Injuries to Packers receivers are piling up at wrong time

The Green Bay Packers are getting ready to take on the Chicago Bears for their Week 1 matchup, and they are seeing a volume of injuries to a position group they cannot afford to have them in: Wide receiver.

Christian Watson has already been declared out, while Romeo Doubs is considered questionable for their first game of the season. This is incredibly poor timing, considering the Jordan Love era is right about to begin. Being without one and possibly two of his top weapons in the passing game will only make his job more difficult.

Should Watson and Doubs both miss the contest, Love will have his work cut out for him. Being without two young weapons will force others to pick up the slack, and a team going through a youth movement does not have a wealth of options to choose from. Samori Toure's five receptions for 82 yards and one touchdown is the only production beyond that of Doubs and Watson at the receiver position.

How can Packers replace Christian Watson's production in Week 1?

Green Bay could opt to use highly regarded Luke Musgrave as a high-volume pass catcher in the passing game should they need to throw the ball. However, it is much more likely that the running back combination of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon will see a heavy workload in the rushing and passing attack.

The only real bright spot in all of this is that the offense of Matt LaFleur is very much scheme-based and less reliant on the need for top-end talent in the passing game. While it does help, there have been plenty of cases of receivers in offenses similar to Green Bay's being significantly more productive than if they were in an offense that did not scheme players open at a high rate.

There is still a path to victory for the Packers in Chicago. The margin for error is just significantly smaller than anyone would have expected at this point, and they will have to play near perfect to come out on top in the end.

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