The Green Bay Packers, a legitimate Super Bowl contender, nearly suffered a devastating blow less than one half into their new season when Aaron Rodgers suffered a knee injury, left the game, and was questionable to return to the Packers' season opener against the Bears.
However, coming out of the halftime break, Michele Tafoya reported during the telecast that Rodgers would try to play in the second half. Sure enough, Rodgers took the field with the offense for their first series. He completed his first two passes, both of which were quick hitters likely designed to ensure the Bears' pass rush couldn't get to Rodgers. The Packers would kick a field goal, and Rodgers showed no real signs of an injury on the series.
And he definitely appeared to be OK when he threw this touchdown in the fourth quarter. If he is hurt, Rodgers apparently only needs one leg to do this:
The injury happened in the second quarter when Rodgers stayed down after a sack. Rodgers grabbed at his leg, tried to get back up, and went back down again before he was finally able to limp off the field and into the blue medical tent on the sidelines.
The Packers punted on the next play. When the Packers' offense returned to the field, Rodgers emerged from the tent, but he got on a cart and headed back to the locker room. DeShone Kizer, the 2017 second-round pick of the Browns who got traded to Green Bay in the offseason, took his place on the field.
Aaron Rodgers has left the field on a cart. pic.twitter.com/wgUl7oYJAT — SNF on NBC (@SNFonNBC) September 10, 2018
Kizer's first series started off well as the Packers drove inside the red zone, but it ended in just about the worst possible way when new Bears pass rusher Khalil Mack strip sacked Kizer and recovered the loose ball.
If the injury is serious, it would be the second straight year Rodgers has suffered a brutal injury. A year ago, he broke his collarbone on a sack and missed nine games. As a result, the Packers missed the playoffs after going 3-6 with Brett Hundley under center. It would also be the second time Rodgers has suffered a serious injury against the Bears at Lambeau. In 2013, Rodgers again broke his collarbone on a sack.
Rodgers always gets injured in a division game.
2010 vs. Detroit
2013 vs. Chicago
2017 vs. Minnesota
2018 vs. Chicago
Packers 0-3 in those games. — Scott Kacsmar (@FO_ScottKacsmar) September 10, 2018
If Rodgers is forced to miss a ton of time, it'll change the entire outlook of the NFC. The Vikings will suddenly become the clear frontrunners in the NFC North, and a wild card spot will open up.
When Rodgers left the game, the Bears led the Packers 10-0. You can follow along with the rest of the game with our live blog here, and we'll be sure to update this post when more information about Rodgers' injury emerges.
Is Aaron Rodgers a god among men? If Sunday night's epic performance is any indication, perhaps he is.
Just an hour after suffering what looked to be a catastrophic knee injury, Aaron Rodgers returned to the field for a second-half comeback for the ages, bringing the Green Bay Packers back from 20 points down to an improbable 24-23 victory over the Chicago Bears.
"It's the Bears-Packers rivalry. So it'd have to take something really catastrophic injury wise to keep me off the field the second half," Rodgers told NBC's Michele Tafoya after the game. "I went in the locker room, did all the test in our indoor facility trying to get it loosen up. But I knew once I got back on the field the adrenaline started going I would be able to hang in there."
After Bears players rolled up on his knee in the second quarter, the Packers quarterback was taken immediately to the medical tent for evaluation and later carted to the locker room, ruled questionable to return.
"I just felt something in it," Rodgers said on NBC. "Was having a hard time putting weight on it. The doc and I had a conversation. We did the tests. I told him I was going back."
Asked how serious his injury is, Rodgers added, "We'll do tests tomorrow, and I'll have a better answer for you when I talk Wednesday."
DeShone Kizer replaced Rodgers under center on Green Bay's next drive, but was wholly ineffective. The former Browns starter lost a fumble in the red zone and threw a pick six to Khalil Mack in barely a quarter's worth of work.
Upon surprisingly returning to the field, Rodgers promptly went 17 of 23 for 273 yards on four second-half scoring drives. Green Bay kicked a field goal on the first march, and on the next three drives, Rodgers threw touchdown passes to his favorite receivers, Geronimo Allison (39 yards), Davante Adams (12 yards) and Randall Cobb (75 yards), the last of which won the contest.
The 20-point comeback is the largest of Rodgers' career.
"I told the guys at halftime I said, 'If you shut them out, we're going to win.' We gave up six, but I just had a feeling if we could spark it and get things going," Rodgers said before adding that he expects to play next week against the Vikings. "If we just put together a couple of drives. [I was] disappointed with the field goal. And then guys started making plays. That's what we said in the huddle. We gotta make some plays. Geronimo [Allison] had a great catch. And then Randall [Cobb] ran about 80 yards for a touchdown. That was pretty special."
The injury and incredible comeback came on the heels of Rodgers' massive pay raise. The Packers quarterback just signed a record four-year, $134 million extension with $100 million in guarantees.
The Packers escaped disaster and achieved near ecstasy in the span of three hours. Losing Rodgers for any extended period of time would have been a death knell for Green Bay's postseason hopes and obviously the worst-case scenario for an organization that just invested a massive amount of capital in him. Not to mention a devastating setback for one of the league's most well-respected and -revered athletes.
For now, it appears Rodgers' season and Green Bay's pursuit of another Lombardi will continue -- with quite some momentum.
Don Wright/Associated Press
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a knee injury during Sunday's season-opening game against the Chicago Bears and was carted off the field, per Adam Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times, but he returned to the field on his team's first possession of the second half and directed a comeback victory.
His return came after Green Bay announced he was questionable to return with the knee setback despite being carted off.
Rodgers spoke after the game and said he will undergo tests Monday but doesn't think he will miss time, per Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. Demovsky noted "Rodgers said his left knee injury is the same one that he had a surgical cleanup on after the 2015 season, which is also his ACL knee from high school."
