Have we seen the last of Aaron Rodgers this season?

Reports surfaced earlier on Sunday that the injury to Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers‘ thumb is far worse than previously thought.

Rodgers initially injured his throwing thumb against the New York Giants in Week 5. A couple weeks later it was permanently taped on gameday. Then, last week, Rodgers revealed to a Make-A-Wish child that his injury was actually a fracture. He confirmed it to reporters this past Wednesday in the Packers’ locker room. It was then reported before their 40-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday night that it’s actually an avulsion fracture, which causes the ligament to rip away from its attachment, taking some bone with it, according to NFL Network.

Translation: Ow.

The fact that Rodgers is playing through it should come as no surprise to anyone, though. This is what he does. But sometimes fate has a way of making your decisions for you, which is exactly what happened Sunday night.

Rodgers threw multiple interceptions in the first half against Philadelphia, his accuracy obviously suffering as a result of instability with his thumb. It was his second game since the injury with multiple interceptions — a rarity for Rodgers in his career. He was seen repeatedly shaking it out repeatedly as early as warmups. Then, on the Packers’ second possession of the second half, Rodgers sustained an oblique injury, which was finally enough to take him to the locker room and get him checked out.

“I’m not quite sure when it happened but I know that in the third quarter, I was about to call a pass and I could tell he wasn’t feeling right,” Packers head coach Matt LaFleur said after the game. “So we kept going run after run after run and we mixed in a couple run solutions and we could see when he threw them out he was bending over and wincing and so I knew he was in a lot of pain.”

Rodgers clarified: “It’s ribs. It was in the first half and then got reaggravated in the third quarter. Just having a hard time breathing and rotating my upper body. I was worried about a punctured lung as well so I wanted to get that checked out. Getting a scan tomorrow.”

He returned to the sideline out of uniform, effectively signaling that he was done for the night. Rodgers would say after the game he wouldn’t return because of the pain. It was “intense” in his words.

From there, the story almost writes itself.

As originally pointed out by NFL Network, almost exactly 15 years ago to the day, Rodgers replaced an injured Brett Favre on the road against an NFC East opponent (the Dallas Cowboys) in a foreshadowing of what was to come. Rodgers replaced Favre as the starter after the season and never looked back. Until now.

Now with Rodgers injured, the man who has been waiting in the wings for years — Jordan Love —, just as Rodgers himself did, took the field. In Love’s first series he threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to Green Bay’s emerging star receiver in rookie Christian Watson.

“I’m not shocked that he went out there and played well and showed great poise,” said LaFleur of Love. “You see it on a daily basis in practice. I know people may not necessarily agree with that but I see that every day.”

Could history repeat itself? Is fate working overtime again?

Of course, moving on from Rodgers, fresh off a multi-year, $150 million contract, is easier said than done. Should Love supplant him, flat-out releasing him isn’t really an option. The ideal scenario is that Rodgers retires, which would allow Green Bay to restructure his contract and lessen his cap hit for the coming years. They could also trade him, which would mean a $15,833,570 hit in 2023 and include a $24,480,000 charge in 2024, provided the Packers don’t exercise the option before then.

It begs the question: have we seen the last of Rodgers? At least in the green and gold?

There of course is the possibility that Rodgers lets his thumb heal, knows he still has gas left in the tank, Green Bay does the unthinkable and invests in weapons and the guys around Rodgers and he comes back another year. But wouldn’t that simply just make too much sense?

The Packers might not have won on Sunday night, but Love brought them so close to a comeback they could smell it. Sure, it was against a Philadelphia defense mainly playing prevent given their significant lead, but Green Bay might be wise to let Love finish out the season, even.

LaFleur wasn’t ready for that notion yet, though.

“I wouldn’t say that,” he said when asked if he should shut down Rodgers. “We have to have more conversation before we even get into that. As long as he’s able to go I expect him to be out there.”

Rodgers was equally non-committal. 

“As long as I check out fine tomorrow, I’ll expect to play this weekend,” Rodgers said. “Might not be able to go Wednesday but as long as there’s no major structural damage I’ll try to get back out there.”

Key word: try.

He said later: “As long as we’re mathematically alive, I’d like to be out there.”

The Packers have a 3% chance to make the playoffs, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Rodgers is banged up regardless of how bad the oblique injury is from Sunday night. The Packers are sitting at 4-8, their postseason hopes dwindling with their win percentage. They could get a prolonged look at Love to determine if he’s truly their quarterback of the future. Or provide him with a longer tryout for other teams around the league and perhaps get a return for him before deciding whether to pick up his fifth-year option.

Fate is a fickle thing. And Green Bay needs to figure out theirs sooner rather than later.

Read more Week 12 coverage:

Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.

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