The Packers are targeting a Week 15 return for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Rodgers returned to practice yesterday, making his return to game action this season very realistic.
However, other than confirming that Green Bay wants Rodgers to suit up as soon as he is eligible, Schefter does not add any new details to yesterday’s report that the star QB is practicing again. Schefter says that Rodgers’ Week 15 return is, of course, contingent upon his being medically cleared — and we learned yesterday that he would not be scanned until after the Packers’ Week 14 game against the Browns — and that the Packers would need to still be in playoff contention for No. 12 to see the field again in 2017.
Green Bay currently sits at 5-6 and is two games behind the Falcons for the second wild-card spot. But the Packers do have two eminently winnable games in Week 13 (home against the Buccaneers) and Week 14 (at Cleveland). If they can get to 7-6, Rodgers could be back to lead a playoff push in a difficult final stretch of the schedule, which includes matchups against the Panthers, Vikings, and Lions.
With Rodgers’ backup, Brett Hundley, under center, the Packers have stumbled to a 1-4 mark. Though Hundley has turned in a couple of strong performances, he has also struggled mightily at times, and the team clearly needs Rodgers to get to the postseason.
Why bother?
Because the packers are still eligible to make the playoffs
Because the gm needs this to save his job since not having Rodgers is showing that he has no idea how to build a team