GREEN BAY — In the immediate aftermath of Sunday’s loss to the Denver Broncos — while the gut-wrenching news that his running mate, Micah Parsons, had likely suffered a season-ending knee injury — Rashan Gary was almost inconsolable.

The Green Bay Packers defensive end, who’d benefitted from the attention Parsons drew from opposing offenses, seemed devastated by his friend/teammate’s injury, which was later confirmed as a torn ACL in Parsons’ left knee,

On Tuesday, though, as the Packers (9-4-1) began their preparations for Saturday night’s NFC North matchup with the Chicago Bears (10-4) at Soldier Field in Chicago, Gary — and the rest of his teammates — were trying to move forward, knowing a win over the Bears would put them back in first place in the division and help their playoff standing immensely with two more games left in the regular season.

“Just understanding what’s in front of us, understanding that we’ve still got the pen in our hand,” Gary replied when asked how the team was shifting its collective mentality from the grief of losing its defensive MVP. “We can still write our story.”

Of course, a happy ending to that story — say, a berth in Super Bowl LX — has become significantly harder to author with the team having lost not only Parsons to a season-ending injury but tight end Tucker Kraft (torn ACL in his right knee), defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt (left ankle injury) and center Elgton Jenkins (fractured lower left leg) as well.

Which means a host of others must elevate their games, starting with Gary, who enters Saturday night with 7.5 sacks on the season — but without a single sack in the past seven games. Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley defended Gary’s play last week, but with Parsons and his 12.5 sacks out of the picture, Gary is among those who’ll be counted on to pick up the slack.

“I’ve just got to be myself. When guys are thinking that they need to do more than what they’ve been doing, you start to strain, start to try to find plays that’s not there,” said Gary, who recorded 4.5 of his 7.5 sacks in the season’s first three weeks. “Throughout the season, I’ve been doing a great job of being effective, being myself. And I know if I keep playing at a high level, keep playing how I’m playing, the plays are going to come and it’s going to be right what the team needs.

“If all 11 is on the same page, we’re going to be fine. But once again, man, if I do what I’ve got to do, I’m a big part of this team, and we’re going to be right where we need to be.”

Gary isn’t the only defensive end the Packers will need to step up; Lukas Van Ness, who had missed seven of the previous eight games before playing 22 snaps against the Broncos, and Kingsley Engabare, who had been splitting snaps with Gary while Parsons was healthy, will also be counted on.

Brenton Cox, whose 21-day practice window was opened two weeks ago for him to return from injured reserve with a groin injury, could also be activated this week to take Parsons’ roster spot once he’s placed on IR.

Head coach Matt LaFleur said Tuesday that Parsons had yet to undergo surgery on his ACL and that Parsons was back home in the Dallas area awaiting the birth of a child.

But it isn’t just the defensive end group that will need to rise to the challenge of losing Parsons.

“The main message that I’ve been preaching is, guys have got to step up collectively,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “That’s a major piece in our defense [that we lost], so a lot of guys, not just one person, have got to step up play better. And then it gives some of these other guys that have been wanting to play and get more game time a unique opportunity to be able to go prove what they’ve got in a crucial part of the year.“

During Tuesday’s team meeting before a walkthrough, LaFleur went through a handful of plays from Sunday’s loss that might not have seemed crucial in the moment but wound up playing key roles in the loss.

On defense, safety Xavier McKinney dropped a pair of potential interceptions while the unit allowed a 12-yard Bo Nix-to-Evan Engram completion on third-and-13 to set up a fourth-and-1 conversion that led to the Broncos’ go-ahead touchdown on the final play of the third quarter. The Packers never led again.

On offense, quarterback Jordan Love threw a pair of interceptions, the second of which was a throw behind Dontayvion Wicks with under 7 minutes to go and the Packers within eight points, and false start penalties on left tackle Rasheed Walker and right guard Anthony Belton that contributed to a pair of empty second-half possessions.

“I don’t think anybody has to go above and beyond. Everybody’s [just] got to do their job and everybody’s got to be dialed in,” LaFleur said. “Because you just don’t know what play is going to be the difference. I mean there’s so many plays throughout the course of the game when you’re playing good football teams, it can be a couple plays that truly make the difference. “

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