The good news coming out of the Green Bay Packers' huge NFC North tilt with the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving is that they won, and may be in first place in the division by the end of the day on Friday.
The bad news? Well, it's really bad.
Star defensive lineman Devonte Wyatt, having a massive year for the Packers in 2025, is going to be out for the foreseeable future. And you know it's bad because of how transpired Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was about the injury after the game. He was the bearer of heartbreaking news after the Packers beat the Lions 31-24 in impressive fashion.
"Yeah, it doesn't look good, guys. I'm sick for him. I'm sick for us," said LaFleur. "It's a critical loss for our football team. For our defense, obviously. And I can't say enough great things about him in terms of just watching him mature, not only as a football player, as a person. I've got a lot of love for Devonte Wyatt, and I think the whole locker room does, too."
Packers head coach Matt LaFleur says he's "sick" for Devonte Wyatt after injury
With four sacks, seven quarterback hits, and five tackles for loss in nine games this season, Wyatt was in the midst of a career-best year overall. Especially with the Packers sending Kenny Clark to the Dallas Cowboys in the Micah Parsons trade earlier this year, the Packers desperately needed Wyatt to take another step forward in his game, and he did that.
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You can tell with the way LaFleur talked about it after the game that it was a bad, likely long-term injury for Wyatt. And the way the injury was treated on the field during the game wasn't any better.
Although we'll spare you the visual of the injury, Wyatt got his leg tangled up with a teammate who was on his way to the ground while also getting blocked high.
When you look at the Packers' roster right now, is there anyone on the team who is more "irreplaceable" than Devonte Wyatt? At least defensively, this is one of those positions where the dropoff is just so significant. There's already not much depth there, but it doesn't help that the Packers have a couple of key contributors to the defensive front already dealing with injuries.
They need Karl Brooks (ankle) and Lukas Van Ness (foot) to get back on the field and get healthy for this stretch run, because it's not going to get any easier, especially without Wyatt.