Aaron Rodgers placed on IR, won’t face Lions in Week 17

On Tuesday the Green Bay Packers made it official and ended Aaron Rodgers’ season, as we suggested earlier in the day. The Packers placed Rodgers on injured reserve and re-signed their third-string quarterback Joe Callahan.

Rodgers made his triumphant return last week in a last-ditch effort to save the Packers’ season. However, Green Bay came up short against the Panthers after Rodgers threw three interceptions. When the Atlanta Falcons defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night, it officially eliminated the Packers from playoff contention.

The Detroit Lions, having avoided Rodgers once already this season, will not have to face the All-Pro quarterback in the season finale against the Packers.

This is big news for the Lions, who need to win out and get some extra help in order to make the playoffs. Last time the two teams faced off, Brett Hundley was only able to lead the Packers to 17 points on the way to a 30-17 defeat.

Though Hundley’s final statline was somewhat impressive (26-38, 245 yards), Green Bay’s offense spent the first three quarters in neutral. 14 of the Packers’ 17 points came in the final 10 minutes of the game.

So Detroit’s path to 10-6 just got a little easier, but they’ll still need to play well to finish the job. We all remember what happened in the season finale of the 2011 season.