Following the Green Bay Packers' closely contested loss to the Detroit Lions on Sunday, the team only has four short days to figure out how to bounce back and get back onto the winning side of things.
There's tons of blame to go around following a game like this, but let's take a closer look at the problem child of the 2026 Packers: the offensive line.
Specifically, when you think about this game, what went wrong along the way and what the Packers could have done differently, there's a pretty clear culprit.
Kevin Zeitler is burning a very expensive hole in the Packers' bench
Despite signing Kevin Zeitler almost four weeks ago, he hasn't played a single snap of offensive football. He's only been on the field for 11 total snaps for Green Bay, all on special teams.
Despite signing a not-insignificant $4 million contract, he's been paid so far not to play football. Since signing Zeitler, the team has instead started Travis Glover in his place. And while certainly being a better option than his predecessor Jacob Monk, Glover's level of play has been slowly slipping into replaceable territory.
His pressures allowed have increased in every game played this season, going from one in Week 4 to two versus Chicago and three against the Cowboys. Now in this game, Glover was responsible for eight total pressures, all of which also resulted in a "hurried" throw by Jordan Love. He's yet to allow a sack on Love, but the operation is no longer sustainable.
So what's the disconnect between Zeitler's signing and starting? When fellow veteran Laken Tomlinson was signed, he was an immediate starter on the offensive line.
To be fair, Tomlinson was already on an NFL roster. He was signed to Green Bay's 53-man roster from Dallas' practice squad and had spent all of the summer getting ready to play. The only change for Tomlinson was where he was playing, not if he would play. So these situations aren't exactly eligible for a 1-for-1 comparison.
So, why hasn't Kevin Zeitler seen the field?
So, what is the reason Zeitler hasn't played for Green Bay yet? Moreover, why was Zeitler not active for the Lions game at all?
To me, there are three possibilities. One, Zeitler wasn't anywhere close to being in NFL shape when he was signed to Green Bay's roster. It's definitely possible, especially when you remember that Zeitler was recovering from an offseason surgery to repair a quadricep hyperextension.
That recovery was the very reason Zeitler was available to sign at all, having only been cleared for football activities in the weeks preceding his arrival in Green Bay.
But if that's true, is that a failure of the front office to gauge how long it would take him to get ready? That's a complicated question, but it would rely on Green Bay having some other options available besides Zeitler. They really didn't have one, so it wouldn't have made any sense for the Packers to wait. He would have found another home long before now.
Two, Zeitler himself isn't doing enough to get ready to play. I'd pretty much dismiss this possibility out of hand. From all accounts, Zeitler is a smart, very professional kind of guy. He wouldn't still be in the league at 36 years old if he wasn't.
And again, it's not a matter of learning the playbook when Tomlinson got onto the field as quickly as he did. I don't think this is a matter of not being properly prepared by the team either.
Three, are the decisions of the coaching staff to blame? Imagine, for a second, that the coaching staff wants to start Glover rather than Zeitler. With all the wrong decisions that this staff has made around the offensive line, does that sound so crazy? They started Jacob Monk and Donovan Jennings to begin with. That's what has led to this entire mess in the first place!
Don't just take it from me, though. The Packers' coaches have been on record as preaching the need for "continuity along the offensive line." And don't get me wrong, I appreciate that. But there comes a point where if a change is needed, you have to make that change.
And to me, that time has come. If the Packers were waiting for Glover to fail at right guard before making the switch to Zeitler, I'd say that moment should have been after the Dallas game, when some cracks were starting to show in Glover's performance.
Will Thursday night finally be the first opportunity for Zeitler? I'd certainly hope so, but I'm not sure. If practicing and/or fitness is the reason for holding Zeitler out, four days between games isn't a lot of time for circumstances to change.
Instead, there will be 10 days between seeing the Panthers on October 29 and the Patriots on November 8. Surely Zeitler has to be starting by then, right?
Right now I'd guess that to be the case, and whatever reason or combination of reasons will have cleared up by then. Following the loss to Detroit, the Packers are quickly running out of chances to make up ground in the NFC, and if Zeitler can be of any help, now's the time.
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