The loss of WR Ryan Broyles, who will miss the rest of the season with an ACL tear, could be a blow to the Lions offense. (US Presswire)

Detroit's already thin wide receiver depth was dealt a major blow Monday when the team learned that first-year WR Ryan Broyles would miss the remainder of the 2012 season after tearing his right ACL in the first quarter of the Lions’ 35-33 loss to the Colts on Sunday.

Broyles had become a dependable receiving option for the Lions after Nate Burleson broke his leg in Week 7. In four games as a starter, Broyles was averaging over 14 yards per catch, second only to Calvin Johnson among Lions receivers. He finished his rookie season with 22 catches for 310 yards and two touchdowns.

“It’s tough,” guard Rob Sims said. “It feels like we’ve been having the worst luck lately. When you lose [Broyles], a guy who was going to be an emerging player on this team, to lose him for the rest of the season, it’s hard.

The injury is Broyles’ second ACL tear in as many seasons. He was finally able to play at full strength following Detroit’s Week 5 bye after completing rehab to strengthen a surgically repaired left ACL that he tore while playing for the University of Oklahoma on Nov. 5, 2011.

Broyles tweeted that he’d be “back at it next year” after coach Jim Schwartz released news of his injury to the media, and Schwartz says the team is confident that Broyles will be able to make a full recovery in time to contribute next season.

“[Reconstructive surgery and the ACL rehab process is] something that [Broyles has] gone through already,” Schwartz said. “We have a few players on our team, namely Brandon Pettigrew and Kyle Vanden Bosch that have had ACL injuries on both knees... Ryan’s a real hard-working player. He did a great job with his rehab last time. It’ll be a bump in the road for him, but it won’t be something that he can’t overcome.”

Broyles' injury comes at the worst possible time for Detroit’s receiving corps. The unit began the season as the strength of the Lions’ offense but will struggle to field players aside from Johnson that should be viewed as legitimate threats against the Packers in Week 14. The unit has already lost Burleson and Broyles to injuries, and 2011 second-round pick Titus Young is not an option after being sent away from the team a second time for disciplinary reasons.

Schwartz conceded that the team will explore making a roster move to add wide receiver depth, but it’s unlikely that any new arrival would have enough time to get acclimated to Detroit’s scheme before Sunday’s game. That leaves Mike Thomas (3 catches, 16 yards, TD with Lions) and Brian Robiskie (active twice, no catches) as Detroit’s No. 2 and No. 3 receivers as they head into the unfriendly confines of Lambeau Field, where the team hasn’t won since 1991.

The injury to Broyles, and the relative inexperience of Robiskie and Thomas in the Lions’ offensive scheme, should lead to increased touches for TEs Tony Scheffler and Brandon Pettigrew. The pair were the Lions’ second and third-most targeted receivers in Detroit’s loss to the Colts, and they combined for 6 catches for 98 yards and a TD. Scheffler is also capable of moving to a slot receiver role and could be asked to do that if offensive coordinator Scott Linehan feels that Thomas or Robiskie aren’t capable of handling the full WR workload.

Follow Lions reporter John Kreger on Twitter at @CBSLions and @JohnKreger.