Few Bears on roster have ever even played against Aaron Rodgers when he was with the Packers and if he guts out a broken wrist he’ll find things different at Soldier Field.
Predictably, there will be drama associated with Aaron Rodgers and whether he plays against the Bears in Sunday’s game at Soldier Field.
Will he or won’t he play because of that broken bone in his left wrist? Bears coach Ben Johnson answered in the only way he really could when asked about the Steelers QB situation. They’ve already been through this whole rigmarole twice before with Joe Flacco and Lamar Jackson.
“Same as we always do,” Johnson said. “Each week we monitor that (injuries) and just like they’ll be doing with us.”
The initial report had Rodgers all but out, but then he was said to be pushing to be allowed to play. Why it’s so important for him to risk injuring his wrist more against the Bears when he already claims he owns them is a mystery. It seems a rather selfish approach when they have two huge divisional games coming up against Baltimore and he could get hurt. But selfish shouldn’t be surprising here, all things considered.
It will make a difference to the Bears who the QB is, but not because of Rodgres’ past against them. They’ve already seen the difference between having a 40-something QB who has seen everything defenses can throw at him, and less experienced players like J.J. McCarthy, Spencer Rattler and Jaxson Dart.
It’s not like the drastic difference between facing a pocket passer or a scrambler, but it definitely matters when they’re not likely to be able to fool Rodgers with any defnsive scheming.
Former Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano was totally frustrated by Rodgers in 2019-20 because he couldn’t do anything with his personnel groupings to create uncertainty. The Bears saw this with Flacco and the Bengals when he posted a 109.4 passer rating against them, 13.2 points higher than his current Bengals passer rating.
It’s not that backup Mason Rudolph is totally inexperienced. His career passer rating of 85.5 is only a bit higher than the combined average passer rating of QBs who have started against the Bears defense this year. That’s a rather low 82.1.
The Bears defense handled uncertain situations rather poorly against Flacco and Tyler Huntley, but in Flacco’s case it was as much the high quality of wide receivers they ran up against as the veteran’s arm and brains. Huntley hit them with his athleticism.
The Bears defense has held six opposing QBs below their season’s passer rating and were picked apart by Flacco, Jayden Daniels, Jared Goff and Huntley. They dominated Dak Prescott, holding a QB with a 102.5 passer rating this year to 80.3. They held Geno Smith to a 73.0 rating. On Sunday, J.J. McCarthy had a paltry 47.7 passer rating.
With the possibility Kyler Gordon and T.J. Edwards could return this week, and outside chance Jaylon Johnson could, none of the QB guessing game seems likely to matter much.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said the whole thing will probably be decided by Friday on Rodgers.
There are only four Bears defensive players who even remember facing Rodgers with the Packers. Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Jaquan Brisker and Josh Blackwell all were in a secondary that played the Packers with Rodgers, but Blackwell usually doesn’t even get on the field now on defense.
Brisker is the only one confirmed ready to go from that group.
On the other side of the ball, only Cole Kmet was on Bears teams that played against Rodgers with the Packers, but no one else. Cairo Santos kicked against Packers teams with Rodgers on them
This is just how things go in the NFL. Three years is an eternity.
Rodgers’ time in the league is nearly up and he can’t relive past glory against the Bears even if the Steelers do win in Chicago for the second time in team history. It’s just not the same thing.
No one cares about Rodgers’ past successes because he’s no longer playing for the Bears’ biggest rivals. All of that is ancient history in a league where full rosters turn over in two seasons. Besides, the Bears are in first place and this a bigger concern.
It might matter to fans, but to the majority of Bears on Sunday Rodgers will just be another old QB they have to stop to stay in first in the NFC North.
What’s much more important is how their own quarterback will perform, considering the opportunity Caleb Williams has against the last-ranked pass defense in the NFL while his own completion percentage has dipped into the 50s and passer rating has fallen into the 80s.
