Aaron Rodgers hopes to be able to play without a knee brace in the near future.

Rodgers suffered a left knee injury in Week 1.

With or without the knee brace, Rodgers said the Packers (3-2-1) are "going to have to play better, we're going to have to play a lot better than we have to win those games."

The Packers' next five opponents have a combined record of 23-10-1, and only the Seahawks (3-3) don't have a winning record.

"This is an important stretch in our season," Rodgers said. "I'm not going to say it's going to define our season, but it's definitely going to shake things out when we get on the other side of this and get back home in six weeks on where we're at in the race and what we're playing for."