GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers' fate -- and perhaps the Packers' playoff chances -- are in the hands of the doctors.
That's the only update coach Mike McCarthy had on his quarterback after Rodgers underwent tests Monday morning to see whether his broken right collarbone has healed to the point that he could return Sunday against the Carolina Panthers, the first game for which Rodgers is eligible to be activated off injured reserve.
Packers physician Dr. Pat McKenzie is expected to make a determination after consulting with several specialists.
"It is now in the evaluation stage," McCarthy said late Monday afternoon. "Dr. McKenzie is reviewing it. There's a number of medical opinions that will be involved in a decision, so at this time, I do not have a clean decision for you or an update. That's where it stands."
McCarthy joked that if he didn't have a decision by Tuesday, "they're going to be putting Pat McKenzie on IR."
It's unclear why the Packers didn't put Rodgers through tests late last week.
To this point, everything has gone according to plan in Rodgers' recovery from surgery on Oct. 19, when he had screws and plates implanted to stabilize his right clavicle. Rodgers said he hoped to come back this season but only if the tests showed the bone had healed.
He returned to practice on Dec. 2, the day he turned 34. Even before that, however, he was throwing. The first time he did so in public was before the Nov. 26 game at Pittsburgh, where he was seen throwing passes 50-plus yards in the air. Packers linebacker Clay Matthews even joked that Rodgers looked so good during the rehab process that the Packers shouldn't have put him on injured reserve.
"It's in the evaluation process," McCarthy said. "I don't have an answer for you. I'd like to know as soon as possible. Frankly, it's best for Aaron to know as soon as possible. He's the one that has to get ready, and obviously, in his mind he's ready to go if you watch him practice and the conversations with him. But this is a medical decision, and Dr. McKenzie is obviously in touch with a number of different medical experts, and they're evaluating the information."
With or without Rodgers, McCarthy and his offensive staff are well into their game plan for the Panthers. They typically start on the next opponent late in the previous week, and this game was no different.
"We do preliminary game plans at the end of each week," McCarthy said. "So, for instance, the offensive staff has a preliminary game plan for Carolina that is worked on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and then we evaluate their game that they played yesterday. So we had a chance to watch that against Minnesota. Obviously, we were here early this morning correcting our game from Cleveland. So the process is in full motion, and so, we'll just keep going down the road."
Brett Hundley won three of his seven starts in place of Rodgers, including consecutive overtime wins the past two weeks to get the Packers to 7-6 and keep them alive in the playoff race.
"My No. 1 thought going into it was keep our hopes alive to make the playoffs, and we're still in it," Hundley said.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera said earlier Monday that the Panthers are preparing as though Rodgers will play. However, he said he doesn't expect Green Bay's game plan to be that much different if Hundley is under center instead.
"Our focus will be on the Packers and what they do and how they do it," Rivera said.
ESPN's David Newton contributed to this report.