Aaron Rodgers injury: Packers will make decision on QB Thursday

Aaron Rodgers says he will know on Thursday whether or not he will start this weekend against the Chicago Bears, according to Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. Rodgers stated Tuesday on his weekly radio show that a decision will be made once the team reconvenes after having Wednesday off for the holiday.

Rodgers noted during the show that the broken collarbone he suffered over seven weeks ago has not healed as quickly as he expected.

"I thought as of last week there'd be a lot more healing that would have gone on," Rodgers said. "Learned a lot about the clavicle and the kind of blood flow or lack of that it gets as being a reason it didn't look as good as we all wanted it last week."

The Packers will close the regular season Sunday with a win-or-go-home showdown with the Bears to decide the NFC North, and Rodgers says he hopes to help his team reach the playoffs.

"Obviously I want to be out there. I know what's at stake. This is an important week for us. We're somehow back in this position to be able to get into the playoffs. What a better way to do that than against the Chicago Bears?"

Team physician Dr. Pat McKenzie was at Lambeau Field on Tuesday and was expected to meet with Rodgers, head coach Mike McCarthy and owner Ted Thompson. Rodgers said McKenzie was getting second opinions from other doctors over the test results.

"As a doctor, I appreciate his willingness to check with his colleagues and people we trust about what he's seeing and make sure everyone's on the same page," Rodgers said. The quaterback went on to defend McKenzie's caution in him keeping him out in recent weeks. "I appreciate Doc even more through this whole process. Any negative comments sent his way are totally inappropriate in my opinion. If you want to be mad at anything in the situation, be mad at the fact my collarbone hasn't healed the way we all wanted it to."

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