see and so I thought they did a good job against a pretty good front.”

More on the offensive line in a moment. But first, here are the inactives for both teams.

Four Inactive for Packers

The Packers had to list only four inactives. All of them are linemen:

RG Jacob Monk will miss his second consecutive game with an injured quad. He returned to practice on Friday and was doubtful.

LG Aaron Banks will miss his third consecutive game with knee and toe injuries. He’s played only one-half of a game this season, 22 snaps against the Jets in Week 2. He also returned to practice on Friday and was doubtful.

G/C Donovan Jennings started the season as the next man up at left guard in place of Banks. Now, he’s a healthy scratch after the veteran additions of Kevin Zeitler and Laken Tomlinson.

DT Anthony Campbell will miss a third consecutive game with an ankle injury sustained at the Jets.

The bigger news is that Javon Hargrave, the veteran defensive tackle who is coming off a strong game against Tampa Bay, is active. He was added to the injury report on Friday with a toe injury and listed as questionable.

Rookie guard/center Jager Burton, who missed time this week following back spasms and was questionable is active, as well. He got the call over Jennings.

With Chris Brooks out, running back Pierre Strong is active. Strong was elevated from the practice squad three times last year but never played in a game.

“Man, I could just thank the Lord,” he said after practice on Friday. “Like you said, it was a while but God’s timing is better than everybody’s timing. I’m here now so got to continue to get better.”

Bears Inactives

Out for Chicago are quarterback Caleb Williams and running back Kyle Monangai. Those are two of the team’s best players on offense.

Williams will miss a third consecutive game following a hamstring injury. He practiced on Friday and was listed as questionable but that was just gamesmanship from coach Ben Johnson.

Tyson Bagent will start for a second consecutive game. He threw one interception in a blowout win over the Jets last week but penalties nullified three others.

“I think you go into each week the exact same as far as; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday getting the plan down, being locked in, taking it extremely seriously,” Bagent said of the rivalry this week.

“But to say that this is just like any game just wouldn't be true. It's one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. Easy for the fans to get up for, easy for us to get up for. It'll certainly be a different feel out there and that's why it's so important that we put in the amount of work that we need to this week, get acclimated in a smart way but also in a hurry so we can have our best foot forward going into this weekend.”

Even with a backup quarterback, they are 1.5-point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook on Sunday.

The other inactives for Chicago.

Kevin Zeitler’s Status

The Packers signed Zeitler to stabilize right guard, which had been a real problem with Monk starting there for the first time in his NFL career. Zeitler is in his 15th season and has made 213 career starts.

The question entering this week would be whether two weeks of practice and ramp-up after not being on a team for training camp would be enough for the 36-year-old.

“We’ll see,” coach Matt LaFleur said before Friday’s practice. “He’s been practicing the last two days. He’ll be out there today. A lot of it is just how comfortable he is, and we’ll go from there.”

How would that be determined?

“There’s a lot of communication with the player and certainly how they’re performing out there, as well,” LaFleur said.

 So, what would Zeitler say as part of that conversion?

The veteran wouldn’t bite.

“I’m just keep going,” he said after Friday’s practice. “I’m going to let that be on the coaches. If they know what they see and everything and I know what I feel, we’ll keep attacking and when gameday gets here, we’ll make the call.”

As he spoke, it was unclear if Zeitler was talking like a smart veteran not wanting to let the cat out of the bag or if he knew he wouldn’t be starting.

With Glover starting, the Packers will use the same starting guard combination for the first time this season. The Packers will have the same starting five, as well.

Week 1 vs. the Vikings: LG Donovan Jennings, RG Jacob Monk.

Week 2 vs. the Jets: LG Aaron Banks, RG Jacob Monk.

Week 3 vs. the Falcons: LG Jager Burton, RG Jacob Monk.

Week 4 vs. the Buccaneers: LG Laken Tomlinson, RG Travis Glover.

Week 5 vs. the Bears: LG Laken Tomlinson, RG Travis Glover.

Said LaFleur: “I think there's no greater thing than continuity up front, and so the more people play together, the more that grows, and the more those guys are on the same page – getting off on the same snap count and being able to play off one another – I think that's critical. And so, yeah, I'm looking forward to that.”

The Packers’ line is coming off its best game of the season in the 34-year-old Tomlinson’s debut.

“I thought the O-line kicked butt last week and they did a lot of great things, especially in all the heat down there, and I was really pumped about that,” Zeitler said. “That’s a good thing. The more people playing well, the better.”

Zeitler said he felt “much better” mentally following a second week of practice. Physically, he’s feeling strong.

“Yeah, finally getting to practice again, you feel those feelings and those tiny muscles that haven’t fired in so long are firing,” he said. “So, overall, feel good.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.