Aaron Rodgers' mythical stature in jeopardy after loss to Niners

Mon, Jan 24, 2022
NFL News (AP)

Not only is the season over for both Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, so seems to be the debate over who will have a better career.

With Saturday's loss to the San Francisco 49ers, Rodgers missed another opportunity to add a second Super Bowl ring to his illustrious resume, which includes a Super Bowl MVP, three regular-season MVPs (so far), and four first-team All-Pro selections.

In fact, despite his long-term individual excellence, most of the chatter Monday is in regard to Rodgers' now consistent playoff failures, and Chris Broussard took Green Bay's legendary quarterback to task on "First Things First."

Broussard said that the aura surrounding Rodgers was busted on Saturday, laying out two specific myths that have always supported Rodgers: He would be as successful as Brady had he played in New England and the Packers' defense often failed Rodgers.

"Myth No. 1 - 'Oh, if he were in New England instead of Brady, he would have more championships than Brady.' No. He might have more than one. I'll give him that. But he wouldn't have more championships than Brady ... because Aaron Rodgers, as illustrated Saturday, does not rise to the moment like Tom Brady does.

"You can even throw in 'as Patrick Mahomes does' now."

After this weekend, Brady is now 35-12 in his postseason career, while Rodgers sits at 11-10. Furthermore, Brady is 10-4 against the NFC in the playoffs, despite playing in the AFC for 20 years.

Rodgers is 10-10 against the NFC in the playoffs, having spent his entire 17-year career in the conference.

Broussard then went into his second argument against Rodgers' mythical stature: the other side of the ball.

"Myth No. 2: That Rodgers doesn't have more than one Super Bowl appearance - let alone win - is because of his defenses over the years. OK, sure, there were many times that the defenses didn't show up, but if you look at a lot of those games, Rodgers didn't show up either.

"When [Green Bay] lost in 2016 to Atlanta, everybody points out that they gave up 44 points. Yeah, but they were down 24-0 at halftime. So the defense wasn't getting it done, but neither was Rodgers."

Taking a look at Saturday's 13-10 loss to S.F., during the regular season, the Packers held a team to 10 or fewer points three times, all ending in wins for Green Bay.

Green Bay's 13 points were its second-lowest tally of the season, outside of a 13-7 loss at Kansas City in Week 9 - a game in which Rodgers did not play.

With Rodgers under center, the Packers had not scored 10 or fewer since a 38-3 loss to New Orleans in Week 1.

In addition, Green Bay held the Niners to 212 total yards and 12 first downs, collected from Jimmy Garoppolo the game's only interception, held S.F. scoreless in the red zone (0-3), and G.B. narrowly won the time of possession battle 30:36-29:24.

While Rodgers' aura looks to have taken a hit over the weekend, one more ring can do wonders when it comes to regaining one's mystique.

The only question is: does Rodgers have one more mythical run in him?