Clay Matthews practices, looking likely to play against the Chicago Bears

The Green Bay Packers' long pass rush nightmare might be over.

Okay, so 'nightmare' is a harsh word. The Packers have been winning recently because their defensive line, inside linebackers, DBs and offense as a whole have been good enough to make up for the lack of an outside pass rush. But the team will get a massive boost on Sunday if Clay Matthews is able to play. It's still early in the week, but it's looking likely that he'll be available against the Chicago Bears.

On Monday afternoon, Mike McCarthy said that he was hopeful Matthews could play this weekend. On Wednesday, Matthews participated in practice. In a potential division-clinching game, on the road against the Bears, Clay Matthews is going to play if he was able to practice. He might be listed as questionable on the final injury report, but he'll be on the field on Sunday if he practices Friday.

What's that going to mean for the Packers? We'll probably write a lot more about that, in pretty extensive detail later in the week when we have a much better idea of where he is physically. But for now, I think it's save to get excited about the prospect of Matthews laying into Jay Cutler this weekend.