The Green Bay Packers enter the week with a 6–3–1 record as they get ready to face the 4–6 Minnesota Vikings for the first time this year. This matchup kicks off a stretch of three consecutive games against NFC North opponents, giving Green Bay a prime chance to seize control of the division.
However, the Packers will be missing several key offensive players on Sunday. Starting center Elgton Jenkins is out indefinitely with a broken leg, and tight end Tucker Kraft will miss the remainder of the season after tearing his ACL.
Wide receiver Jayden Reed also has yet to return to practice following early-season surgery on his collarbone and foot. To add to the uncertainty, the team still doesn’t know whether Pro Bowl running back Josh Jacobs will be available.
Jacobs has quietly put together one of the league’s most overlooked seasons by a running back. Although he sits 15th in rushing yards with 648, he’s second in the NFL with 11 rushing touchdowns—trailing only the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor, who has 15.
As temperatures drop, the Packers expect to lean on Jacobs even more to wear down opposing defenses. But a knee injury from Green Bay’s Week 11 win over the New York Giants may keep him sidelined for their late-November meeting with Minnesota.
Jacobs exited that game early with what was later diagnosed as a knee contusion. Initial fears of a serious injury were eased when scans revealed no structural damage. He sat out early-week practices but participated in individual drills on Thursday.
For now, he remains day-to-day.
When speaking to reporters Thursday, Jacobs pointed to the notorious MetLife Stadium turf as the cause of his injury:
“Definitely the worst. Always been the worst. I know if I ever play there again I will never talk about it because I talked about it all week, how bad it was, and it bit me in the a–.”
This season alone, the Giants lost their top receiver, Malik Nabers, to an ACL tear on the same field.
It raises a serious question: what will it take for stadiums with hazardous artificial turf to finally switch to natural grass?
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