The Packers Have Lost Their Defense and Their Run Game. Now Lambeau Is a Road Game.

The most telling number from the Green Bay Packers' season isn't their 2-2 record. It's 58.0 — their rushing yards per game, dead last in the NFL. On 18.3 attempts per game, Green Bay has not scored a single rushing touchdown in 2026.

That offensive imbalance is the context for everything else happening this week, and this week brought a lot.

Cooper's Achilles, Parsons' Missing Calendar

Linebacker Edgerrin Cooper is out for the season with a ruptured Achilles, an injury head coach Matt LaFleur confirmed Monday. LaFleur said the team will attempt to replace him with some combination of Isaiah McDuffie and Ty'Ron Hopper. That's not a like-for-like swap, and it lands on a defense already allowing 26.2 points and 339.8 yards per game.

Then there's Micah Parsons. Reports this week indicate his ACL recovery is taking longer than the Packers' previous injuries of the same type, and he did not practice. With Parsons absent and Cooper gone, Green Bay's defense is missing its two most disruptive pieces — which is why the unit's 26.2 points allowed is the number that matters more than any single interception or sack total.

The defensive attrition isn't isolated. Defensive tackles Devonte Wyatt and Karl Brooks and safety Javon Bullard have appeared on the injury report as out with ankle issues. Warren Brinson was placed on injured reserve. That's a lot of front-seven depth vanishing at once.

Everything Runs Through Love

With no ground game, Jordan Love is throwing on 63.4% of the Packers' plays. He's at 1,041 yards with 8 touchdowns and 3 interceptions on 56.5% completions and an 86.5 passer rating — solid volume, mediocre efficiency. He was clean against Tampa Bay in Week 4, not sacked and pressured only twice, but asking for that protection every week behind a line that has been shuffled by injury is a fragile plan.

The good news is his downfield options. Christian Watson averages 82.8 yards per game at 16.6 yards per catch, and Matthew Golden adds 68.5 a game. Those two are the entirety of Green Bay's explosive-play potential right now.

The Bears Are Favored at Lambeau. For the First Time in 20 Years.

Sunday's visit from Chicago opened with the Bears as roughly 2.5-point road favorites, the first time in two decades that's happened at Lambeau Field. The total sits around 45.5.

The market's logic is easy to follow. Chicago is 3-1, averaging 28.0 points and 440.2 yards — the top yardage figure in the league — with a genuinely balanced 244.0 passing and 196.2 rushing split. Kyle Monangai (81.0 yards per game, 5.4 per carry) and D'Andre Swift (77.8 and 21.0 receiving) give the Bears a two-headed backfield, and the defense allows just 16.2 points per game.

But the market may be pricing a record rather than a roster. Chicago will start Tyson Bagent at quarterback with Caleb Williams out with a hamstring injury. Bagent is the Bears' third different starting quarterback this season, and he has not thrown a touchdown pass. Chicago's formula — run it 30-plus times, protect the ball, let the defense win it — travels poorly to a hostile division environment when the opposing offense can throw it 40 times if needed.

What This Season Looks Like From Here

The Packers still own the series historically, taking eight of the last ten meetings, though Chicago won the most recent one. Sunday won't settle that history. It will answer a narrower question: can a team with no run game, no Parsons, no Cooper, and a banged-up offensive line beat a 3-1 opponent by making Jordan Love the entire offense?

If yes, the Packers buy time until Parsons returns. If no, a 2-3 start in the NFC North — with Minnesota sitting at 4-0 — starts looking like something harder to climb out of.