Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Bakhtiari’s season reaches an odd ending
Green Bay — If David Bakhtiari was going to play only 27 snaps in his first season back from a torn ACL, the Green Bay Packers picked the worst time for them.
Bakhtiari, if no one else, seemed to have an idea of the risk the Packers were accepting when they sent him onto the field at the Detroit Lions earlier this month. He originally planned to be inactive in Detroit, a game that meant nothing for the Packers’ playoff seeding after clinching home-field advantage a week prior. That the Lions play indoors on turf only emphasized the unnecessary gamble.
A midweek text from Aaron Rodgers changed those plans. The quarterback needed to see his blindside blocker in action just once before the playoffs. Bakhtiari, eager to please the MVP, obliged Rodgers’ request. But for all the influence the Packers ceded to Rodgers over the past year, the decision ultimately was not his to make.
If coach Matt LaFleur was questioned last offseason for choosing to kick a field goal instead of attempting the go-ahead touchdown on fourth-and-goal in the NFC championship game, he’ll receive no less scrutiny for allowing Bakhtiari to play in Detroit. Because instead of getting 27 snaps in a game that might have actually helped the Packers’ season, namely last week’s 13-10 playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Bakhtiari’s season ended in Detroit.
“That’s a tough one to answer,” LaFleur said when asked if it was a mistake for Bakhtiari to play in Detroit, “in regards to you could say yes, because he didn’t play in the playoffs. And, maybe, I don’t know if it truly impacted his ability to play in the playoffs or not, but I think it’s definitely a fair question in terms of why did we make that decision. And it was just one that we all felt — including himself — that he would be able to go, and we thought that would kind of get everything behind us.
“Ultimately, it didn’t work out that way.”
This was never the plan, wasting those 27 snaps. The Packers hoped their Week 18 trip to Detroit would serve as a springboard for their All-Pro left tackle, allowing him to withstand a full game two weeks later in the NFC divisional round. That plan went horribly wrong. When the Packers returned from Detroit, LaFleur said, he was initially “optimistic” he would have his left tackle ready for the postseason. Bakhtiari didn’t practice when the team returned to the field Wednesday of its bye, an absence it downplayed as more “load management,” but was in pads a day later.
The absence was hardly alarming at the time. Bakhtiari missed a practice the previous week but played in Detroit anyway.
In hindsight, perhaps his “load management” day Jan. 8, three days before playing the Lions, should have been another warning that Bakhtiari’s surgically repaired left knee was not ready.
But his inconsistent reps on the practice field continued after returning from Detroit. In six practices between the Lions and 49ers, Bakhtiari practiced only three times. He eventually was inactive for the biggest game of the season.
Bakhtiari, who did not respond to interview requests, detailed to fan website Cheesehead TV what went wrong in those two weeks. Upon his initial return to practice in October (from an ACL tear suffered on New Year’s Eve of 2020), Bakhtiari’s left knee had between 80 and 100 cubic centimeters of fluid. After a knee scope in November, the fluid dissipated to between 50 and 60 cubic centimeters entering Detroit. It wasn’t quite at the 33 cubic centimeters Bakhtiari described as his “money zone” for maximum performance, but the Packers deemed it playable.
Later in the bye week, Bakhtiari had 88 cubic centimeters of fluid drained. His knee was back to where it started in October.
“I thought we were optimistic early on,” LaFleur said, “especially after David played in the Detroit game, that there was a good chance that David was going to play in the game — but it just didn’t work out that way.”
LaFleur will be questioned for more than his decision to let Bakhtiari play in Detroit. After third-string left tackle Yosh Nijman started eight games on the blind side because of injuries during the season, he was sidelined against the 49ers. Nijman played surprisingly well as an emergency option, improving each week as the season progressed, but the Packers strayed from what they had done all year.
Instead, Billy Turner played all 56 snaps at left tackle, his first time on the blind side since the 2020 NFC championship game loss against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Turner had not played in more than a month, since leaving a game against the Chicago Bears with a knee injury. Dennis Kelly, a veteran who replaced Turner at right tackle, stayed in that spot. Lucas Patrick, who made 11 of his 13 starts at center, lined up at right guard with rookie Josh Myers returning to the middle.
It was an offensive line configuration the Packers hadn’t used all season, and it played like they were unfamiliar with each other. The Packers allowed five sacks, though one was a 0-yard sack from Rodgers, among his many poor plays. The five sacks matched their total allowed in the 2020 NFC championship game.
When asked about Rodgers’ ineffectiveness, LaFleur mentioned how the quarterback was under constant pressure.
Because the Packers initially were optimistic Bakhtiari would be available for the playoffs, their offensive line did not get a full two weeks to prepare. LaFleur said
Turner’s move to the left side didn’t come until game week, essentially wasting the team’s bye.
“He definitely didn’t get two weeks of reps at that left tackle position,” LaFleur said. “We felt comfortable with where he was at with the reps that he did get in regards to just basically practices last week all at left tackle.”
The Packers went ahead with their plan on the offensive line, both with Bakhtiari playing in Detroit and Turner filling his place on the left side. Their priority now must be completing Bakhtiari’s rehab so he can once again play like the twotime All-Pro who earned a four-year, $92 million contract, the richest for any offensive lineman in NFL history when it was signed. Whether the Packers have Rodgers next season or transition to Jordan Love, locking down the blind side in pass protection will be essential.
Bakhtiari’s lengthy recovery from his torn ACL suggested a more complex injury. He confirmed to Cheesehead TV the injury included meniscus and cartilage tears. Bert Mandelbaum, a sports medicine specialist and orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles, and team physician for the U.S. soccer team, said complications with ACL tears and length of recovery can affect an athlete’s ability to return to full capacity after surgery.
“I think the most important thing here with prognostication,” Mandelbaum said, “is the complexity, where you are on the spectrum in terms of injury, how well that heals and when it heals. Some of the more severe injuries, it takes a lot longer, and the potential rate of full return realistically is lower than everybody would think.”
The Packers have one major thing working for them: Bakhtiari’s will. Throughout the process, nobody questioned his work ethic or toughness.
LaFleur said he’ll chat with his left tackle and doctors to better understand how Bakhtiari’s return in 2021, once thought to begin in early November, dwindled to just 27 wasted snaps in Detroit. With Pro Bowl left guard Elgton Jenkins and tight end Robert Tonyan recovering from their own ACL tears, discovering any missteps will be important to ensure smoother recoveries in the coming year.