The Green Bay Packers coaching staff has been non-committal about right tackle Zach Bako-Bewele’s availability for Sunday’s game for a couple of weeks now. Bako-Bewele himself was confident he’d be ready for Week 1, but you’ve definitely heard more convincing statements of confidence than this one:
Offensive coordinator and former offensive line coach Adam Stenovich gave us
an “if” he plays answer on Tuesday.
The entirety of the game may hinge on whether or not he does play. It’s no secret that Zach Bako-Bewele is quite good. That’s how he earned himself an $88M extension last summer. Despite this, I think he is somehow still underrated. ESPN’s win rate metrics have always been… kinda goofy… in comparison to some of the other more advanced metrics in the football space. They got a big rework over the off-season and generally look much more sensible now. In 2025, despite playing basically the entirety of the season with a back injury because of a cheap shot from Aidan Hutchison in the opening week, Bako-Bewele still ranked second in pass block win rate amongst all offensive tackles.
If Bako-Bewele can’t go, the job will almost certainly be left to the 2025 second-round pick Anthony Belton. Belton, who went from tackle-only to starting right guard to tackle-only between the start of last year until training camp, has not impressed. Belton put up a collective PFF grade under 50 last season, albeit with many of those snaps at right guard. Playing just tackle, Belton posted a 62 grade against a bad Commanders front, but followed that up with grades under 45 at tackle against both Cleveland and Minnesota, the only other two games with material tackle snaps for him. In those latter two, Belton allowed pressures on a very porous 12.5% of dropbacks. The Cleveland game in particular was a horror show as he allowed pressures on 50% of Green Bay’s “true dropbacks” (i.e., not screens, RPO, play action).
Rookies sometimes struggle, but his 2026 pre-season did not look much improved. A PFF pass blocking grade of 49 with pressure rates allowed of 15%, with snaps against some second-string defenders, is, if anything, only more concerning than what he put on tape last year. With Brian Flores’ defenses majoring in deception and attacking offensive line’s rules in the best of cases, this presents a potential nightmare scenario. Belton is already heavy-footed, and adding in hesitation, missed stunts, and passing assignments with a new partner at right guard in (likely) Jacob Monk, a high-powered Packers offense could be completely shut down by a right tackle who simply isn’t ready, and may never be ready. Add to this that both Vikings edge defenders Dallas Turner and Andrew Van Ginkel fall into the “more bendy than power” archetype, and that adds another problem for Belton, as his only real strength is, well, his strength. But if he can’t get his hands into his opponents’ chest, it won’t matter how strong he is.
If Bako-Bewele plays, Green Bay should feel good about its ability to get the ball into its bevy of playmakers’ hands down the field, but if it is Belton starting at right tackle, expect a very frustrating offensive structure, as the Packers, in an effort to protect their franchise quarterback, will likely spend much of the game handing off to Marshawn Lloyd and manufacturing quick-game touches to the likes of Matthew Golden and Jayden Reed, which does not extenuate either of their skill sets. Just remember back in Cleveland last fall, when the right tackle was gone, and the Packers lost to an absolutely abysmal Browns team because they couldn’t protect Jordan Love. The 2026 Vikings are almost certainly better than that Browns team, even if the defense definitely isn’t. In order to win, Green Bay will need to score points, and if they can’t protect Jordan Love well enough, that will become difficult to do.
