Aaron Rodgers Injury Update: Will The Green Bay Packers' Quarterback Play In Week 2?

When Aaron Rodgers was carted off the field with a leg injury Sunday night in the second quarter against the Chicago Bears, it looked like the quarterback’s season might be in jeopardy. Thankfully for the Green Bay Packers, their best player likely avoided disaster.

Although noticeably hobbled, Rodgers returned for the second half and played like the all-world signal caller that the NFL has become accustomed to seeing. He tossed three fourth-quarter touchdown passes and led Green Bay to a comeback victory over Chicago in Week 1. Rodgers’ knee will be evaluated Monday, though there is optimism regarding his health going forward in the 2018 NFL season.

“It would’ve had to take something real catastrophic injury-wise to keep me off the field in the second half. I went in the locker room, did all the tests and I was in our facility trying to get it loosened up, but I knew once I got back on the field and the adrenaline started going I’d be able to hang in there,” Rodgers said in his postgame interview with NBC’s Michele Tafoya.

“My knee, I just felt something in it, was having a hard time putting weight on it. The doctor and I had a conversation in there. We did the tests and I told him I was going back.”

Rodgers completed 17 of 23 passes for 273 yards in the second half, even though his mobility appeared to be lacking. According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, Rodgers probably isn’t in much danger of missing Green Bay’s Week 2 contest against the Minnesota Vikings.

“I felt like once I got back out there, when the adrenaline was going, it loosened up a little bit,” Rodgers told reporters after the game. “But then it tightened up there in the fourth quarter. I was walking up and down the sideline trying to keep it loose. We'll do tests [Monday], and you'll get a better answer Wednesday when I talk.”

Once Rodgers went down, it looked like Chicago was going to cruise to a victory. The Bears were putting constant pressure on the quarterback, and the recently-added Khalil Mack paid immediate dividends. He intercepted one of the seven passes attempted by backup quarterback DeShone Kizer and returned it for a touchdown to give the Bears a 17-0 lead.

Rodgers only played seven games last season because of a broken collarbone. The Packers got off to a 4-1 start before the two-time MVP suffered the injury. Green Bay went 3-6 in games that Rodgers didn’t start.

There probably isn’t a player in the league that means more to his team than Rodgers does to Green Bay. From 2009-2017, the Packers won at least 10 games in each of Rodgers’ seven full seasons. Green Bay failed to win more than eight games in either of the two seasons in which an injury limited the quarterback to playing half the year.

Green Bay acquired Kizer to be Rodgers’ backup in the preseason. In 15 games as a rookie last year, Kizer went winless with 11 touchdown passes, 22 interceptions and a 60.5 passer rating.