Aaron Rodgers looms in the shadows of this NFL season. If Green Bay can take care of business in Cleveland, they’ll be 7-6 with Rodgers returning for Carolina, Minnesota and Detroit to finish off the year. It’s not a guarantee that Green Bay wins the first game in Charlotte where they haven’t had success in Rodgers’ tenure. Still, it’s worth a shot. Some Packers fans are starting to get scared that the superstar might hurt himself, and they should keep Brett Hundley for the rest of the season with the playoffs not a guarantee. To me, that’s a chicken shit idea, and you play your best players unless it really makes no sense.

From all indications, Rodgers wants to be back out there. I have a feeling even if this team only had five wins right now, Rodgers would still be pushing to go back out there for the remainder of the season. Why? Because the guy wants to play football. Injuries are part of the game, and people will be concerned on whether he can take a hit. That said, the return should not be halted because the Packers are out of it. If he’s medically cleared then the doctors believe he can deal with a hit.

Yes, there’s that fear about ‘What if he goes down again?’ But the same could be said for Tom Brady’s knee or one of the young quarterbacks tearing an ACL out of nowhere. Shit happens. It’s football. Green Bay had one total injury from Sunday’s game with countless others where guys limped off for a play or two. It’s not always going to be pretty in this regard, and you cannot keep these guys in bubble wrap. I understand the importance of Rodgers, but we also need to understand that he cares about winning football games more than if he might get hurt again.

Can’t wait for the return and hope Green Bay has a shot at January.

Charlie.