Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was taken to the locker room on a cart after suffering an apparent leg injury during his team’s season opener.
Rodgers was hurt in the second quarter against the Chicago Bears on Sunday night after slipping to the turf while under pressure from linebacker Khalil Mack and defensive lineman Roy Robertson-Harris.
He initially tried to get up, then went back down, and was attended to by trainers. He appeared to reach down for the back of his left leg. Rodgers then walked to the cart that took him up the Lambeau Field tunnel. The quarterback was visibly upset and appeared to have tears in his eyes. Backup DeShone Kizer replaced Rodgers on Green Bay’s next drive.
Ian Rapoport (@iFishyzzz) #Packers QB Aaron Rodgers makes miraculous ACL recovery and is back on the field.
However, to the surprise of many – and in a testament to his bloody-mindedness – he returned to the sidelines for the second-half and appeared to be ready to play.
It was Rodgers’ first regular-season game back at Lambeau Field since last September against the Bears. He was limited to seven games in 2017 because of a collarbone injury.
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.
His return came after Green Bay announced he was questionable to return with the knee setback despite being carted off.
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.
Aaron Rodgers left Green Bay's season opener against the Chicago Bears in the second quarter after suffering a knee injury, but returned to start the second half.
The Packers quarterback was taken immediately to the medical tent for evaluation and later carted to the locker room.
Rodgers missed nine games last season with a broken collarbone.
DeShone Kizer replaced Rodgers under center on Green Bay's next drive. Green Bay acquired the second-year Kizer in a trade with the Cleveland Browns this offseason. Kizer started 15 games in his rookie season with the winless Browns. He completed 53.6 percent of his passes for 2,894 yards, 11 TDs and a league-high 22 INTs.
The injury comes 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 look to have escaped disaster here. 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.
Aaron Rodgers called the Green Bay Packers 'America's team'
But Fox Sports’ Skip Bayless has slammed Rodgers’ notion, stating the Packers aren’t even close to being ‘America’s team’. That has been the moniker adopted by the Dallas Cowboys for several years now. The Packers have traditionally laid claim to the mantra “titletown” having won the most championships. But with Green Bay getting ready to kickstart their 100th season this evening against the Chicago Bears (1:20am BST), Rodgers made a case for why they should be referred to as ‘America’s team’.
He said: "This is one of the top positions in all of sports. "We feel like we're America's team. “Other teams have taken that mantra from time-to-time. But we're just a blue-collar city with a team that's been around for 100 years and have been part of some incredible NFL history.” But Bayless, a self-professed Dallas fan, has blasted Rodgers for trying to rile up Cowboys supporters. “He also makes me sick because he got his money… life is good up in there in Green Bay,” Bayless said on Skip and Shannon Undisputed.
Skip Bayless slammed Aaron Rodgers for his comments
The Green Bay Packers get their season started tonight against the Chicago Bears
“All of a sudden he blurts this out with a little smirk on his face… and he knew exactly what he was saying and who he was targeting. “He was trying to rile up Cowboy Nation because he knows Cowboy Nation have caused him some problems just as he’s gotten even with them a couple times. “This was classic Aaron Rodgers stepping over the line and stepping in it because he tried to explain that Green Bay, because they are publicly owned, that somehow they’re America’s team.” He added: “Aaron Rodgers is so off on this because Green Bay is only Green Bay Wisconsin’s team, that’s all they are.
The Dallas Cowboys are traditionally nicknamed America's team
