Zach Tom, Christian Watson, and Evan Williams are three of the Green Bay Packers’ most important players. All three of them left Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos with injuries, and none returned to the game.
Then, late in the third quarter, Micah Parsons crumpled to the turf with an apparent ACL tear in his left knee. It was a brutal afternoon for Green Bay; even if any of the other players are able to avoid missing time, Parsons’ absence will be massive for a defense that has struggled to get pressure the quarterback or stops in critical times from players other than their superstar defensive end.
And yet, the Packers are still favored in Week 16’s rematch with the Chicago Bears, who soundly defeated the Cleveland Browns 31-3 on Sunday. The early-week line for Saturday night’s game is 1.5 points in the Packers’ favor, according to FanDuel sportsbook, as Green Bay heads a few hours down the road for a game that could well decide the NFC North.
This line comes amid speculation that Watson’s injury may not keep him out on Saturday, while Tom and Williams both believe their injuries to be relatively minor. Still, any combination of them are in play to miss this next game, particularly with a long trip home from Denver on Sunday night and a short week ahead.
The game against Denver started out with the Packers favored by 2.5, but the line closed down to just one point at game time. Keep a close eye out on the line as injury reports come out this week, however. Watson and Williams’ availability will be particularly important; after all, Watson has provided the offense with a spark as a deep threat (and he scored a pair of long touchdowns last time out against Chicago) while Williams has been a key piece of the run defense when supporting from his safety position.
The Parsons factor may be most evident in the total points line, which is set a bit higher this week than it was in the Packers’ last matchup with the Bears two weeks ago. In week 14, the over/under was 43.5, which the teams crossed over in a 28-21 Packers win. This week’s game has seen that number swell by a full field goal to 46.5. However, weather conditions could also be in play; the extended forecast for Chicago has predicted temperatures in the mid-30s Fahrenheit at game time on Saturday, a nice increase over the 16 degree temperatures at kickoff at Lambeau Field 8 days ago.
