Quarterback Aaron Rodgers limited in practice with right shoulder injury

DOWN THE STRETCH: Green Bay, on the surface, has the more favorable schedule.

“Hey, the guy is entertaining, man. He’s good for the sport, man”, Redskins defensive lineman Jason Hatcher said.

The Bengals are coming off their first loss of the season to Houston; the Cardinals have a three-game winning streak.

Moreover, coach Mike McCarthy isn’t calling the shots. “James will take the first series and Eddie will go second and we’ll see how it balances out”, McCarthy said.

Minnesota has won five in a row, most recently leaning on Adrian Peterson and a strong defense to beat an improving Oakland Raiders team by 16 points on the road. But they know it won’t be easy. When the Denver blitzes didn’t bring the quarterback down, they affected his throw, and on the few occasions Rodgers had time, no receivers were open. It would raise their division record to 4-0 and drop Green Bay to 1-2, which could be important for tiebreaker purposes.

Forget the fact the Lions had not won at Lambeau since 1991.

Why would Green Bay have to make up two games in five weeks with a loss? “Some people might say, ‘Detroit.’ But this is football”.

So why are the Packers, who still have one of the strongest quarterbacks in the league with Aaron Rodgers, slipping this season? Green Bay is also getting virtually no production from the tight end position.

For the 2015 season playing in nine games, the four-time Pro Bowler has 198 completions for 2,270 yards and 21 touchdowns, only throwing three interceptions. He has carried the ball 83 times for 308 yards and two touchdowns this season.

Aaron Rodgers (shoulder) and Eddie Lacy (groin) participated fully, while Bryan Bulaga (knee), T.J. Lang (shoulder), among other were limited due to injuries. We just need to find a way to get it done.

Cincinnati (+5) at Arizona: The NFC’s best scoring offense (302 points) takes on the NFL’s stingiest defense (152 points) in the desert. After feeling Wednesday that he was ready to return to game action, Montgomery wasn’t sure Thursday about his status for Sunday’s game at Minnesota.

RC: I think the biggest thing with us is when things aren’t going our way, or when things are going bad, we just go back to work.

With no running game and behind in the fourth quarter, Green Bay completely abandoned the run on Sunday.

Still, Minnesota coach Mike Zimmer is looking at the big picture.

The Packers are reeling right now, having lost three straight games. This team used to glorify God, but now there is no mention of Him from any of them.