Aaron Rodgers savors owning Bears like no other QB, but toe trouble worsens
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The record play was a called run-pass option, but you could forget the option. Three yards from the goal line, the Green Bay Packers were trying to stamp a win late in Sunday’s fourth quarter. It might’ve been Aaron Jones territory. Maybe AJ Dillon.
This moment called for something different.
There were 4 minutes, 36 seconds remaining in what might have been Aaron Rodgers’ final game as the Packers quarterback against these despised Chicago Bears. Rodgers sat on 60 career touchdown passes against the team he has tortured his entire football life as he dropped back from center, staring at Davante Adams. One touchdown pass shy of breaking Brett Favre’s record for the most ever against Chicago.
Adams didn’t have good leverage on what was a called slant, with Bears cornerback Jaylon Johnson so determined to eliminate any inside route against the star receiver, he slightly closed his shoulders to Rodgers.
“I was a little nervous lining up initially, honestly,” Adams said. "Because he was really far inside, and I was spaced out pretty wide. So it was a smart play by him with the initial leverage.”
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Johnson could have lined up anywhere he wanted. It wouldn’t have been inside enough. Off the snap, Adams hopped to set up Johnson. Then he took four hard steps outside, pulling Johnson with him as he feigned a fade, until planting hard inside on his right foot. “It just came down,” Adams said, “to me being more disciplined with my feet than what he was.” Rodgers stared at Adams the whole time, from snap to throw, telegraphing his pass the way he almost never does.
That didn’t matter either.
With a missile to his All-Pro, Rodgers sealed the Packers’ 45-30 win over their oldest rival, pushing them to 10-3 this season. Even more, Rodgers authored another unforgettable moment against the franchise he has used more than any other to forge his legend, creating the perfect ending to his dominance against the Bears at Lambeau Field.
If this was his final game against the Bears at Lambeau Field.
Rodgers now stands alone against the Bears, both with his 61 career touchdown passes and 23 wins as starting quarterback, also the most ever. He didn’t mince words afterward, continuing a season-long trend against his NFC North whipping post. The touchdown record meant a lot, Rodgers said.
He knew exactly what number he sat on with 4:36 left.
“It’s a sweet rivalry,” Rodgers said. “It’s one that’s very special to me. I knew I was three from tying, four from breaking. So I’m definitely going to hang onto that ball. That ball is an important one.”
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If this was his final game as the Packers quarterback against the Bears, it started with defensive end Robert Quinn standing over Rodgers on the second snap as he did the famous championship-belt celebration after a sack. Afterward, Rodgers quipped how that hasn't ended well for most opponents over the years, and he was right.
The quarterback finished completing 29 of 37 passes for 341 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions and a 141.1 rating, despite being sacked three times behind an offensive line that lost right tackle Billy Turner to a knee injury in the second half. Retribution for the misguided bravado from a Bears defense that has so often been flummoxed against Rodgers.
“I think first of all,” Rodgers said, tucking his long hair underneath a stocking cap, “imitation is the highest form of flattery. So big thanks to wrestling, Triple H, Freddie Mitchell and then State Farm for making the belt synonymous with myself, but, yeah, it’s pretty cool to have a celebration. People mocked it over the years, probably in good fun.
"I’ve known Robert for a long time. I saw him do it. He looked right at me. It doesn’t give me any extra motivation, but it usually hasn’t ended well for most of the people who’ve done it.”
If it’s his last time wearing that block G on the side of his helmet against the Bears, Rodgers saved one of his best for last. It was his third time with at least 340 yards and a 140 rating this season, but one came in a loss at Minnesota. The other came Week 2 against the hapless Detroit Lions. If this is his last season in Green Bay, Rodgers has abused the Packers' divisional opponents the way he seemingly always does.
There was artistry behind his stats. On a 23-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Jones in the third quarter, Rodgers flushed the pocket right. The play was designed to target tight end Marcedes Lewis, but the Bears, almost inexplicably, doubled the Packers veteran down the seam. Rodgers checked his usual safety valve, but Adams was also covered in the middle of the field.
Rodgers, recalling another one of the countless plays from the past he’s never forgotten, saw Jones working down the left sideline behind him. He flashed back to the 2005 preseason at Buffalo. Rodgers watched from the sideline as Favre pulled the same maneuver, flushing right and spotting running back Ahman Green to his left when he had nowhere to throw.
“I remember how cool that was,” Rodgers said, “and how the hell he even got back to Ahman in that game.”
Rodgers pulled the same stunt, lofting a perfect pass to Jones over Bears defensive lineman Bilal Nichols, into an open patch of green grass for a 23-yard touchdown. It was the type of play mortal quarterbacks don’t consider, let alone make.
“Right as I was about to throw it,” Rodgers said, “as I was about to release it, I saw kind of a flash of a guy from the left. So I just threw it a little bit higher and softer than I was thinking about throwing it a split second before, but that was not the play call. We laughed about it on the sidelines for sure. I’m glad it worked out like that.”
If this was the final time he wears green and gold against that blue and orange, it ended with Rodgers walking off the field, not running. The broken pinkie toe that has given him fits on his left foot for a month “feels worse” after Sunday night’s game, Rodgers said. Rodgers could not say whether the toe will now require surgery, something he has done everything to avoid, but it seems more likely after two weeks of resting it over the late-season bye.
Rodgers flashed an “I love you” sign to Packers fans as he entered the Lambeau Field tunnel. Fans responded in kind, serenading him with “MVP” chants. Rodgers has a strong case to make. He has thrown 27 touchdowns, four interceptions and quarterbacked the Packers to a 10-2 record in games he has started during his age-38 season.
With four games to go, a fourth MVP award is within reach.
But Sunday night was about Rodgers’ history against a specific rival. After he famously told Bears fans “I still own you” in October, the Packers leaned into that sentiment this week. Running back AJ Dillon made “I still own you” T-shirts and handed them out to teammates in the locker room shortly after returning from Chicago. Receiver Allen Lazard wore one for his postgame Zoom.
Rodgers would not say whether this was his final Packers chapter against the Bears. Whether it’s in this uniform or another, Rodgers isn’t ready to end his reign of terror against the franchise he undeniably owns.
“I’m not really thinking about that right now,” Rodgers said. “I’m devoting all my energy and focus to this season, and I don’t know. I don’t think it’s my last against the Bears. I feel like one of the factors in continuing to play would be, can I still play? Do I still have it? Can I still be effective and efficient, and make the plays I’m capable of making?
“And I think the answer is yes.”