On Sunday evening that proved costly as his teammates laboured to a 1-1 draw against Alaves without him, highlighting just how vital he is for Diego Simeone's plans.
The positive for Los Rojiblancos is that the Frenchman's absence was merely temporary.
In years gone by, a 32-goal season would have been enough to put Griezmann in the shop window and the club would have stuck a ribbon on him, shipped him off to Barcelona, Real Madrid or the Premier League and happily put transfer fee towards paying off their debt.
This summer, though, marked a new era for the capital city side as they did not sell any starters and even managed to tie their star man to the club until 2021 with the signing of a bumper new contract.
Yet one day - whether before or after 2021 - their No.7 will depart and, if Sunday's match is anything to go by, Los Colchoneros will struggle without him.
Just as Ebenezer Scrooge was terrified by the parallel universe in which he didn't exist that was shown to him by the Ghost of Christmas Past, Atletico fans should be concerned at Sunday evening's glimpse at life post-Griezmann.
Alaves sat as deep as the 4-5-1 they've played all pre-season suggested they would, yet Simeone's side could not come up with a way to blow down the Basque side's defensive wall.
Although they fired away 27 shots at Fernando Pacheco's goal, ten of those 27 were have-a-go blasts from outside the box, while only six of them were on target - including the controversially-awarded penalty.
Besides a neat passing move between Juanfran, Koke and Kevin Gameiro and the moment when the ball bobbled into Saul Niguez's path - both in the first half - there was no clear one-on-one opportunity created by Atletico from open play.
Without the locksmith usually charged with unpicking the defensive bolt, Atletico simply lacked the creativity necessary to rip apart a stubborn nine-man - and sometimes ten-man, when Gaizka Toquero tracked back - defence.
Worryingly, this was not the first time the team has struggled without Griezmann.
Since he touched down at the Vicente Calderon in the summer of 2014, the Frenchman has missed seven matches and Atleti have only won two of those - both against third tier Reus in the Copa del Rey.
Two more of those Griezmann-less matches also came in the cup - a 2-2 draw with L'Hospitalet and a 1-1 draw with Rayo Vallecano - while the team also drew 0-0 without him against Juventus in the Champions League and 1-1 with Valencia in a league match in the 2014/15 season.
Compared to the reverse fixtures against Juventus and Valencia that season, the number of shots and the number of chances created were both lower in the match without the Frenchman's presence.
The problem for Atletico is that they don't have anyone else who can both create and finish like him.
Kevin Gameiro is expected to be as lethal a goalscorer as he was at Sevilla and his few missed chances on Sunday night shouldn't be overblown, but he cannot manufacture chances for other players out of thin air in the way that Griezmann can - highlighted by the fact he provided just four LaLiga assists for Sevilla in 2015/16.
Koke, meanwhile, is the ultimate through ball king, yet he scored just five goals in the league last season.
However, the team's No.7 can do both, but their reliance on him doing so could become problematic if he gets injured, suspended or - whisper it - departs for another club.
Fans of Barcelona and Real Madrid like to accuse their rival of Messidependencia or Ronaldodependencia, the overreliance on their superstar.
In truth, Griezmanndependencia may be much more of a real concept./ShikoNews
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