The Legacy of Aaron Rodgers
One of the Greatest (And Most Cursed) Quarterbacks in NFL History
Happy Super Bowl Sunday, everyone!
Well, happy for some….
I remember having a conversation with Sidney during the Super Bowl last year, explaining how the entire event has had a negative connotation around it for the last decade of my life. There is just a sadness in the air the entire day.
I would go as far as saying I have grown to hate the Super Bowl, and especially these last 11 seasons, it has been downright impossible to watch.
It’s not because the Packers haven’t made it since 2011. It is because the Packers have been so excruciatingly close almost every single year SINCE 2011.
In fact, we have often had to watch the team that beat us compete in the Super Bowl in our stead. That kind of mental torture is best avoided. Thanks to the Rams, at least we don’t have to go through that this time around.
I will not be watching the game this year, not out of protest, but simply because I don’t feel like staying up until 1:30am without a rooting interest.
On Friday night, however, I must admit I was extremely excited.
Aaron Rodgers was awarded with his 4th NFL MVP award, officially passing Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Jim Brown, and Johnny Unitas for sole possession of 2nd place on the all-time list.
Only Peyton Manning has more with 5 total awards.
Now obviously, I would trade the trophy back in a heartbeat for a chance to be playing tonight, and I am sure Aaron feels the same way.
However, the significance of this award can’t be understated. He has now won the award in back-to-back seasons, which has only happened 4 other times in NFL history.
Every time we add another playoff gut punch to the Packers history books, I get an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
I am worried that, years after he retires, casual NFL fans will forget about the greatness of Aaron Rodgers based solely on the amount of Super Bowl teams he has been on.
However, football is a weird game, and weird things happen.
I don’t think it is outlandish to say that Aaron Rodgers could have won 8 Super Bowls in his career. The opportunities were there, and more often than not, they slipped away when Rodgers wasn’t even on the field.
Football is, in every sense of the phrase, a team game, and it must be won in all three phases: offense, defense, and special teams.
While Rodgers certainly underperformed in this year’s loss to the 49ers, that game was an outlier compared to the other seemingly countless examples of where Rodgers played well enough to win, but the defense or special teams let him down at the most crucial time.
So, if the 8 Super Bowls claim is too far-fetched for you, let me at least reign it in to 4. The Packers should have won the Super Bowl in all 3 of Rodgers’ prior MVP seasons, and he was let down by unfathomably poor defense and special teams.
The numbers Rodgers put up during these seasons were other-worldly. We live in a time with advanced metrics, so we can dig a lot deeper into season statistics than just passing yards and passing touchdowns.
The two metrics to really pay attention to here are the completion percentages and the interceptions. No other quarterback in the ENTIRE HISTORY of the NFL has had interception totals this low while also having this many passing attempts and such high completion percentages. Rodgers has done it 4 times.
He simply doesn’t throw picks. He is the most accurate passer the game has ever known. He makes ridiculously high-difficulty throws look smooth and easy. He is one of the best throwers of the football that has ever existed, and he has only won 1 Super Bowl ring despite having 11 playoff appearances and 8 division titles.
It’s so fluky!
Now, don’t get me wrong. Nobody feels bad for you in the NFL, and that is not the point I am trying to make.
All I am trying to say is that greatness in football should be measured in a different method than basketball. For example, I think that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan are the two greatest basketball players that ever lived, and a huge factor into that opinion is that they both won 6 NBA championships.
While basketball is a team sport too, it is hard to deny that one player can instantly take over a game, especially in the NBA.
In football, a quarterback can throw for 400 yards and 5 touchdowns, but lose in overtime without ever getting to touch the ball (which has happened to Rodgers in the playoffs multiple times).
When it is all said and done, I think the top 3 quarterbacks in NFL history are Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and Peyton Manning.
The others that are close to consideration would be Drew Brees, Brett Favre, and Dan Marino.
Now let’s look into how many Super Bowl rings each of these QB’s have:
Tom Brady: 7
Aaron Rodgers: 1
Peyton Manning: 2
Drew Brees: 1
Brett Favre: 1
Dan Marino: 0
The NFL is a beautifully weird game, and it shouldn’t make any sense that 5 of the Top 6 quarterbacks of all time combined for only 5 championships.
But that’s the team aspect.
I have absolutely nothing against Tom Brady. I actually quite like him! He had an incredibly impressive career, he has a great sense of humor, and he is a Bitcoiner! What’s not to like?
However, I don’t think for a second that he is head and shoulders above any of these other quarterbacks on this list even though the championships would suggest it.
There is a difference between legacy and skill when ranking QB’s. If we were ranking legacies, then obviously Brady is number 1, probably forever.
However, if we were ranking display of skill throughout their career, I would definitely put Rodgers and Manning over Brady, and maybe even Marino.
Brady won a Super Bowl while he was on the sideline, and Russell Wilson threw an interception at the goal line!
Meanwhile, Rodgers watched from the sideline while his defense and special teams absolutely handed over a trip to the Super Bowl in the last 2 minutes against Seattle that same season.
It’s a fluky game, and Rodgers has had about as many bad breaks as it is possible to have.
He may be back next season, he may not. I certainly think he has a few more runs in him if they can make the salary cap work, but time will tell.
Either way, his greatness will never be lost on me. I certainly hope the same can be said for others years from now.
No matter what you think about his personality, his antics, or his playoff hardships, he is a damn good quarterback. Arguably the best to ever do it. The numbers don’t lie.
I tell my friends and anyone else who will listen that I wouldn't hang out with Rodgers, but he would be my qb pick everytime. And you're right. The way the Packers have lost some playoff games some might say the NFL is fixed . You guys stay safe, healthy and curious .