Packers-Bears Injury Report: Lazard, Bakhtiari, Jenkins Practice

With the Green Bay Packers preparing to host the Chicago Bears on Sunday night, only one player on either team didn’t practice on Wednesday.
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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Starting guard Jon Runyan was the only member of the Green Bay Packers to not practice on Wednesday.

Receiver Allen Lazard, left tackle David Bakhtiari and right tackle Elgton Jenkins, all of whom were inactive for Sunday’s loss at Minnesota, were limited participation. Linebacker Quay Walker and key backup cornerback Keisean Nixon, who were knocked out of the game with shoulder injuries, were full participation.

Lazard wouldn’t “put a percentage” on his prospects for playing against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night but he said he “absolutely” was optimistic. He said he took a “few” reps during 11-on-11 drills.

Lazard has been out about two weeks since being stepped on at practice.

“It wasn’t a good feeling, physically or mentally, given the situation and everything,” he said. “I always look at injuries as a positive, in a sense of like, yes, it was an unfortunate situation but maybe if I would’ve kept practicing, maybe if I would’ve played in the game on Sunday, then a more detrimental injury would have taken place or something like that. I always try to stay optimistic and positive in any situation, even if it is negative in the moment.”

The Packers missed Lazard’s presence in a 23-7 loss to the Vikings. They trailed 17-0 at halftime and Justin Jefferson had more receiving yards than the Packers had net passing yards before the final drive.

Lazard didn’t want to miss the game for obvious reasons. And non-obvious reasons, too. He called U.S. Bank Stadium his favorite road venue because he loves the stadium and the “Skol” chant.

“It’s always a good energy in there,” Lazard said. “The turf, I’m not too much of a fan of but that’s just because it’s turf. I think it’s a great environment to play in. As a competitor, as a football player, those are the environments that you want to play in and succeed in, as well.”

Runyan stretched near his teammates in the Don Hutson Center but did not go out on the field for practice. Rookie Zach Tom played the final quarter-plus on Sunday and could be in line to start if Runyan can’t clear the concussion protocol.

“I thought he did a really nice job,” coach Matt LaFleur said of Tom. “Obviously, there was one play where he got beat pretty quickly in pass protection but I thought he competed, he knew what to do. And I thought you could really tell it wasn’t too big for him. So, I thought he did a really good job in there.”

Here is the full injury report. Of note, Jenkins is on the report only due to last year's ACL injury and not the pectoral that was listed last week.

Packers-Bears Wednesday Injury Report

Packers

Did not participate: LG Jon Runyan (concussion).

Limited: LT David Bakhtiari (knee), RT Elgton Jenkins (knee), WR Allen Lazard (ankle).

Full: RG Jake Hanson (shoulder), CB Keisean Nixon (shoulder), LB Quay Walker (shoulder).

Bears

Limited: WR Velus Jones (hamstring), OL Riley Reiff (shoulder).

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.