After three days of rehabbing his injured knee, Aaron Rodgers isn't quite ready to promise that he'll be on the field Sunday when the Packers host the Vikings in an NFC North showdown at Lambeau Field.
Due to the injury, the Packers have decided to play it safe this week with Rodgers, who was held out of practice on Wednesday so that he could rehab. Although the quarterback didn't participate in practice, Rodgers did take some time to answer questions about his left knee injury, which he characterized as a sprain.
Rodgers injured the knee during the second quarter of Green Bay's 24-23 win over the Bears in Week 1, a game where he engineered a 20-point comeback in the second half.
According to Rodgers, the knee has been slowly been getting better, but it still doesn't feel great. The Packers quarterback said he didn't take any meds on Sunday night and that the only reason he was able to finish the game with the Bears was through sheer adrenaline.
"I'm feeling better, a little better, every day -- Monday, Tuesday and now today," Rodgers said. "A lot of adrenaline Sunday night and obviously, it's pretty sore the last three days."
If the soreness keeps Rodgers out of practice for the rest of the week, that doesn't necessarily mean he won't play against the Vikings. The Packers quarterback gave a blunt one-word answer when he was asked if he needed to practice this week in order to play.
"No," Rodgers said.
For now, it appears that Rodgers is doing everything he can to make sure he'll be able to play, but again, he's not willing to promise that he'll be out there against Minnesota.
"I want to play, but just take it one day at a time and see how it feels tomorrow and see how it feels Friday, Saturday and then, hopefully to ready to go Sunday," Rodgers said.
Packers coach Mike McCarthy echoed his quarterback's "one day at a time" sentiment during his own press conference on Wednesday.
"Obviously there's the hope of playing," McCarthy said. "He'll be given the whole week to get ready. We'll take it day by day and learn as we go." He'll be in the rehab group [on Wednesday]. He's always responded. He puts a lot of extra time in. We'll see what tomorrow brings."
One person who's convinced Rodgers is going to play is Mike Zimmer. Based on his comments from Wednesday, the Vikings coach sounds pretty confident that Green Bay's star player will be on the field.
"Yeah. He walks on water so I'm sure he's gonna play," Zimmer said, via NFL.com.
Even if Rodgers is hurting, you can bet he's going to be be doing everything possible to make sure he's on the field this week. After all, this is the same Vikings team that ended his season last year. In Week 6, Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone after taking a hit from Anthony Barr.
Although Barr wasn't penalized for the hit, the tackle on Rodgers clearly bothered the some people at NFL headquarters. For the 2018 season, the league instituted a new rule that now makes a hit like Barr's illegal. Basically, a defender will be penalized if they land on top of a quarterback with all of their weight.
The game on Sunday kicks off at 1 p.m. ET, so Rodgers will have several more days of rehab before the Packers will be forced to make a decision about his playing status.
