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Aaron Rodgers' return won't save the Packers' season

The Green Bay Packers are set to welcome the return of two-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers for their crucial Week 15 tilt with Carolina. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that not even Rodgers’ magical powers will be able to propel the 7-6 Packers to the playoffs for the ninth consecutive season.

This is not to disparage Green Bay. Brett Hundley went a respectable 3-5 filling in for No. 12, most notably posting 296 total yards and three touchdowns in Sunday’s comeback win over winless Cleveland in overtime. At the very least, he proved to be an adequate backup and perhaps a potential starter down the line, though it’s worth noting the three wins came against the lowly Bears, Buccaneers and Browns. Those three teams have a combined record of 8-31.

Aaron Rodgers hopes to return to the field this season. (Getty)
Aaron Rodgers hopes to return to the field this season. (Getty)

Hundley’s efforts however, hardly change the fact that the upcoming task for Rodgers remains a tall order.

For starters, he must win out against three quality opponents (Carolina, Detroit, Minnesota) whose combined record is 26-13, and all of which possess quality offenses sure to feast on the Packers’ 27th-ranked defense. That is far and away the most challenging schedule of the NFC playoff contenders. (Atlanta, for perspective, has the second-toughest road ahead, facing opponents with a combined 22-17 record.)

These high-powered opponents will also be facing a banged up and ineffective the Packers’ secondary, one that surrendered three touchdown passes to the previously inept DeShone Kizer-led Cleveland Browns offense. Consider that in the Browns previous 32 possessions, they only scored three touchdowns. Against the Packers though, they scored two touchdowns in three possessions.

Don’t forget either, that the defense surrendered 270 yards and two touchdowns to the disappointing Jameis Winston, along with 297 yards and a score to an anemic Mitchell Trubisky. It’s a unit which has routinely looked confused in its pre-snap reads, and will close the season without standout rookie cornerback Kevin King, Quinten Rollins and possibly corner Davon House.

As it stands, the Packers are ninth in the gauntlet that is the NFC playoff picture, meaning that Green Bay not only must keep winning, but it also requires help via a Seattle or Atlanta loss.

With the exception of Tom Brady, no quarterback in football possesses a better clutch gene and nobody is more deft on their feet than Aaron Rodgers. It’s just that Rodgers inherits a brutally challenging situation. It will be interesting to see how he approaches the receivers too: Davante Adams — fresh off his game-winning touchdown catch — had emerged as Hundley’s top target, while Jordy Nelson had taken a bit of a backseat. Nelson, though, has clearly been the favorite of Rodgers, so Adams’ stellar playmaking should be a jolt to the quick-strike offense.

Green Bay’s resurgent running game is certainly a plus. Rookie Jamaal Williams has assumed the starting role with a vengeance, compiling 352 rushing yards, 193 receiving yards and five total touchdowns over the past five games. Williams’ success should enable a healthy dose of play-action as well as the ability to convert third and short on the ground, and not merely through the air.

Is Rodgers is capable of running the table? Sure. Packers fans will tell you that he had been lights out this season, compiling 13 touchdowns and just three picks in six games before the injury. They will mention the giddy practice reports of how Rodgers already looks like his All-World self. And they will point to the 2013 campaign when he also returned from a broken collar bone — donning his mythological cape — to shock the Chicago Bears and reach the playoffs. But that was a win-and-you’re-in situation. This, however, is anything but.

Rodgers will make things interesting, because he always does. But when it’s all said and done, his brilliance won’t be enough to offset a litany of other factors out of his control.

Green Bay will watch the playoffs from home for the first time since the Bush administration.

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Jordan Schultz is an NFL, NBA and NCAAB insider/analyst for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at Jordan.Schultz@Oath.com.