Aaron Rodgers: Green Bay Packers uncertain whether QB will be shut down

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- For all practical purposes, the Green Bay Packers' season is over. And it now seems like a mere formality that Aaron Rodgers will be shut down as well.

Rodgers, who suffered a broken right collarbone on Oct. 15, returned to game action exactly nine weeks after the injury. Rodgers wasn't his normal self, throwing three interceptions in a game for the first time since 2009.

Now, the Packers need to decide whether to expose Rodgers to additional hits this season or shut him down and let him fully heal for 2018. In theory, the decision seems like a no-brainer, although Packers head coach Mike McCarthy was non-committal Monday night.

"Aaron Rodgers is sore, rightfully so," McCarthy said. "He was hit too many times, took two big hits. So we're working through that. So we'll see what (Tuesday) brings."

No one in Green Bay's camp envisioned what Sunday brought against Carolina.

Most of Packer Nation believed Rodgers would trade his No. 12 for an 'S' and the Packers' version of Superman would guide his team to three straight wins and eventually a ninth straight postseason berth.

Turns out the Packers couldn't be saved, and certainly not with Rodgers far from his best.

Rodgers couldn't throw the deep ball with his normal zest. His accuracy wasn't as razor sharp as usual.

And for the first time since Week 9, 2009, Rodgers threw three interceptions. That was a major reason Green Bay lost the turnover battle 4-0 and fell to host Carolina.

"Well, it's not the fairy tale that we were hoping," Rodgers said after the game. "As I lay in that surgery bed eight weeks ago thinking about this moment, obviously, I saw it going a little differently.

"But I'm proud of our guys for the way they played the last few weeks. Today, disappointed. I didn't play very well. Obviously, I hold myself to a high standard. I expected to play well. It's a good defense, but I made too many mistakes."

Rodgers finished 26 of 45 for 290 yards, three touchdowns and those three critical interceptions. Rodgers' passer rating of 71.5 was well below his career average of 104.1.

"I thought Aaron did a lot of good things," McCarthy said. "I thought he competed just like he always does. Obviously, when you look at the stat line, I'm stating the obvious. It's hard to overcome being minus-4 (turnovers) in the game. But I thought Aaron did a lot of good things."

Carolina blitzed Rodgers early and often, and the two-time MVP couldn't handle the heat. Rodgers completed just 4 of 12 passes against the blitz, threw two interceptions and had a passer rating of 5.9.

Shockingly, Rodgers carried the ball six times for 43 yards -- the second-most rushing yards on the team. Rodgers even called his own number on a fourth-and-1 and ripped off a 7-yard run.

"(Rodgers) looked great," wide receiver Randall Cobb said. "We missed on a few. We had opportunities where we didn't connect. Some of those plays we wish we would have had back both ways, from a receiver's standpoint and a quarterback's standpoint, but that's the flow of the game and that's how it goes sometimes. You just try to make the plays whenever you have those opportunities."

Those opportunities figure to be over, though, for 2017. With the Packers' playoff hopes almost dead, there seems little reason for Rodgers to take the field again this season.

Instead, the extra rest would give his collarbone -- which still isn't 100 percent -- additional time to heal. If Rodgers would play and reinjure the same collarbone, his offseason would be spent rehabbing instead of preparing for 2018.

Rodgers was asked if the smart play would be to shut it down for 2017.

"Well, I don't know about that," he said. "I'm going to see how I feel (Monday). Like I said, I'm a little sore. We'll see how I feel tomorrow and make a decision at that point."

In all likelihood, the decision was made Sunday -- when Green Bay's Superman wasn't all that super.

--Early in the third quarter, Colin Jones -- a safety for the Panthers -- intercepted an Aaron Rodgers pass. During the runback, Carolina linebacker Thomas Davis -- the NFL's Man of the Year in 2014 -- came from Adams' blind side and delivered a helmet-to-helmet blow.

Adams suffered a concussion and didn't return. On Monday, Davis was suspended for two games.

Davis apologized afterward, but the Packers weren't exactly buying it.

"I'll never understand it," Adams tweeted on Monday. "Game is already dangerous enough and we got Pro Bowl players out here head hunting and saying they "didn't mean to harm me."

Adams also suffered a concussion in Week 4 after a brutal hit from Chicago's Danny Trevathan. And head coach Mike McCarthy was particularly agitated about the latest hit when addressing it Monday night.

"There's no place in this game for those types of hits," McCarthy said. "That's been made loud and clear. That hit was totally unnecessary. So as far as any type of rule changes, what they want to add, that's obviously for future discussion.

"The player has been suspended. So whatever you think about that, but Davante was in a position that he shouldn't have been hit like that, and that was clear. So, I like (Panthers head coach) Ron Rivera. I've always respected the play style of his football team, but that hit was a dirty hit."

NOTES: K Mason Crosby executed a perfect onside kick with 2:43 left that was recovered by Packers safety Marwin Evans. Crosby's kick took one large bounce, then died and slid through the arms of Panthers do-everything rookie Christian McCaffrey. ... RG Jahri Evans has been a solid pickup in free agency for Green Bay. But the 34-year-old Evans, now in his 12th NFL season, wouldn't commit to playing in 2018. "I don't know," Evans said. "I'll have to evaluate that after the season."

REPORT CARD VS. PANTHERS

--PASSING OFFENSE: D -- QB Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes in his return from a broken collarbone. But he also threw three interceptions for the first time since 2009.

--RUSHING OFFENSE: C -- Green Bay actually ran for 120 yards and averaged 6.3 yards per carry. But pass-happy head coach Mike McCarthy called just 14 running plays all day.

--PASS DEFENSE: F -- Carolina quarterback Cam Newton threw four touchdown passes and had a 128.0 passer rating.

--RUSH DEFENSE: D-minus -- Carolina ran for 151 yards and averaged 4.0 yards per carry.

--SPECIAL TEAMS: B-minus -- Packers punter Justin Vogel continued his impressive rookie season, knocking both of his punts inside the 20-yard line.

--COACHING: F -- McCarthy arguably has had his poorest coaching season in his 12 years in Green Bay, and this was no different. The Packers had developed a solid running game with Rodgers sidelined, but McCarthy abandoned it against the Panthers. McCarthy called pass plays a whopping 78.5 percent of the time, an astronomical number considering it was Rodgers' first game back from injury. The move, of course, blew up when Rodgers didn't play close to his MVP form.