Having secured the top seed in the NFC playoffs, the Green Bay Packers have the week off from playing football. That’s especially good news for quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who has battled a toe injury throughout the last few weeks of the NFL season.
Rodgers fractured his pinkie toe in early November, but told reporters Wednesday that the toe is “close to 100 percent” healthy and that he’s “feeling good.”
“But, (I) think I should be 100 percent by next week,” he added.
Rodgers had been getting pain-killing injections in the toe regularly before games, but said Wednesday that he hasn’t needed one recently.
“I haven’t taken one in a number of weeks now, so that’s been the most encouraging thing,” Rodgers said. “Got through last week without doing one. It was just a pretty standard shot in the toe, very painful, a numbing agent. That helped get me through the games. The whole goal was to be able to not have to do that. It’s been a few games without doing that.”
Rodgers played in only the first half of the Packers’ regular season finale on Sunday, a 37–30 loss to the Detroit Lions. Despite the defeat, Green Bay remained at the top of the NFC with a 13–4 record, securing a first-round bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
Rodgers, 38, completed 68.9 percent of his passes this season for 4,115 yards and 37 touchdowns. He was intercepted four times and he has a solid chance of winning NFL MVP honors for the second straight season.
