Landover, Md. — It's gotten to the point where a player as important to the Green Bay Packers' offense as Jermichael Finley is wondering whether he made a mistake attempting to tackle a Washington defender after a fumble.

The way things are going with the injury-riddled Packers, any wrong move could cost you a season.

"Donald (Lee) had fumbled, and I was going after that tackle," Finley said, recalling the second play of the game. "When I was going (after it), I was thinking, 'Should I really tackle that guy?' There's something crazy about that episode. In the back of my mind, I was like, 'I shouldn't do this.'

"I went out there and the back of my leg popped."

Now the Packers, like Finley, are going to be holding their breath that a scheduled MRI doesn't show a torn right hamstring.

Originally, the word disseminated in the press box was that Finley had suffered a knee injury, but he said in the locker room that it was more like a hamstring pull.

He said an X-ray was negative and that the doctors were fairly sure it wasn't a torn anterior cruciate ligament, which would end his season.

The ligament in the back of the knee is the posterior cruciate, which could sideline Finley for a while if torn, but until he undergoes a magnetic resonance imaging test it's all just speculation.

What doesn't qualify as an educated guess is the position the Packers find themselves following a 16-13 overtime loss Sunday at FedEx Field.

When your starting running back (Ryan Grant, ankle), starting right tackle (Mark Tauscher, shoulder), starting inside linebacker (Nick Barnett, wrist), starting safety (Morgan Burnett, knee), top cover linebacker (Brandon Chillar, shoulder) and power fullback (Quinn Johnson, glute) are out to begin with, it's a critical situation.

When your quarterback (Aaron Rodgers, concussion), best offensive option (Finley, hamstring), best pass rusher (Clay Matthews, hamstring), best run stuffer (Ryan Pickett, ankle), best special teams player (Derrick Martin, ankle) and backup tight end (Donald Lee, shoulder) and linebacker (Frank Zombo, knee) all suffer injuries, it constitutes an emergency.

When you consider that Finley and Barnett could join Grant and Burnett on injured reserve, and Rodgers is going to have to pass a series of tests before he'll be cleared to play against Miami next week, it's a full-fledged crisis.

"I've not been part of anything like this that so many guys are injured," said Pickett, who left the game in the first quarter after his right leg got crushed from behind by the pile, causing a severe sprain that knocked him out of the game.

"It's never been this bad. I've never experienced it in my 10 years."

Pickett said X-rays on his ankle were negative, but he'll be in line at the MRI machine on Monday morning with Finley, Matthews, Lee and Martin.

Matthews pulled the left hamstring that forced him to miss a long stretch of training camp. Lee did not return after apparently hurting himself on a 5-yard touchdown catch and Martin left the locker room on crutches after aggravating an injury he had surgically repaired in the off-season.

Injuries were not an excuse for losing to Washington on Sunday, especially when you consider the Packers gained 427 yards and didn't allow a touchdown until the fourth quarter.

Rodgers, according to coach Mike McCarthy, probably suffered the head injury on his final play from scrimmage, an interception thrown in overtime, so it was not a factor in him throwing just one touchdown pass.

Injuries are, however, a black cloud hanging over the team as it faces arguably its toughest part of the schedule. It hosts Miami next week and division rival Minnesota the week after, then travels to face the New York Jets before returning home to face the Dallas Cowboys.

It isn't until that stretch is over that the Packers get their bye week.

"I guess the (injury) bug is on us this year," Finley said.

Heading into this past week, the Packers had done a decent job managing injuries, but now McCarthy and defensive coordinator Dom Capers are going to have to be even more creative in filling spots.

Not having Matthews, who left in the fourth quarter after pulling the same hamstring that kept him out of three weeks of training camp each of the last two years, was a huge blow. It meant the defense went from sacking quarterback Donovan McNabb to just pressuring him.

Matthews said he didn't think the pull was bad and that the medical staff was being smart in holding him out because it didn't want him to be out for an extended period again. Washington drove 53 yards for its game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter and 24 yards for its winning field goal in overtime.

"It's very difficult, especially when you think you can some way change the outcome of the game," Matthews said. "I felt like I was having a pretty good game getting after the quarterback.

"It's tough, very tough. You want to have your best playmakers out there, especially when it comes down to that last drive."

Capers was able to use a combination of Zombo and Brady Poppinga to fill Matthews' spot. But it obviously wasn't the same as having him out there. Poppinga even filled in at inside linebacker and got his first sack of the season on a middle blitz.

"I saw some good things out there today," Capers said. "It's too bad. With all the injuries we had, give them credit they made some critical plays at critical times.

"We had our opportunities. When they got there's they converted them, and when we got ours we didn't."