It looked as if the Packers would be forced to play without Rodgers again following this setback after their postseason chances last year were torpedoed by the broken collarbone he suffered against the Minnesota Vikings.
Green Bay struggled to find ways to win with Brett Hundley under center, which was no surprise considering it was a nearly impossible task to replicate one of the best quarterbacks in recent league history.
Rodgers is a two-time league MVP, six-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro with six seasons of more than 4,000 passing yards on his resume, including 2016 when he tallied 4,428 to go with 40 touchdown throws and just seven interceptions.
The Packers won't be able to turn toward Hundley again after he was traded to the Seattle Seahawks in August. But they do now have DeShone Kizer, who was acquired from the Cleveland Browns via trade this past offseason, if Rodgers isn't able to go again in the future.
Jeffrey Phelps/Associated Press
Aaron Rodgers may not be human.
The Green Bay Packers quarterback was carted off the field with a knee injury in the first half of Sunday's game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field but returned facing a 20-0 deficit. All he did was throw for 286 yards and three touchdowns while directing an incredible comeback in a 24-23 season-opening victory.
His final dagger to the Bears' heart was a 75-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb on 3rd-and-10 with two minutes and 13 seconds remaining a mere two plays after Kyle Fuller dropped what likely would have been a game-clinching interception.
Even on One Leg, Aaron Rodgers a Superhero
For a moment, it looked as if the Packers' season was over.
As Rodgers was being carted off the field, memories of the 2017 campaign came flooding back when he played just seven games because of a broken collarbone. Green Bay proceeded to miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 campaign as Brett Hundley threw nine touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
DeShone Kizer is the backup now, but he threw 11 touchdowns and 22 interceptions last year on the Cleveland Browns. Green Bay has no chance without Rodgers, and that was clear on Kizer's first possession when Khalil Mack strip-sacked the backup quarterback.
Willis Reed and Kirk Gibson now have company on the list of hobbled players who returned to treat fans to incredible moments that only come in sports.
Rodgers trotted onto the field for the second half and, despite barely stepping into many of his throws and essentially using only his arm to push the ball downfield, threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Geronimo Allison, 12-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams and the 75-yard backbreaker to Cobb, who sprinted past the Chicago secondary and did much of the work after the catch.
According to John Buccigross of ESPN, it was the first time Rodgers threw three touchdowns in a fourth quarter in his incredible career.
Green Bay deserves credit for switching the offensive attack and utilizing pace to prevent the Bears' pressure from getting to Rodgers, but this was all about the all-time great adding yet another memorable chapter to his Hall of Fame resume.
He is the closest thing the NFL has to an actual superhero.
Bears Must Maintain Offensive Aggressiveness to Succeed
Chicago's offense lacked innovation, struggled throughout the season and lost a challenge that overturned its own touchdown during the 2017 campaign under John Fox. The result was a group that was 30th in the league in yards and 29th in points on the way to a 5-11 record.
It appeared as if things had changed, but those feelings of optimism lasted a mere half.
New coach Matt Nagy wasted no time making an impact on Chicago's first drive, which went for 10 plays, 86 yards and a touchdown. The Bears mixed in a wishbone-like formation on a sweep with two lead blockers, misdirection and receivers in motion, and even offensive tackle Charles Leno lining up out wide.
Trubisky capped it off with a read-option keeper for the score.
Apparently Rodgers' abilities extend to forcing the opposing coach to forget how effective his early play-calling was while building what should have been an insurmountable lead.
The Bears shifted into a conservative approach after Rodgers returned, mixing in predictable runs on early downs, screen passes that went nowhere and even a 3rd-and-1 pass that was completed short of the first-down sticks.
Then, the one time the Bears should have been conservative with a 3rd-and-2 on Green Bay's 14-yard line with less than three minutes remaining, they threw an incomplete pass with Jordan Howard on the sideline. Rather than run clock and perhaps pick up the first down while the Packers had no timeouts remaining, Chicago settled for a field goal and fateful six-point lead.
Still, it was the conservative play-calling in other parts of the second half that kept the Bears defense on the field and allowed Rodgers to wear them out with his tempo.
Chicago overhauled its roster this offseason by adding Allen Robinson, Trey Burton, Anthony Miller and Taylor Gabriel as pass-catchers around Howard and Tarik Cohen. The weapons were on full display in the first half and made the Bears look like playoff contenders.
The fourth quarter was a master class in playing not to lose, and Chicago lost as a result. The only way it will turn things around moving forward is to tap into that aggressiveness that worked early in Sunday's game.
Bears Defensive Front Capable of Leading Team to Playoffs
If there are any silver linings to Sunday's disaster for Chicago, it is the fact that the defensive front seven looks loaded and capable of leading it into the playoff picture.
This was a defense that finished ninth in the league in points allowed in 2017, and it added Mack—the 2016 Defensive Player of the Year—and Roquan Smith—the No. 8 pick of the 2018 draft.
Mack had the strip-sack and a pick-six against Kizer, while Smith tallied a sack on the first play of his career.
It wasn't just those two, though, as Akiem Hicks, Leonard Floyd and even Roy Robertson-Harris made life difficult on a Green Bay offensive line Football Outsiders ranked 28th in the league in pass protection in 2017.
The defense ultimately wore down and didn't take advantage of a game-ending gift when Fuller dropped a surefire interception, but there were flashes of a playoff-caliber front seven.
It's at least something to build on after Rodgers stunned his rivals again.
What's Next?
The Bears open their home slate in Week 2 against the Seattle Seahawks, while the Packers will face another divisional foe at home in the Minnesota Vikings.
