Packers-Bears Inactives: Kevin Zeitler Is Active; Will He Start?

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Kevin Zeitler is active for the Green Bay Packers for Sunday’s rivalry showdown against the Chicago Bears.

Presumably, that means he will be in the starting lineup, though that will have to wait until the players come out for pregame warmups.

Four Inactive for Packers

The Packers had to list only four inactives. All of them are linemen:

RG Jacob Monk will miss his second consecutive game with an injured quad. He returned to practice on Friday and was doubtful.

LG Aaron Banks will miss his third consecutive game with knee and toe injuries. He’s played only one-half of a game this season, 22 snaps against the Jets in Week 2. He also returned to practice on Friday and was doubtful.

G/C Donovan Jennings started the season as the next man up at left guard in place of Banks. Now, he’s a healthy scratch after the veteran additions of Kevin Zeitler and Laken Tomlinson.

DT Anthony Campbell will miss a third consecutive game with an ankle injury sustained at the Jets.

The bigger news is that Javon Hargrave, the veteran defensive tackle who is coming off a strong game against Tampa Bay, is active. He was added to the injury report on Friday with a toe injury and listed as questionable.

Rookie guard/center Jager Burton, who missed time this week following back spasms and was questionable is active, as well. He got the call over Jennings.

With Chris Brooks out, running back Pierre Strong is active. Strong was elevated from the practice squad three times last year but never played in a game.

“Man, I could just thank the Lord,” he said after practice on Friday. “Like you said, it was a while but God’s timing is better than everybody’s timing. I’m here now so got to continue to get better.”

Bears Inactives

Out for Chicago are quarterback Caleb Williams and running back Kyle Monangai. Those are two of the team’s best players on offense.

Williams will miss a third consecutive game following a hamstring injury. He practiced on Friday and was listed as questionable but that was just gamesmanship from coach Ben Johnson.

Tyson Bagent will start for a second consecutive game. He threw one interception in a blowout win over the Jets last week but penalties nullified three others.

“I think you go into each week the exact same as far as; Wednesday, Thursday, Friday getting the plan down, being locked in, taking it extremely seriously,” Bagent said of the rivalry this week.

“But to say that this is just like any game just wouldn't be true. It's one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. Easy for the fans to get up for, easy for us to get up for. It'll certainly be a different feel out there and that's why it's so important that we put in the amount of work that we need to this week, get acclimated in a smart way but also in a hurry so we can have our best foot forward going into this weekend.”

Even with a backup quarterback, they are 1.5-point favorites at FanDuel Sportsbook on Sunday.

The other inactives for Chicago.

Kevin Zeitler’s Status

With Zeitler active, he presumably will play.

“We’ll see,” coach Matt LaFleur said before Friday’s practice. “He’s been practicing the last two days. He’ll be out there today. A lot of it is just how comfortable he is, and we’ll go from there.”

How would that be determined?

“There’s a lot of communication with the player and certainly how they’re performing out there, as well.”

 So, what would Zeitler say as part of that conversion?

The veteran wouldn’t bite.

“I’m just going to keep going,” he said after Friday’s practice. “I’m going to let that be on the coaches. If they know what they see and everything and I know what I feel, we’ll keep attacking and when game day gets here, we’ll make the call.”

Either the Packers will line up with their fifth combination of guards or they’ll have stability for the first time this season. Here’s how it’s looked to start the season.

Week 1 vs. the Vikings: LG Donovan Jennings, RG Jacob Monk.

Week 2 vs. the Jets: LG Aaron Banks, RG Jacob Monk.

Week 3 vs. the Falcons: LG Jager Burton, RG Jacob Monk.

Week 4 vs. the Buccaneers: LG Laken Tomlinson, RG Travis Glover. 

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