Wednesday Cheese Curds: Rodgers expects to avoid toe surgery during Packers’ stretch run

It now seems like the treatment for Rodgers’ broken toe is going to be all about managing the pain.

Every week, Aaron Rodgers seems to make some news when he makes his typical Tuesday appearance on the Pat McAfee Show. This week’s newsworthy items are less dramatic than others in recent months, but still notable nonetheless.

First and foremost, the Green Bay Packers quarterback discussed his toe injury in more detail, revealing that he has not and likely will not have surgery. If surgery were needed, it would be to put a pin in the toe to stabilize it, but to this point it does not appear that will be necessary now or moving forward through the remainder of the 2021 season.

The season now has just five weeks left before the playoffs, and the Packers still sit in a great position to make a run at home-field advantage. With some help, they could clinch the NFC North and move back into the top spot this weekend, if the Minnesota Vikings lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday and the Los Angeles Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday afternoon.

So while the team decides whether to keep resting some of their injured players — keep an eye out for updates out of practice later today — there is still plenty to play for this week and moving forward.

Dope Sheet: Packers host the Bears in prime time | Packers.com
Death, taxes, and a Packers-Bears night game. This year’s prime time game is back at Lambeau for a second straight season after the two teams opened up the 2019 season on Sunday Night Football at Soldier Field.

Late bye has Packers well positioned for run at NFC’s No. 1 seed | ESPN
With a manageable schedule in the last five weeks and the prospect of getting some injured players back, all is setting up well for the Packers to make a run at another bye week.

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers doesn’t expect LT David Bakhtiari back this week | Packers Wire
One of those injured players might not be back after all, though, as Rodgers said “I don’t think he’s coming back this week, but you never know.”

Packers’ Aaron Rodgers on Pat McAfee show: No surgery for broken toe | Packersnews.com
Rodgers did say that his own injury, the broken pinky toe, is improving and that surgery is not one of the top options for how to deal with it.

Jimmy Graham didn’t take offense to Aaron Rodgers’ ‘I own you’ comment: ‘We’ve just got to stop them’ | NFL.com
Graham gets it. Maybe it’s because he’s a long-tenured veteran, maybe it’s because he played in Green Bay with Rodgers, or maybe it’s because he yells at crowds after scoring touchdowns himself.

Dozens of camels barred from Saudi beauty contest over Botox – ABC News
Next up: banning camels that are displaying bad behavior by spitting in the competition ring.