Rodgers Makes History, Thanks to Adams’ Sensational Slant

Former NFL star Chad Johnson broke down Packers star Davante Adams' second touchdown vs. the Bears.

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers’ fourth and final touchdown pass of the Green Bay Packers’ victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday night made history.

For Rodgers, the 3-yard connection to Davante Adams was his 61st touchdown pass vs. Chicago. No quarterback has thrown more touchdowns vs. the Bears. Brett Favre held the old record with 60, which included his two years with the Vikings.

Rodgers has reached a lot of milestones in his career. This one meant more than many of the others.

“That does mean a lot to me, it really does,” Rodgers said. “The majority of stats don’t mean much but this rivalry does mean a lot to me because I’m almost an adult in Green Bay; I’ve lived here for 17 years and started for 14. I know how much this rivalry means to our fans, and to be a part of it has been really special. Obviously, to follow Brett and know how successful he was over his (career) and how many big games he played in against them, it’s a sweet rivalry. It’s one that is very special to me. I knew I was three from tying, four (from) breaking, so I’m definitely going to hang on to that ball. That ball is an important one.”

The route by Adams was devastating. Second-year defender Jaylon Johnson is one of the better young cornerbacks in the NFL, and he had some success against Adams on Sunday. On the touchdown, Johnson was lined up to take away Adams’ slant but still couldn’t stop it.

Former NFL star Chad Johnson referenced it on Twitter.

“I was a little nervous lining up initially, honestly, because he was really far inside,” Adams said. “I was spaced out pretty wide, so it was a smart play by him with the initial leverage. It just came down to me being more disciplined with my feet than he was and just trusting it. Because that’s one where guys inside, the tendency is to rush it and try to beat him, not to go back out. Essentially, you can ruin the leverage even worse by going more outside because, if I beat him outside and he doesn’t respect that, he can just sit inside. But it’s just about trusting the footwork, basically. Another route that we haven’t run in probably four or five years and ‘12’ told me to go out there and do it, and we talked about it even before he called the timeout. Right before that play, he said, ‘I need that ball, so hold onto it.’ I told him it’s done, and yeah, it was cool.”

It was the 64th touchdown pass from Rodgers to Adams, one shy of Rodgers-to-Jordy Nelson as the most prolific quarterback-receiver scoring tandem in franchise history.

Adams is moving up some franchise lists, too. With 7,772 receiving yards, he’s 76 yards behind Nelson for fifth place in franchise history and 219 yards behind Don Hutson for fourth. With 69 career touchdowns, he’s tied with Nelson for second on the team list; Don Hutson holds the record with 99.