The Bears may have been arch-enemies with Aaron Rodgers when he was on the field in Green and Gold, but they joined the vast majority of the NFL world and shared their disappointment to see him suffer a season-ending Achilles injury after just four snaps with the New York Jets.
“I felt sick for him,” said Eddie Jackson. “I know it’s a long-time rivalry, but you still don’t want to see players go down, especially somebody like Aaron Rodgers. I was kind of excited for him and to see how he was going to do in New York, too.”
Jackson has gone 1-9 against Rodgers over his career, and still bears him no ill will. He even related to Rodgers a bit, since Jackson suffered a season-ending Lisfranc injury at MetLife Stadium– the same place where Rodgers got hurt on Monday Night Football– last year.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Chicago sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
“It brought memories back,” Jackson said. “You get kind of frustrated with it, because I know a lot of players have went down on that field. I know the NFLPA has been talking about making changes to the fields and playing surfaces. So it was just tough.”
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney also suffered a season-ending injury at MetLife Stadium last year. Mooney echoed Jackson’s disappointment for Rodgers and said he was looking forward to seeing how he did with the Jets, too.
“He’s a good guy to watch. He knows the game and the way he controls the game is just amazing, so seeing that was a tragedy.”
Kicker Cairo Santos was one of the players who spoke most about the grass at Soldier Field before and after it was switched to Bermuda sod in 2022. He loves the improvements that were made in Chicago, but admitted he likes turf more since it’s a more even surface for kicking. Still, he supports a move to grass fields around the league because the data shows it helps keep players safer and healthier.
NFL
“It’s better for the product of the NFL,” Santos said. “We all want to see– as much hype as it was– Aaron Rodgers this whole season. We all wanted to watch it. The fans all wanted to watch it. Now we don’t have that.”