Aaron Rodgers locks up MVP with gutsy performance following calf injury

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Maybe the Green Bay Packers players are too young to know who Willis Reed is. Perhaps comparing this game to Michael Jordan's flu in the NBA Finals isn't quite apt.

Whatever category Aaron Rodgers' return to the field on Sunday against the Detroit Lions following a calf injury — sterling prior to leaving, gutsy and effective after he came back from it — falls into, this much should be true: Rodgers is your league MVP.

Credit where credit is due for Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt and his amazing season, but another Wisconsin boy deserves the hardwhere following the Packers' 30-20 NFC North-clinching win over the Lions. That's Rodgers, who finished with the cleanest sheet possible — 25 passing touchdowns, another one rushing and zero interceptions — at Lambeau Field this season.

That was made possible following Rodgers' calf-interrupted performance Sunday, in which he completed 17-of-22 passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns, with a 1-yard QB sneak for a score for good measure. Yeah, and that rushing touchdown came after Rodgers was knocked from the game.

"We are creatures of habit and we are able to focus on the task at hand a lot of times," Rodgers said. "When I step back and think about this season and this game, I’ll probably take a lot of pride that I got back out there and let my teammates know I put my body on the line.

"When we are in the moment, it’s about winning a home game and the division. We are out there competing. It’s what we do."

Late in the second quarter, Rodgers hit Randall Cobb for a 4-yard TD pass to give the Packers a 14-0 lead but landed awkwardly and appeared to aggravate a calf injury Rodgers suffered early in the Week 15 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Turns out, the injury was in a slightly different spot, but the pain level was the same as the week before, if not worse.

"I was worried about the severity of the injury and my ability to work off the field at that point," Rodgers said. "But once I got back in the locker room, I was actually watching the game on the TV with some heat on my calf, thinking about if I could finagle myself back into the game."

First it required Rodgers convincing team doctor Patrick McKenzie, with whom Rodgers is close, to let him back in the game. They talked while Rodgers was getting taped up and having heat applied to his calf.

"We had a long conversation at halftime," Rodgers said. "I was kind of battling to get back out there. And I was just … one battle at a time: a battle to get taped up and a battle to get back to the sidelines."

Rodgers did not emerge with the rest of his teammates for the second half, so Matt Flynn — who replaced Rodgers on the Packers' final possession of the first half — earned a few more snaps. The Packers went three-and-out, and Rodgers, who waited for the end of the possession to keep the fans from cheering while the offense was at work, finally came back onto the field.

Chants of "MVP!" rained down across Lambeau, just minutes before a light snow fell.

"We were just sitting there on the sideline and we heard, '12 is going to go,' and it was just awesome," Packers center Corey Linsley said. "It was like, OK, 12's going to go, so let's be ready for him. Let's help him out."

The Packers were up 14-0 when Rodgers left. When he came back in it was 14-14. After taking some light drops on the sideline, Rodgers was ready to play again. Taking over on his own 40-yard line, Rodgers handed off three straight times before delivering a dime to Cobb for 29 yards. Three plays later, Rodgers found Cobb again for another score and a 21-14 lead.

After the Packers had a field-goal attempt blocked on their next possession, Rodgers led them down for the score that would put the game out of reach, calling his own number on that 1-yard TD plunge. The Packers would go on outscore the Lions 30-6 with Rodgers in the game.

But in the fourth quarter, Rodgers almost was knocked out on a suspicious play. Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh appeared to back into Rodgers' injured calf — on accident the first time, but it appeared to be intentional the second, when he shifted his weight onto Rodgers' left calf.

Rodgers expected Suh to blame it on being pushed back into him, which is what head referee Walt Anderson told Rodgers. But Packers head coach Mike McCarthy — even though he hadn't see it live or on replay when he spoke to the media — called out the play for what he thought it was.

"I didn’t see it live, I didn’t see it on the Jumbotron, but from what I’m told, I’m told it was ridiculous," a clearly agitated McCarthy said. "There’s no place for that, so that’s where I’m at with it. I don’t understand it, frankly."

Neither did Rodgers, who refused to finger point Suh for blame but did clearly look annoyed that it happened, clearly was in more pain and said that Suh stepped "very close" to where the initial injury had occured.

Instead, Rodgers focused on finishing the task at hand: winning the game, thus clinching the division, and though Rodgers never would say it, also clinching the MVP in the process. Call it reverse collateral damage if you will, but Rodgers' guts and precision play Sunday was enough to do so.

For Rodgers, who missed seven-plus games last season with a broken collarbone and returned just prior to the playoffs, it was another chance to prove the doubters wrong and show his teammates and coaches, the fans and his opponents how much pain he's willing to endure on the field.

"I wanted to be back out there competing with my guys," he said. "When I broke my collarbone, I remember hearing [ESPN announcer] Jon Gruden say I was out for the game. I said, ‘The hell with that. I wanna get back out there.' "That didn’t work, obviously, with the severity of that injury.

"[McKenzie] came in, we talked, we walked about the risks. I was able to get him to let me to do some movements on the sideline. I wasn’t going put myself in major harm’s way, but at the same time, I feel like if I can be out there and give my team a little jolt … and last week, I hurt myself on the sixth play of the game and finished the game basically staying in the pocket and not moving a whole lot. It felt good on the sidelines, talked to [McCarthy], asked him to keep me in the shotgun, and we were able to do that and make some plays."

Some MVP plays.

"To come back from the calf injury, perform on a limited game plan and play at the level he continues to play at, I thought was extraordinary," McCarthy said. "It was clearly another MVP performance — another MVP performance by Aaron Rodgers."

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm