Rodgers’ Bye Week Advice: ‘Don’t Get COVID’

There's excellent news in terms of COVID-19 rates and the Green Bay area.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – With 18 career playoff starts, Aaron Rodgers had some usable advice for his Green Bay Packers teammates with the playoffs on the horizon.

“Don’t get COVID,” Rodgers said after Sunday’s win at Chicago.

Getting healthy is perhaps the biggest benefit of being the No. 1 seed and getting a first-round bye. Staying healthy, however, is a new challenge during a pandemic.

“We need everybody, so our guys are going to have to continue to be responsible off the field, as well, just making sure that they’re not putting themselves in harm's way to catch COVID, because that could derail us in a heartbeat,” coach Matt LaFleur said after the game.

The latest data from John Hopkins University via the NFLPA offers some encouragement. For the bulk of the season, the Green Bay area was the COVID-19 hotspot among NFL cities. On Nov. 1, for instance, the daily positive rate over a rolling 14-day period was a league-worst 104.9 new cases per 100,000 population. Now, the daily positive rate is 43.0 new cases per 100,000. That’s the eighth-lowest rate among the NFL’s 30 cities.

It only takes one, though, to cause potentially season-ending havoc. Cases in point: Because of one positive test and high-risk close contacts, the Denver Broncos had no quarterbacks for their game against the New Orleans Saints in late November and the Saints had no running backs for their game against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Or, for a closer-to-home reminder: Against San Francisco at midseason, the Packers were without running backs AJ Dillon (positive test) and Jamaal Williams (high-risk close contact).

“I just think we’re pretty matter of fact with the guys,” LaFleur said on Monday when asked how he ensures the message doesn’t become stale.

“There’s a lot of stories out there that are great examples to use, but I really think as much as myself or the rest of our staff stress it, it really comes back down to the people and the individual players and everybody involved in this thing. It’s not just our players, coaches. It’s our trainers, our strength coaches; everybody that’s around the team. Everybody is really taking a lot of pride in what we’ve been able to accomplish. We know that we need everybody to continue to move on and progress.”