GREEN BAY, Wis. -- This is the last thing Aaron Rodgers needed.

Without Eddie Lacy for at least the next eight weeks after the Green Bay Packers determined he needs surgery on his left ankle and will be placed on injured reserve with the hope that he can return later in the season, there’s even more pressure on the struggling quarterback to rekindle the scuffling offense.

Without Lacy and James Starks, the backup running back who underwent knee surgery less than a week ago, what kind of ground game can Rodgers realistically count on? Thursday night against the Chicago Bears, Rodgers will have Knile Davis (who just arrived two days ago in a trade from Kansas City), Don Jackson (an undrafted rookie who was promoted from the practice squad Thursday but has never played in even an NFL preseason game), and the receiver-out-of-the-backfield combination of Ty Montgomery and Randall Cobb.

The Packers believe Lacy can return late in the season as long as the surgery goes as expected -- and this probably makes it much easier to re-sign him in the offseason given his price tag just dropped significantly -- but until then, the onus will be on Rodgers to carry this team.

So far, that’s been a shaky proposition at best. The Packers rank 25th in the NFL in passing yards per game, and Rodgers is off to one of the worst starts of his career.

There’s already all kinds of external pressure on Rodgers; diagnosing what’s wrong with him has become a cottage industry.

Does Rodgers feel it?

“I don’t think he puts more pressure on himself,” Packers receiver Jordy Nelson said this week. “I think everyone in here after a bad game isn’t as happy as you normally are, but as far as I can tell he prepares the same, works the same, his intensity in practice is the same.”

This certainly isn’t how Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy drew up his offense when he planned for this season. In a team meeting when the players returned for the offseason program in April, the first thing he addressed was their offensive identity.

“We’ve got to be a team that’s got to be able to run the ball effectively," guard T.J. Lang said in retelling McCarthy's message from April.

As recently as late last month, McCarthy discussed the need to run more, saying, “The analysis of our offense after two games, the running backs have not been given enough opportunities.”

That’s out the window -- at least with Lacy and Starks, for now -- and even more is on Rodgers' right arm.