Christian Watson's ACL injury could doom Packers' postseason hopes

The Green Bay Packers got some bad news on Monday, when it was revealed that wide receiver Christian Watson may have torn his ACL in Sunday's loss to the Chicago Bears.

According to Rob Demovsky of ESPN, Watson is set to undergo more testing on the knee to determine the extent of the damage, as it's believed he may have injured more than just the ACL.

For Packers fans, this injury could fundamentally alter their postseason fortunes after a profoundly brilliant season.

2024 was a strange season for Watson; the third year wideout posted 29 catches on 53 targets, but racked up 620 yards and two touchdowns on the year. That's his highest yardage total of his career, and his 21.4 yards per catch was 13th-best in the league this year.

What makes Watson so crucial to what the Packers do on offense is that he is a pure deep threat. His ability to get downfield and make plays is what sets him apart from the rest of the wide receiver corps, and it opens up the offense underneath because defenses have to account for him.

Even if he's not catching passes consistently (and his catch to target ratio this season shows that he does miss roughly half of the targets thrown his way), he remains a force that defenses need to account for. No other player on Green Bay's roster averages more than 15.6 yards per catch, which means defenses will be able to close their focus a little more and shorten the field in the passing game. That's going to make things tougher for Jordan Love to find open guys, and it's going to make life more difficult for running back Josh Jacobs.

The Packers' offense has been a well-oiled machine all season; Matt LaFleur has things humming, and Watson's injury comes at the absolute worst possible time. They're going to be shifting the way they operate on the fly, putting players in positions they wouldn't normally find themselves in to accomodate for his absence.

Is it a death knell? Probably not; the Packers do a good job of spreading the ball around in the offense, and losing Watson doesn't fully shut the passing game down. What it does do, is make everything a bit harder, make the deep passing game a little less viable.

And in the playoffs, where victory tends to come on the margins, those sorts of things can make a significant difference.

Home/NFL