How Rodgers' Injury Affects Green Bay

That “discount double-check guy” has suffered an injury that could put the Green Bay Packers’ season in jeopardy.

On Monday night against the Chicago Bears, quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered a broken collar bone when he was tackled hard to the ground scrambling on a pass play inside the Bears’ 15 yard line. Rodgers is expected to miss several weeks and veteran back-up quarterback Seneca Wallace is expected to fill in while Rodgers recovers.

If we look ahead, let’s just say four weeks, the Packers have a chance to manage and survive and win two out of the four games. They start off playing the Philadelphia Eagles, followed by the New York Giants, then the Minnesota Vikings, and finally the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day. The Vikings and Giants can be games that the Packers have the greatest chance of winning. If they were playing at Philadelphia, I would say they could win that game too because the Eagles just don’t seem like they want to win in front of their home crowd anymore.

Rodgers’ injury is obviously unfortunate, but if he was to miss a few game stretch like this one, then this would be the right time. The Packers have finally found a running game and rookie Eddie Lacy is the key reason why. According to a statistic shown during Monday Night Football, in 2012 the Packers did not have a single running back rush for over 100 yards in a single game. This year, they have had four who have been able to do so: Eddie Lacy with two, James Starks with one, and even Johnathan Franklin with one himself.

So Seneca Wallace won’t have to try and wear Rodger’s championship belt to carry the team on his back, but they won’t change a whole lot of what the Packers do on offense. Head coach Mike McCarthy said “we’ll continue to run the majority of our offense.” Look for the Packers to focus a little more on the running game to help set up play-action passes for Wallace, preferably bootlegs that will give Wallace the opportunity to run and see the field better being a 5’11 quarterback.

Rodgers’ injury is probably the most feared injury the Packers could afford to have this year, but it’s better that it happened this year with a running game that has finally come on as a group. But will it be enough to keep the Packers afloat in the NFC North?