Rodgers Torches Bears But Toe Suffers Setback
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers enjoyed his walk off Lambeau Field on Sunday night. Having dispatched the rival Chicago Bears yet again, there was plenty of reason to smile for the surging MVP.
Instead, Rodgers walked off the field. The broken pinky toe that he’s been battling since his comeback from COVID-19 a month ago took a turn for the worse.
“It feels worse,” Rodgers said. “I don’t know what kind of setback that I had tonight but we’ll look at it tomorrow. Definitely took a step back tonight.”
That’s not at all what Rodgers and the team were hoping for following a bye week that provided enough healing so that he could practice on Friday.
Rodgers, who delivered his seventh career game against Chicago with four-plus touchdowns and zero interceptions, said surgery would be a “last resort.” There are minor procedures, he’s said, that would allow him to not miss a game.
“I can’t make that call right now,” he said.
While Rodgers will soldier on with limited mobility, he’ll be playing behind an offensive line that looks like the makeshift units thrown out there for preseason games. The latest casualty was right tackle Billy Turner, who suffered a knee injury late in the second quarter. The Packers wasted little time in ruling him out, never a good sign.
Without Turner, four-fifths of the preferred starting line is out with knee injuries.
All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari still hasn’t made it back from the ACL tear sustained at practice almost 12 months ago. Pro Bowl left guard Elgton Jenkins, who replaced Bakhtiari at left tackle, suffered a torn ACL last week at Minnesota. Rookie center Josh Myers is out following knee surgery, as well. And now it’s Turner, who had started 42 of a possible 44 games during his three seasons.
The last man standing on the offensive line is rookie fourth-round pick Royce Newman, the right guard.
“We’ve gotten decimated, no doubt about it,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “But nobody’s feeling sorry for us, I can promise you that. I know you guys don’t really care who’s in there. You have an expectation for how we’ve got to go out there and play and that’s the mindset that we have is it doesn’t matter, you find a way to get it done.”
Under position coach Adam Stenavich, the Packers were fortunate to have created quality depth. At left tackle, Yosh Nijman settled in after a shaky start. Jon Runyan, a sixth-round pick last year, generally has played winning football at left guard. Veteran Lucas Patrick has been at least as good as Myers at center. And the next, next man up is Dennis Kelly at right tackle. The 31-year-old started all 16 games at right tackle last season for Tennessee. While Rodgers has hyped Turner as a potential Pro Bowler, Kelly is no slouch.
“I love Dennis,” Rodgers said. “I think he’s got a real steady personality and he’s a pro’s pro, so I was happy to have him out there. Just from a feel standpoint, it felt like he did a really nice job. It’s tough to go the entire season, I’m sure, and not play and then, boom, you’re thrust into an important situation and you’re going to have to play a half-plus of football and deal with the conditioning. Practice conditioning is one thing but getting in the game and doing it over and over and long drives, I’m just really proud of him. And the other guys up front – Yosh and Jon and Royce and Lucas – they’ve battled. I thought we did a good job up front. There’s a couple coverage sacks but I felt like, overall, we protected well, we ran the football well and then just kind of got the ball to our guys at certain times.”
