March 4th, 2008. It was a memorable day for the Green Bay Packers. It was the day when the legendary Brett Favre, so much more than just a fan favorite for the previous 16 years at Lambeau Field, had decided to walk away from football – Or so we thought! Aaron Rodgers knew he was finally going to get his chance. He had the fortunate task of being the starting quarterback for the iconic green and gold and the unfortunate responsibility of being the man to replace Favre. A few short months later, turmoil ensued and Brett wanted his job back.
Ted Thompson, still a relatively inexperienced general manager at the time, was put in the position of deciding between the incomparable Favre and the unproven Rodgers, who was Thompson’s first decision when he joined the team, a decision that was also met with a raised brow. Thompson made the unpopular decision to go with his guy and had #4 off to New York. Since then, he has averaged over 4,000 passing yards per season, over 30 touchdowns, a Super Bowl championship with an MVP in the big game, a perennial Pro Bowl quarterback and as ESPN’s First Take Stephen A. Smith likes to say, “He’s a baaaaaaaaaad man”.
With all of that said, I feel that Aaron Rodgers is a bad year away from having to prove something to his naysayers. The early framework of an argument against Rodgers status as one of the best in the game is moving quickly with his record in fourth quarter comebacks becoming the only crack in the armour. The Packers were and are a great team under Rodgers, but that greatness often came with playing with a lead. Equipped with an explosive offense, often the team is out ahead in the first half. But in the same way Andrew Luck is quickly defining himself as a fourth quarter comeback machine with nine come from behind wins so early in his career, Aaron Rodgers doesn’t come to mind in this conversation. Never in history did this matter, winning mattered. Aaron Rodgers wins, that was always enough. But with every fan who has a Twitter account, they have a voice and suddenly winning is not quite enough. How you win seems to matter a little too much. I believe Alex Smith and his fans would agree.
Aaron Rodgers is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. The only argument against him is when we isolate small chunks of the game and only when the score meets the parameters that support this position. All of this may be premature on my end and I hope so, however there is certainly a slow swelling of dissent towards this bad man that seems to have started when a few disgruntle ex-receivers decided to take a shot at him. Since 2009, the Green Bay Packers are 49-19 in the regular season for a winning percentage of .721.
So if Aaron Rodgers is not doing enough winning late, it’s because he is too busy winning early.
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