Cedric Benson's season is indeed over for the Packers.   Head Coach Mike McCarthy announced this afternoon Benson had surgery to repair damage done to his left foot in the second quarter of the game in Indianapolis back on October 7.  It was diagnosed as a Lisfranc injury which in layman's terms, is a separation of the ligaments that connect several small bones on the top of the foot.  In many cases, the injury can heal on it's own over time but when Benson was not making any significant progress over the past couple of weeks, another examination determined the operation was neccessary.  He was placed on injured reserve-designation after the injury, giving the Packers the opportunity to bring him back onto the roster after six weeks, but he's now permanently on IR for the remainder of the year.  The 7 year veteran from Texas joined the Packers in training camp after three straight, thousand yard seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals.  It appeared he was going to give the Packers running game a boost, picking up 248 yards on 71 carries over the first four and a half games.   Since he's been out, Alex Green and James Starks have combined to gain 491 yards over 11 weeks, averaging less than three and a half yards per carry.  Benson was signed to a one year, veteran's minimum contract when he arrived in Green Bay after little interest around the rest of the league.  It's quite possible the Packers will offer a similar deal for 2013 to bring him into camp and let him compete for a job with very little risk.

It's looking less likely Clay Matthews will return for the Vikings game.  He did not participate for the second straight day at Thursday's practice, recovering from a hamstring injury suffered against Arizona a month ago.  Others who did not practice include Donald Driver (thumb), Andrew Quarless (knee) and C.J. Wilson (knee).   Wilson will almost certainly miss this week's game.  Marshall Newhouse, Ryan Pickett, Terrell Manning and Sean Richardson were all limited in practice but are expected to be available Sunday.  M.D. Jennings and Greg Jennings were both full participants but were still on the injury report.  Charles Woodson's collarbone and Sam Shields' bad ankle have them already ruled out against the Vikes.