Green Bay Packers fans might be upset right now. Their star quarterback left the field - under his own power - clearly hurting. Aaron Rodgers would not return to the field for the remainder of the afternoon. News slowly leaked out that he may not return to the field for the remainder of the season - broken collarbone. The team has already gone through this ordeal in the past five years, though. Last time, it didn't prevent the team from reaching at least one of its goals. Maybe it won't this year, either.
Optimism in Rodgers' absence
For starters, Green Bay has been here before.
In 2013, this same disaster struck. That season, Rodgers missed seven starts with a broken collarbone. At that point of the season, the team was 5-2 (they're 4-2 this year). They withstood the seven-game absence with Matt Flynn at the helm, despite the fact that he would never throw another pass after the following season. They still made the playoffs, only to fall in the NFC Wild Card Game to the San Francisco 49ers.
Best case scenario for Green Bay: Rodgers defies the timeline once again and returns before the end of the season to lead his team to the postseason. They are already well-positioned to make the playoffs. Brett Hundley struggled when he came in during Week 6, but he doesn't have much live-action and likely wasn't preparing like he was going to start over the past few weeks.
Besides, the Minnesota Vikings defense is really good.
The team could also look to the free agency pool to find a good stand-in while Rodgers recovers. The most intriguing option is the opposing quarterback from that 2013 playoff defeat: Colin Kaepernick. He would likely have the support of Rodgers, who came to Kaepernick's defense during the offseason.
Pessimism with Rodgers gone
While Rodgers missed just seven games with the same injury four seasons ago, there is one massive difference between this malady and the last one: location. This time around, the injury is to the star quarterback's throwing shoulder, explaining why there is such dire concern that he could miss the rest of the season.
The Packers have plenty of receiving weapons, but the offensive line is still trying to gel in the face of injuries and the running game is still a work in progress. With Hundley in the picture instead of Rodgers - arguably the best quarterback in the entire NFL - there's at least a small chance the team could implode in a division with two other stellar teams.
