The Green Bay Packers' entire season is under threat after losing star pass rusher Micah Parsons to injury, believes Phoebe Schecter.
Parsons was ruled out for the remainder of the campaign this week after suffering a torn ACL in last Sunday's defeat to the Denver Broncos.
Green Bay's first test in his absence arrives on Saturday night when the Packers take on the Chicago Bears in a defining all-NFC North contest, live on Your Site NFL from 1.20am in the early hours of Sunday.
Parsons arrived at Lambeau Field in a blockbuster trade from the Dallas Cowboys a week before the campaign, adding an elite defensive focal point to a team deemed on the brink of Championship contention. Now, Matt LaFleur's side must do it without him.
"That changes so much," said Your Site NFL's Schecter on Inside the Huddle. "It's pretty incredible how much can change in just a couple of weeks in the NFL.
"You go from being a team who is being compared to or being challenged to go in to make it to the Super Bowl to now, I don't know if they're going to even make it deep into the playoffs. Will they make it past a wild card weekend?
"When these two teams met last in Green Bay, an interception was the difference of winning and losing essentially, and they still had Micah Parsons. He is the fourth-quarter closer for this team.
"He allows this defense to operate at the level in which they want to. And I fear now for this team without Parsons and without Christian Watson, who is just explosive."
Parsons has mustered 12.5 sacks since joining the Packers, while wide receiver Christian Watson, Jordan Love's chief deep threat, has been nursing injury, although looks on course to feature against the Bears.
"He takes so much attention," said Schecter of Watson. "He can take the top off of defense and open it up for others. And we've seen how he's benefited Jordan Love, his quarterback rating jumps by about 25 per cent."
The loss of Parsons has heightened the importance of pass rush partner Rashan Gary, who has 7.5 sacks on the year.
"We can still write our story," said Gary.
"I've just got to be myself. When guys are thinking that they need to do more than what they've been doing, you start to strain, start to try to find plays that's not there."
The Packers were 28-21 winners when the two sides met on December 7, Keisean Nixon icing the game with an end-zone interception of Caleb Williams on fourth-and-one with 22 seconds remaining.
Both teams can secure playoff berths with a victory in addition to a loss of tie for the Detroit Lions against the Pittsburgh Steelers, while both would get in with a tie were the Lions to lose. Chicago sit top of the NFC North at 10-4 as they seek to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2020, with the Packers second at 9-4-1 having gone 4-0 against division rivals this season.
"It's a really good football team and a really good defense," said Bears head coach Ben Johnson. "I know you kind of lock in on one player, because he does garner a lot of your attention when you go against that defense, and yet, they have some high-calibre players throughout, on the defensive line, the linebacking core and on the back end.
"Just because one player goes down, that doesn't mean that this is going to change a whole lot for them."
The Bears rank second in rushing offense in the league behind D'Andre Swift, Kyle Monangai and the ground threat of quarterback Caleb Williams, while leading the NFL in turnovers on defense with a 21 interceptions and nine fumbles.
Williams has naturally warranted a more intense spotlight as he looks to live up to the billing as the eagerly-awaited No 1 overall pick from last year's Draft. He enters Saturday 266 of 459 passing (58 per cent) for 3,150 yards, 21 touchdowns and six interceptions with a passer rating of 88.8, victories, a playoff-bound season and glimpses of magic for now relaxing question marks over his accuracy.
"I still think Caleb will make some kind of inaccurate throws at times, but you see why they drafted him," said Schecter.
"You see that arm strength and skill and the way it kind of jumps out of his hands. He is phenomenal at what he does and as he's getting more comfortable doing a lot more of the under center work, you can see what the plan is for this offense.
"And then you've got Ben Johnson, who I feel has settled nicely into his role as head coach and understanding how to manage a whole team because there's so much learning for kind of him and Caleb on this journey."
The Packers are 30-6 against the Bears since the beginning of the 2008 campaign, and had won 11 straight against their long-time rivals before falling to Chicago in the final game of the season last year. The Bears are on a five-game winning streak at Soldier Field since their opening-day defeat to the Minnesota Vikings, their best home streak since 2005.
Watch the Washington Commanders face the Philadelphia Eagles live on Your Site NFL from 10pm on Saturday night, followed by the Green Bay Packers against the Chicago Bears at a huge NFC North clash at 1.20am in the early hours of Sunday morning
