Aaron Rodgers' injury shows how quickly Super Bowl dream can be dashed

No player is bigger than their team. But the Green Bay Packers quarterback, who broke his collarbone on Sunday, comes close

The cruelest thing about the NFL is how quickly Super Bowl dreams can die.

For five games and seven minutes the Green Bay Packers had to believe they were legitimate contenders to win the NFC and play again in the league’s championship game. On Sunday morning they walked into this season’s Super Bowl stadium – US Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis – the leaders in the NFC North with a 4-1 record, a formidable defense and the player who may be the best quarterback in the NFL: Aaron Rodgers.

Then seven minutes into the game those hopes crumbled when Rodgers was knocked to the ground just after releasing a pass. He landed hard on his shoulder and rolled over in agony. The diagnosis was a broken collarbone. It may well end his season.

At best Rodgers will likely miss two months, meaning he will be gone for most of the rest of the season. Four years ago, when he had the same injury, he was gone until the last game of the regular season when he heroically returned to lead the Packers to a late victory over Chicago that propelled them to the division title. The problem then was that the NFC North was so dreary that Green Bay took the title with an 8-7-1 record.

This year’s NFC North is much stronger, good enough that it will take more than eight victories to win the division. If Rodgers is gone for more than six weeks, the Packers may well lose any reasonable chance of sneaking into the postseason. If he is gone for rest of the year, Green Bay should start planning for 2018. They do not have a quarterback who is anywhere near as dynamic or spectacular as Rodgers. No one does. The Packers were built to win with him, not anyone else.

For now, his replacement is Brett Hundley – an exciting star at UCLA a few years ago – but someone who has shown to be little more than a backup in the NFL. Thrown into the fire on Sunday, Hundley was not impressive. He passed for just 157 yards and was intercepted three times. Yes, it was a challenging situation for him but if this was his audition it was not good.

The chances of Green Bay running out and signing a suitable replacement for Rodgers are small. Of course there will be calls for the Packers to sign Colin Kaepernick and while Kaepernick (who spent his early years in Wisconsin) is the best unemployed quarterback out there, he has not played since the end of last year, has missed training camp and has not been with a team this fall. As much as everyone would love to see Kaepernick come to the Packers, it would take too much time to get him ready.

If only the Packers had signed him in the summer…

But then a lot of teams could say that.

The idea of luring Tony Romo from the broadcast booth is also absurd. While Romo is also a Wisconsin native and may have left the game too early when he was forced out of Dallas by Dak Prescott’s brilliant rookie year, he has also gone too long without playing. When Miami talked Jay Cutler into giving up a broadcasting job to be their quarterback this past summer, they did so at the start of training camp when Cutler had a chance to get ready for the season.

Most likely, the Packers will have to go with Hundley for the rest of the year or until Rodgers gets back. In 2013 they had the luxury of reacquiring Matt Flynn, a journeyman who had been with them a few years before and who could step in with little trouble.

On this season’s Super Bowl field the Packers’ Super Bowl dreams were squashed in a matter of seconds. In football no amount of money can buy insurance against disaster. One of the very few irreplaceable players went down. All the best hopes of Green Bay broke along with his collarbone.

Fantasy player of the week

Kirk Cousins. There are so few excellent quarterbacks in the NFL that it’s amazing to see the agony Washington’s seems to forever endure. Year after year, Cousins puts up spectacular statistics on a team with a chaotic front office and ever-changing supporting cast on the field. Year after year, Washington tell him he is good but not good enough to be the future, designating him as a franchise player and signing him to single-season contracts.

On Sunday he threw for 330 yards and two touchdowns, while running for another in Washington’s 26-24 victory over winless San Francisco.

Stat of the week

Three. The number of interceptions Cleveland quarterback Kevin Hogan had in the Browns’ 33-17 loss to Houston.

Apparently it doesn’t matter who the Browns play at quarterback these days, interceptions are going to come. Rookie DeShone Kizer, who is presumed to be the franchise’s future at the position, was benched last week in part because he had nine interceptions over five games. Hogan had looked better in his previous relief appearances with four touchdowns and just two interceptions. But Hogan’s Sunday against Houston was just as dreadful, throwing for just 140 yards to go with his three picks.

Quote of the week

“I’m not going to blame this game on one play.” – Jets coach Todd Bowles had every reason to be irate with the NFL after replay officials took away a touchdown from tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins that turned out to be the difference in a 24-17 loss to the Patriots. It appeared Seferian-Jenkins had control of the ball when he crossed the goalline meaning his touchdown should have been good. Making matters worse for New York, since he fumbled out-of-bounds in the end zone, New England got the ball on a touchback.

Bowles is right, however, as devastating as it was to lose the touchdown, New York did make enough other mistakes that kept them from the upset, including two Josh McCown interceptions and several blown defensive coverages.

Gif of the week

This is what happens when your anticipated blowout victory over the Jets doesn’t turn out to be a blowout. Tom Brady’s Patriots were believed by many to be so good this year a legitimate question was raised about whether they could actually go undefeated. The Jets were supposed to be so bad many of those same people wondered if they’d actually win a game. Instead, the Patriots are fortunate to be 4-2 and the Jets are a feisty 3-3 team who made Brady’s afternoon a grind.

It left him muttering … well you can read his lips.

Elsewhere around the league

• The NFL’s last unbeaten team, the Kansas City Chiefs, lost that record on Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Pittsburgh stifled the Chiefs’ explosive offense (and scored a touchdown after a weird deflection) in a 19-13 victory. Kansas City were restricted to just a field goal in the first half.

• Tampa Bay were expected to have a breakthrough season as Jameis Winston grows into his role as a starting quarterback. But they’re 2-3 and bottom of the NFC South after their loss to the Arizona Cardinals, who have been underwhelming themselves. Winston was injured during the loss and Ryan Fitzpatrick, the journeyman’s journeyman, was his usual mixture of sublime and scary as he threw three touchdowns ... and was intercepted twice. Bucs fans will hope Winston’s injury is not serious.

• Another team failing well short of pre-season expectations are the Oakland Raiders. They fell to 2-4 after a late field goal doomed them to a 17-16 loss against the Los Angeles Chargers.

• There was victory too for LA’s other team, the Rams. They’re thriving under the leadership of their 31-year-old coach Sean McVay and they’re 4-2 after a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

• Miami squelched Atlanta’s mighty offense, holding Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan to just one touchdown in a 20-17 upset victory that left both teams 3-2.

• Mitchell Trubisky still has not impressed as Bears quarterback. Chicago pulled out a 27-24 overtime victory over Baltimore because Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco continues to struggle. Flacco was intercepted twice and threw for just 180 yards in the loss.

• Detroit quarterback Matthew Stafford was sacked five times and intercepted three times in a dreadful 52-38 loss at New Orleans. The Lions started off the season well but but have now lost three of their last four games.