Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers pulled a LeBron James just before halftime of his team’s game against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, but he likely had a very good reason for it.
Rodgers threw a touchdown pass with 30 seconds remaining in the first half to cut Minnesota’s lead to 16-10. Likely assuming that the Packers would not get the ball back after that, he headed to the locker room a bit early.
Green Bay’s defense forced a quick three-and-out, giving their offense the ball back. Rodgers stood and watched from the tunnel, but he did not return to the field. Instead, Jordan Love came into the game and took a knee.
Of course, Twitter went ballistic. Many people accused Rodgers of being a bad teammate, but that ignores the fact that he dealt with a foot injury leading up to the game. As Tom Pelissero of NFL Network notes, Rodgers was on his way to the locker room with an athletic trainer when the Packers got the ball back.
The Packers obviously knew they were going to take a knee even if they got the ball back. Rodgers almost certainly just needed treatment on his foot injury during the half, so he and the training staff wanted to get a jump on that.
LeBron has been known to walk off the court early at the end of games. That’s different from doing it before halftime when you need treatment for an injury. In the words of the reining NFL MVP, R-E-L-A-X.
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