A GOOD FRIDAY
Rodgers practices for second time in four weeks since toe injury
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers practiced Friday for only the second time in four weeks. Rodgers has played in every game since breaking his left pinkie toe while working out during a 10-day quarantine he entered last month after testing positive for the coronavirus. He’s without a designation for Sunday’s game against the Packers, meaning he’s expected to start.
Counting his quarantine — which ended a day before the Nov. 14 game against the Seahawks — Rodgers is entering his fourth consecutive game with little practice time. The only other practice he has participated in during that stretch was two days before the Vikings game Nov. 19. Friday practices are typically the lightest ones.
Bears defensive coordinator Sean Desai said this week that Rodgers’ mobility hasn’t been affected by his toe problem.
“My time here, for sure, the off-schedule plays show up,” Desai said. “But, quite honestly, they’ve shown up over the past month also on tape.
“On tape, it doesn’t seem like it’s limiting him much in terms of the way he wants to play the game — the way he wants to throw the ball, where he wants to get it, when he can escape the pocket, and he’s still making plays that way. We’re prepared for the same Aaron Rodgers that we’ve been preparing for a long time.”
Earlier in the week, Rodgers said his toe wouldn’t limit what plays the Packers can call.
“I don’t think there will be a restriction on anything come Sunday,” he said. “It might be on [coach Matt LaFleur’s] mind, but every time we’ve talked, I always tell him that everything’s in. There’s nothing that we need to hold out.”