GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Maybe it wasn't the treatment that Aaron Rodgers received from the Green Bay Packers' medical staff that allowed him to return to Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions after he reinjured his calf muscle.

Maybe it was a beard.

Shortly before Rodgers returned to the game in the third quarter, he was seen tugging on the long red beard of a man named Jeremy Wilcox on the sideline.

Wilcox, who lives in a log cabin near Wausau, Wisconsin, and works for a telecommunications company that provides services at Lambeau Field on game days, has become something of a good luck charm for the Packers and their quarterback.

In a story in the Green Bay Press-Gazette, Wilcox says Rodgers noticed his long red beard early in the season.

"He kind of laughed," Wilcox said of Rodgers. "I knew where it was going. He gave it a little tug, and I just laughed."

It has become a game-day tradition for Rodgers this season at Lambeau Field, where the Packers finished 8-0 this season. Each game, Rodgers finds Wilcox on the sideline.

"I just noticed this huge dude with a sweet ginger beard," Rodgers said Tuesday on ESPN Milwaukee radio show. "I think it's good luck when you have a beard like that. I think Jeremy would agree."

Wilcox also did an interview with Wausau TV station WAOW, which can be seen here.