Appreciating progress
How Packers tackle David Bakhtiari forced himself to seek the light in the darkest moment of his career.
GREEN BAY - David Bakhtiari screamed and cried and crutched as fast as he could to Dr. Patrick McKenzie's office when he heard the MRI results that abruptly changed the Green Bay Packers' season on New Year's Eve.
He had clung to hope since leaving the practice field after awkwardly twisting his knee. Yes, Bakhtiari was initially worried when he first tried to put weight on that left leg three days before the Packers were to finish their
regular season in Chicago. “Oh,” he thought to himself, “I did something that I’ve never done before.” Still, he expected to avoid the worst, because the worst was unfathomable. For him. For a team that appeared destined for Super Bowl LV.
Before those MRI results, Bakhtiari assured his fiancée, Frankie, he would probably only miss the Packers’ finale in Chicago. If the Packers won — and he expected them to win, even without him — they got the bye. Bakhtiari would have two more weeks to rest and recover for the playoffs.
Because of course Bakhtiari, the AllPro left tackle, would be ready for the playoffs. He had to be.
Then the doctor called.
“I remember crutching after my MRI,” Bakhtiari said, “screaming at Doc as I’m almost speed-crutching over to his office that, ‘I better not hear anything that starts with an A.’ That’s just kind of my mentality, and something I can look back on and laugh now. But, yeah, it definitely was a whirlwind of emotion. I definitely freaked out when I heard, and he had to deliver the news.
“I was just in disbelief and crying, because I take a lot of pride in this.”
Bakhtiari can laugh about it now, because the worst is over. He took 36 hours to sulk after learning his left ACL was torn, ending his season and ultimately the Packers’ shot at their first Super Bowl title in a decade. Bakhtiari knew the long, arduous journey ahead, having witnessed good friend and longtime teammate Bryan Bulaga recover from not one, but two torn ACLs.
He didn’t want to go down that road, Bakhtiari told close friends and family, but he had no choice.
So two days after injury, Bakhtiari forced himself to seek the light in the darkest moment of his career. “I decided,” Bakhtiari put it, “to end my pouting session.” Bakhtiari tricked his mind into appreciating progress, slow as it came. Surgery came five days later, on Jan. 7, and Bakhtiari started his recovery. He gradually put more weight on his left leg. His range of motion improved. Eventually, he made a full rotation pedaling a stationary bike.
Then more progress. There was the first time Bakhtiari walked without crutches. The first time he jogged. The first time he climbed a flight of stairs.
Bakhtiari said he had a “good support staff ” around him, and not just medically. The road back from a torn ACL is physically draining. The emotional toll might be even harder.
“I am a very prideful individual,” Bakhtiari said, “and for me, asking someone to help me to the bathroom, that weighed on me.”
As news of the injury spread, Bakhtiari said his phone began lighting up. He heard from many former Packers teammates, including Jordy Nelson and Bulaga. Both knew what a successful return from a torn ACL looked like. Nelson, who tore his ACL in the second preseason game of 2015, was the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year in 2016 after returning to lead the league with 14 touchdown catches.
Bulaga’s advice might have been most invaluable. He returned from his pair of torn ACLs — his left knee in 2013, right in 2017 — to reestablish himself as one of the NFL’s best right tackles. Bakhtiari said Bulaga was constantly accessible during the early stages of his recovery.
“He plays the same position that I play,” Bakhtiari said. “Granted, opposite side, but plays at a very high level. So just knowing that he has been through something like this, and he has come back and performed at a high level, gives me faith in the process. Because it’s very humbling, and I have a whole newfound respect now personally going through it.
“He took any of my calls when I was really curious early on about any little thing, and he gave me a lot of good, sound advice, and at times just wanted to console me and calm me down, which I really appreciated. I can’t really thank him enough.”
It’s impossible to know what might have happened in the NFC championship game if Bakhtiari had played, but the Packers surely wonder. Without their All-Pro left tackle, the offensive line imploded against a Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive front that might have been the NFL’s best. Aaron Rodgers was sacked five times, each coming from edge rushers Shaquille Barrett (three) and Jason Pierre-Paul (two). The constant pressure made it difficult for the Packers’ offense to find consistency.
Bakhtiari did everything he could to compensate for his loss on the field. He effectively became another coach, pulling teammates aside with advice. Bakhtiari never hesitated to share any observation that might help. Still, it wasn’t enough.
“I mean,” Bakhtiari said when asked if the Packers would have advanced to the Super Bowl with him on the field, “coulda, shoulda, woulda. I don’t know.”
For Bakhtiari, the biggest pain might have been watching that NFC championship game, unable to do more. A year earlier, he’d lost his third NFC title game in six seasons during a beatdown at San Francisco. Standing at his locker after the game, Bakhtiari searched for words when asked what a third loss on that stage felt like.
“I’m (expletive) annoyed,” he finally said. “It’s like a monkey we can’t get off our back.”
For so much of 2020, it seemed the Packers were about to shed that monkey, finally crossing the threshold. Until a “fluke” forced Bakhtiari to watch helplessly as another season fell short.
Bakhtiari’s focus is shifted on the future now. During OTAs and minicamp, he has rehabbed on the sideline during practice. He’ll sidestep against rubber band resistance, or hop on his left leg, testing its strength and balance.
The Packers have been impressed with his recovery. Coach Matt LaFleur said last week Bakhtiari might even be ahead of schedule, though the Packers will be deliberate in his return. Offensive line coach Adam Stenavich said he has no “certain date” he expects Bakhtiari to play.
“He’s doing everything in his power to get back as soon as possible,” Stenavich said. “For me, an NFL season is an extremely long season. So the worst thing you can do is rush a guy back, and bring a guy back too soon, where he’s not playing at a high level, or he hurts himself.”
Bakhtiari expects to return at the level he was playing before injury, like Bulaga and Nelson. Of course, he’d like that to be as soon as possible, but there’s a long time until the season begins.
An ACL recovery is unpredictable. He knows patience is required.
With his usual wit, Bakhtiari provided no clues on his return.
“I have no problem saying that I will 100 percent be ready for training camp,” Bakhtiari said, pausing for effect, “in 2022.”