Our regular season feature called "The silver lining" is back. Following losses, it's a bright spot from an otherwise gloomy game. After wins, it's an unexpected performance. This week's silver lining is:

Nick Barnett

Count me among the doubters. I'm sorry I doubted you, Nick.

I didn't think Barnett would be able to heal and adequately contribute to the Packers defense this season. Learning an entirely new defensive scheme is one thing, and when you add an injury on top of that, things didn't look optimistic.

I though Barnett would struggle through all of 2009, and once his knee finally got strong enough, he'd possibly be able to help again in 2010. The popular sentiment is that it takes an entire season to recover from such a severe knee injury.

Much to my surprise, Barnett has become the most consistent inside linebacker on the team. It took a little while but he did it.

Barnett didn't play until the final preseason game. And even during the first couple regular season games, he was limited. It wasn't until the first Vikings game that Barnett played the entire game.

And he seems to be getting better each and every game this season. He's finally to the point the past two weeks where he's making plays in the offensive backfield.

He even showed flashes of becoming an effective blitzer, such as the time Barnett rushed Brett Favre and was able to deflect the ball from the quarterback's hand at the moment of release. Surprisingly, the ball wasn't intercepted.

Hopefully Barnett just keeps on improving every week. He's still not making impact plays such as sacking the quarterback, causing fumbles or making interceptions. But the he might be headed in that direction given the progress he's made this season.