The Green Bay Packers are in a position which might feel unfamiliar given the last few years. They are looking at a real chance that they miss the playoffs for the first time since 2009.

In their favor is a lousy conference and division filled with teams hovering around five wins. It’s not over until it’s over, but the way the Packers are playing right now it feels a little bit like that.

We keep hoping for the team to overcome a litany of injuries in the backfield and on defense, as well as some shaky play from the passing offense including Aaron Rodgers.

One of the things which seems to have been missing the last few weeks has been Clay Matthews. He’s actually missed four games this year, but the last two were ones when his absence loomed large.

Matthews has been battling a hamstring injury and two weeks ago he pushed himself a bit too hard and suffered a setback which kept him out of the games against the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts.

Both were losses, and while you can certainly point at a dozen things which went wrong for the Packers which Matthews couldn’t have helped,  they have missed some of his pressure.

Over the last three games, the Packers have generated just six sacks, including ones which involved defensive backs. Opposing quarterbacks have thrown for 864 yards (a 288 average), eight touchdowns and only one interception.

The Packers are simply not getting enough pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

Is Matthews a cure-all? By no means, but he had three sacks in five games before the hamstring started being an issue so it can’t hurt.

Washington has only allowed quarterback Kirk Cousins to be sacked four times in their last three games (and a dozen times this season) and while they are now missing left tackle Trent Williams, Ty Nsekhe did well last week against the Washington Vikings.

Is Matthews healthy enough to make an impact? Hopefully so, even if it comes in the form of energizing the people around him.

The Packers can still turn things around. To do that, the defense has to tighten up and get after Cousins this week. Matthews is a key piece of that puzzle.