GREEN BAY, Wis. — Life without Aaron Rodgers will have to wait.
Two days after the Green Bay Packers quarterback left Sunday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles with a rib injury, he said he expects to play this week against the Chicago Bears.
“I got good news with the scans yesterday,” Rodgers said Tuesday on “The Pat McAfee Show.” “So, I plan on playing this week.”
Rodgers initially feared he might have a punctured lung, but that was quickly ruled out. He had X-rays at Lincoln Financial Field to see whether he had fractured ribs but indicated that they were inconclusive, and he would undergo additional tests back in Green Bay on Monday.
He did not say what Monday’s tests showed. Earlier this season, Rodgers kept secret for weeks that his right thumb injury was a broken thumb.
On Monday, coach Matt LaFleur said that Rodgers would play this week if he were healthy rather than going to Jordan Love, who was productive in relief against the Eagles.
Before departing with his injury on Sunday, Rodgers completed 11 of 16 passes for 140 yards and two touchdowns with two interceptions during the Packers’ 40-33 loss to the Eagles. Love replaced him in the game and in two drives went 6-of-9 for 113 yards and a touchdown, with the Packers totaling 10 points while he was at the helm.
Still, the Packers lost for the seventh time in their past eight games and fell to 4-8 with five games to go, prompting talk that the Packers might move on to Love for the rest of this season.
“We’re not eliminated,” Rodgers said on Tuesday’s show. “We got a chance to run the last five and see where we stand after that. That’s the focus for me. I might miss practice on Wednesday, might not be a full contributor, but that’s kind of been standard for the last six, seven weeks [and then] go to one of my favorite places to play down in Chicago and hopefully get a big win, get into the bye week and get healthy and let’s see where we can get to.”
