The Green Bay Packers season has been spiraling downward since their Week 5 matchup with the New York Giants. They headed overseas for the game against Big Blue riding a three-game winning streak, but Aaron Rodgers cautioned that the way they were winning games was not sustainable.
It turns out that he was correct, as the Packers have lost six out of their next seven games. A big reason for the team’s downfall has been the performance of their offense, which has been directly impacted by the injury that Rodgers suffered to his thumb against the Giants.
Rodgers has refused to use the thumb as an excuse for his performance, which is certainly admirable. But, injuries of any kind are difficult to overcome and it very likely is impacting some of the things Rodgers would normally do as the injury occurred to his throwing hand.
Gripping the football properly to throw it is likely challenging as an injured thumb would certainly be a hindrance from that standpoint. He has been pretty mum about the situation, not really giving much detail into what exactly is wrong with his thumb. While appearing on his weekly spot on the Pat McAfee Show, he hinted at it possibly being broken.
We have seen players injure their thumbs in recent seasons and be sidelined for multiple weeks recovering from the injury. Not only has Rodgers suited up for every game since the injury occurred, but he has also played nearly every snap. The only time he was not on the field since Week 5 was when Jordan Love came on in relief to finish the game against the New York Jets, a 23-7 loss for Green Bay.
A week off would likely do wonders for Rodgers, but the Packers have two more games before their bye in Week 14. They are heading on the road to face the Philadelphia Eagles this week before traveling to take on their NFC North division rivals, the Chicago Bears.
By that point, the Packers’ season could already be over. If the playoffs are mathematically impossible to reach coming out of the bye, we could see Love take over with Aaron Rodgers sitting out games to heal up and get his thumb right.
