The Green Bay Packers will take on the New York Giants this weekend in one of the NFC's divisional round playoff games. They'll be doing so with incredibly heavy hearts.
ESPN Wisconsin's Jason Wilde tweeted Monday night that the team was informed that a body found Monday afternoon was that of Michael Philbin, son of the team's offensive coordinator, Joe Philbin.
"I'm told the Packers players have indeed been informed that the body of offensive coordinator Joe Philbin's son, Michael, has been ID'ed," read Wilde's tweet.
The 21-year-old was last heard from on Sunday morning at 2 a.m. He was spending the night in Oshkosh, Wisc., visiting with friends. He was reported missing at 8:15 p.m. on Sunday night.
The string of tweets from Packers players and their tweets shortly thereafter seems to back up that bit of reporting.
"Life is too short… Live in the present," tweeted Packers defensive lineman B.J. Raji.
"Life throws the bad things at us to make the good things all the more worthwhile…. #LIFEISTOOSHORT," added tight end Jermichael Finley.
"Tell someone you love them asap, you never know what tomorrow brings," tweeted offensive lineman Marshall Newhouse.
The Packers have yet to announce anything official regarding the report, but head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson spoke earlier in the day about the situation.
"The Philbin family's obviously going through a tough time right now, and as we always have, we're a family-first philosophy with our organization, with our program," McCarthy said at a news conference Monday afternoon. "So we're supporting Joe and his family the best we can, and we're holding out hope that this comes to positive conclusion."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the Philbin family during this difficult time," Thompson said in a statement.
It will obviously be a difficult week for the NFC's No. 1 seed, but McCarthy said that his team will do its best to go about its business despite the obvious distraction.
"We're prepared to do whatever we need to do as a staff to make sure our team's ready to go," he said. "We'll be ready to go."
