-- The hope is that Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers could go brace-less coming out of the team's bye week.

Rodgers has been sporting a brace -- mostly of similar size to that an offensive lineman would wear -- since injuring his left knee in the Packers' season opener against the Chicago Bears.

Since using the brace to solidify his knee, Rodgers only had one setback in his recovery -- it coincidentally occurred last week against the Detroit Lions, the same week Rodgers downgraded the size of his brace to a smaller one.

Rodgers said he told team doctor Patrick McKenzie that he'd love to ditch the brace sometime before the Packers' meeting with the undefeated Los Angeles Rams in a little under two weeks.

"We’ll see how I respond [Tuesday], this week and next week. … But that would be nice to be feeling great come next week Wednesday."

The Packers get the entire week off for the bye but return to the facility on Monday to prepare for the Rams. It's their first in a stretch of games that will help pinpoint the identity of this team. They'll have road trips to Los Angeles, New England, Seattle and Minnesota all within the span of a month.

If the Packers are lucky, they'll have Rodgers at full capacity entering what could be their toughest slate of games in recent memory.

"It definitely gives him more free range," coach Mike McCarthy said on Tuesday regarding Rodgers' mobility without a brace. "But those are medical decisions."

Rodgers hasn't exactly been hindered in terms of mobility in recent weeks. In the fourth quarter of Monday night's win over the San Francisco 49ers, Rodgers broke free for a 21-yard scramble with 43 seconds left to help set up a game-winning field goal.

The only evident factors that have been plaguing Rodgers in his recovery from the knee injury have come after games are already over when soreness kicks in. But his ability to take snaps under center or even maneuver throughout the pocket looks significantly improved compared to where it was at this time last month.