The Green Bay Packers will begin their road to Super Bowl 60 on Saturday night, as they’ll travel to the Windy City to face the Chicago Bears. The Packers, who lost both regular-season games to Chicago, will hope to be as healthy as they can heading into Saturday’s game.
Green Bay had six players listed as questionable on their final injury report. However, on Friday, the Packers found out that they will not have wideout Dontayvion Wicks for the playoff matchup (h/t @AdamSchefter), which could create an opportunity for rookie wide receiver Matthew Golden.
Green Bay announced that Wicks has been ruled out with a concussion. The 24-year-old wide receiver was a limited participant throughout practice this week and received the questionable tag. Wicks didn’t practice ahead of last week’s regular-season finale and was given the doubtful designation.
Wicks wasn’t going to play a ton of snaps on Saturday night, given that Romeo Doubs, Jayden Reed, and Christian Watson are healthy. However, if one of those guys were to get banged up, Wicks would be next in line to step up. That will not be the case this week, as Golden could be due for an increased role in a win-or-go-home situation.
Matthew Golden Gets the Break He Needs Right Before Playoffs
The first-year WR has not made quite the impact that Packers fans thought he would when Green Bay took him in the first round. Between injuries and the overall depth of Green Bay’s WR room, there are not many opportunities for Golden to make a play.
That said, Green Bay fans thought last week that the rookie receiver would have a good game in the regular season finale vs. Minnesota. That didn’t happen as the Packers’ offense was and looked abysmal.
Clayton Tune got the start under center, and things went downhill from there. Golden only had a reception for eight yards on three targets. During the game, Packers fans were concerned about Golden’s body language. The young wide receiver wasn’t playing with confidence and looked like he didn’t want to be out on the field.
Needless to say, Saturday night’s game offers head coach Matt LaFleur a chance to throw a couple of new wrinkles at Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen involving Golden.
One of those wrinkles could be scheming up a couple of deep shots for Golden, or getting the ball to him in space on short, quick passes. Packers fans would rather see Green Bay make an attempt at doing that than using the rookie on those jet sweeps, which never work.
We know that Golden has the potential to be a playmaker, as we saw it against the Denver Broncos last month – three receptions (four targets) for 55 yards, and earlier this season against the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals.
If the Packers can find Golden in Saturday's playoff game, he could be the x-factor that puts them over the top against their division rival.