GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers found out one of the hazards of a blowout victory.
Yes, there are some.
Well, at least one.
When he walked off the field after Sunday night's 55-14 blowout victory over the Chicago Bears -- a game in which the Green Bay Packers quarterback didn't even need to play in beyond the 10:52 mark of the third quarter -- he noticed something.
"My low back was actually hurting, and I think I attributed that to standing around the entire time as the second half went on, not [from] anything that happened on the field," Rodgers said Tuesday on his ESPN Milwaukee radio show. "The guys took really good care of me on the field. I barely got touched all game, but my back actually got a little tight on the sideline.
"I forgot what a strain that can be to stand there and watch."
It was the third straight home game in which Rodgers was not needed at the end because his team was so comfortably ahead. The Packers had leads of 45-0 against the Bears, 28-0 against the Carolina Panthers and 42-0 against the Minnesota Vikings this season.
"That's three good performances at home, and that's how we like it,” Rodgers said on the show.
Rodgers threw six touchdowns in the first half, tying the NFL record for most scoring passes in a half. He had a shot at tying the league record for touchdowns in a game, but the Packers settled for a field goal on his final series before giving way to backup Matt Flynn.
He said it's important to respect both the game and the opponent when games get out of hand.
"At some point you’re going to be on the other side of that," Rodgers said. "You want to make sure there's respect from the opponent you're playing. Part of that, though, is playing and playing the game there in the third quarter because you're professional athletes and you're playing for pride in that situation because obviously the game was out of hand, but I think you owe it to the game to keep playing in some of those situations.
"But there's a time and a place. We weren't going to stay in a no-huddle mindset there in the third quarter. We huddled up. We kind of were a little more deliberate on offense, and I think that's respect for the opponent and respect for the game."