Mark Tauscher

Tauscher's injury could be good for the Packers.

We may all look back at the end of the season and note the Green Bay Packers week four game with the Detroit Lions as the point where it all went to shit.

The Packers have lost one starter for the season, safety Morgan Burnett. They are on the verge of losing another in linebacker Nick Barnett. Both players were injured in the Packers/Lions game.

Additionally, safety Nick Collins says he’s not optimistic about playing this Sunday after aggravating a knee injury against Detroit.

You can add tackle Mark Tauscher to the list of walking wounded, as well. Tauscher injured his shoulder against the Lions and was held out of practice Wednesday and Thursday.

Brad Biggs brings us word the injury could be serious and Tauscher could be sidelined for a significant period.

Now, before you curse the season and leave it for dead, I’m going to suggest this might actually be good news for the Packers.

If anyone tells you Tauscher has been playing well this season, they simply haven’t watched the games. In fact, here are some words I’d use to describe Tauscher’s play this season: terrible, abhorrent, dreadful, horrendous, ghastly.

The guy has been thrown around like a rag doll by opposing pass rushers and has been blown up repeatedly in the run game. How he hasn’t gotten benched is beyond comprehension.

So, now the Packers and coach Mike McCarthy may be forced to make a change.

Either rookie Bryan Bulaga or second-year man T.J. Lang would replace Tauscher in the starting lineup and both have been getting reps at the position in practice, this week.

Bulaga is the better player and should be in the starting lineup by now, but he’s primarily played left tackle and left guard, thus far. Lang is the backup at right tackle and is supposedly the heir apparent to Tauscher, but he hasn’t been active for a single game this season, which brings into question whether McCarthy thinks he’s even good enough to be on the field.

Either way, going with one of the youngsters and letting them take their lumps will make the Packers better in the long term. Certainly neither player can be as bad as Tauscher has been this season. And even if they are, who cares? They’ll be able to improve from week to week and get real NFL experience that will pay off down the line.

Anyway, in light of the rash of injuries, I think one thing is certain — the Packers need to fire their strength and conditioning coach immediately.

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