The amount of drama surrounding the Green Bay Packers in the past week or so has been fairly staggering. Mike McCarthy might have a massage problem. The Packers might be worried that Aaron Rodgers is a football problem. Rodgers thinks we have a journalism problem. But all that nonsense obfuscates the fact that Rodgers, as he explained in a recent interview with ESPN Milwaukee, battled through 2018 with some pretty serious injuries.
The future Hall of Fame quarterback, arguably the most physically talented quarterback in NFL history, told Wilde and Tausch on Monday that when he suffered an injury against the Bears in Week 1 of last season, he actually ended up breaking a bone in his knee.
Technically speaking it's a fracture, but that's really just a nice medical way of saying broken bone. The injury we all knew about with Rodgers was a sprained MCL -- initially it was believed he might have torn his ACL, but he dodged a bullet and was able to return and lead the Packers to a thrilling comeback victory.
But he also suffered a tibial plateau fracture, which he had to deal with for the full course of the season as well.
"My two bones that come together on the outside made an indent fracture," Rodgers explained. "The good thing was that it's not super weight bearing, but there's definitely some moves that affected it."
It's pretty wild that he returned for that Bears game, wilder still that he managed to lead a comeback and absolutely wildest that Rodgers ended up playing 16 games last season. Especially when you consider it wasn't the only injury he battled. Rodgers also said in Week 17 he suffered a concussion that caused him to lose his vision for a minute.
"I'm proud of the fact that I started 16 games. It's disappointing how it ended, getting that concussion was disappointing and also a little scary, honestly," Rodgers said. "I couldn't see. I lost vision."
That's terrifying. Blacking out and losing your vision in the middle of a football game as a result of a head injury sounds about as scary as it gets. It's also concerning for Rodgers' long-term health, and the combination of injuries piling up over the last few years should probably concern the Packers for his short-term health too.
Rodgers broke his collarbone during the 2017 season, a similar injury to the one he suffered back in 2013 (albeit on the opposite shoulder). Somehow the leg and head injuries didn't keep him off the field, although the Packers offensive struggles and Green Bay missing the playoffs ultimately got McCarthy fired, which resulted in the Packers hiring Matt LaFleur.
Now Green Bay has a whole additional set of issues to potentially deal with, although Rodgers acknowledged in the interview that LaFleur is the "boss" when it comes to running the Packers offense. It's expected to feature more motion and bunch formations according to LaFleur, so there might be some serious changes for the quarterback.
Those changes can oftentimes be good, but they're not always guaranteed to be easy. There's a lot left to unpack in this situation.
