{"id":635576,"date":"2025-12-28T17:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T17:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/635576\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T17:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T17:02:14","slug":"packers-expected-to-rest-key-players-in-season-finale-against-vikings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/635576\/","title":{"rendered":"Packers expected to rest key players in season finale against Vikings"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a battered roster and nothing to play for, the Green Bay Packers<\/a> are expected to rest key players during next week’s regular season finale against the Minnesota Vikings<\/a> at U.S. Bank Stadium, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the Vikings’ win over the Detroit Lions<\/a> on Christmas Day clinched a playoff spot for the Packers, Saturday night’s 41-24 loss to the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> locked the Packers into the No. 7 seed in the NFC playoff field.<\/p>\n

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The Packers went into Week 17 with a chance to win the NFC North title and host a playoff game, but the loss to the Ravens clinched the division for the Chicago Bears<\/a> and ensured the Packers, who are 9-6-1 after losing three straight games, can finish no higher than the No. 7 seed.<\/p>\n

The “key players” reference by Schefter probably aren’t hard to identify. Expect important players like quarterback Jordan Love, running back Josh Jacobs, receiver Christian Watson, safety Xavier McKinney and linebackers Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper to rest or have their playing time reduced in the season finale. Love is still in concussion protocol, while Jacobs has battled through a lingering knee contusion. Others, such as right tackle Zach Tom, safety Evan Williams, center Sean Rhyan, left guard Aaron Banks and defensive end Lukas Van Ness, could sit to let pre-existing injuries rest and heal before the start of the postseason.<\/p>\n

If Love rests and Malik Willis, who aggravated a throwing shoulder injury late on Saturday night, can’t go, the Packers would have to turn to Clayton Tune at quarterback against aggressive Vikings defensive coordinator Brian Flores in the finale.<\/p>\n

The Vikings have won four straight games and will be coming off an impressive defensive performance against Jared Goff and the Lions on Christmas Day. Minnesota forced six turnovers and gave only 10 points.<\/p>\n

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Mounting injuries will likely require several roster moves by general manager Brian Gutekunst just to get through the final regular season week. The Packers lost special teamer Zayne Anderson, defensive tackle Jordon Riley, cornerbacks Nate Hobbs and Kamal Hadden and receiver Dontayvion Wicks all left with injuries against the Ravens on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers expected to rest key players in season finale against Vikings<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With a battered roster and nothing to play for, the Green Bay Packers are expected to rest key…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":635577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[3504,4191,117,6696,391,1501,4659,113,3992,2998,7,345,1029,1724,37166,4129,9762,3998,4097,233,259,2529,5392,6,1875,468,7727,3317,234,5582,9161,1734],"class_list":{"0":"post-635576","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-aaron-banks","9":"tag-adam-schefter","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-brian-flores","12":"tag-chicago-bears","13":"tag-christian-watson","14":"tag-clayton-tune","15":"tag-detroit-lions","16":"tag-dontayvion-wicks","17":"tag-edgerrin-cooper","18":"tag-football","19":"tag-green-bay-packers","20":"tag-jared-goff","21":"tag-jordan-love","22":"tag-jordon-riley","23":"tag-josh-jacobs","24":"tag-kamal-hadden","25":"tag-lukas-van-ness","26":"tag-malik-willis","27":"tag-minnesota","28":"tag-minnesota-vikings","29":"tag-minnesotavikings","30":"tag-nate-hobbs","31":"tag-nfl","32":"tag-players","33":"tag-quay-walker","34":"tag-sean-rhyan","35":"tag-season-finale","36":"tag-vikings","37":"tag-xavier-mckinney","38":"tag-zach-tom","39":"tag-zayne-anderson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635576","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}