Aaron Rodgers Knee Injury: DeShone Kizer Ready To Start For Packers At Quarterback Against Vikings

Less than five days before their pivotal NFC North matchup with the Minnesota Vikings, the Green Bay Packers don’t know which player will be starting for them at quarterback. Aaron Rodgers’ playing status for Sunday afternoon remains unknown after he suffered a knee injury in the season opener.

Rodgers said he’d play in Week 2 shortly after he led the Packers to a 24-23 comeback victory over the Chicago Bears, but Mike McCarthy wasn’t nearly as certain a day later. Green Bay’s head coach wouldn’t tell reporters whether it would be Rodgers or the Packers’ No.2 quarterback that will get the call in the team’s next game.

If Rodgers can’t go, it’ll be DeShone Kizer that starts under center. Kizer finished the second quarter last week when Rodgers was carted off to the locker room and appeared to be done for the night.

“You gotta prepare as a starter every week,” Kizer told reporters after Green Bay’s Week 1 win. “I think that we have a pretty good process that we were able to go through last week. We’ll be able to adjust a couple of things in terms of spending some extra time understanding some two-minute situations and things like that. But for the most part, I think we have a pretty good process for the backups, and I’ll continue to stay on that same path and hopefully be just as prepared for next week.”

Kizer’s action was limited because Rodgers returned to start the second half. The backup completed four of seven passes for 55 yards. One of his incompletions was a costly one as it went into the arms of Khalil Mack, who returned it for a touchdown and gave the Bears a 17-0 lead.

Kizer does have plenty of starting experience, having gotten the nod in all but one of the Cleveland Browns’ games last season when he was a rookie. Of course, the signal caller wasn’t very successful playing for a team that went 0-16.

It wasn’t just that Kizer didn’t have much help. He was a major part of Cleveland’s winless season, playing worse than any other quarterback that started a significant number of games. The Notre Dame product ranked last in the NFL with a 60.5 passer rating and 22 interceptions. Kizer threw twice as many picks as he did touchdown passes, and he averaged just 193 passing yards per game.

Four starting quarterbacks averaged fewer passing yards per game than Kizer. Brett Hundley, who backed up Rodgers last season, was all the way at the bottom of the list.

Green Bay got off to a 4-1 start in the 2017 season, but their playoff hopes essentially ended when Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone that would force Hundley to take over for half the year. Hundley went 3-6 as a starter, ranking dead last in the league with 167 passing yards per game. He was 30th out of 32 quarterbacks with a 70.6 passer rating.

Rodgers suffered his injury last year early in Green Bay’s first meeting with the Vikings. Minnesota won 23-10 as Hundley was picked off three times. Hundley went 17-40 for 130 yards and two interceptions when the Vikings shut the Packers out at Lambeau Field in Week 16.

After putting together a nearly perfect second half on one leg, Rodgers ended Week 1 with 268 yards, three touchdowns and a 130.7 passer rating. Green Bay opened as a slight favorite over Minnesota, but they will quickly become underdogs if it’s announced that Kizer will get the start.

The Vikings might have the best defense in the NFL. They ranked first in both points and yards allowed a year ago. Minnesota held Jimmy Garoppolo to a 45.1 passer rating in the season opener.