Aaron Rodgers’ Moment Has Arrived

“This is just another one of those special moments in my career,” Packers QB Aaron Rodgers said of hosting the NFC Championship Game against Tom Brady's Buccaneers.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Jan 23, 2021 10:44 PM EST
Original:
Jan 23, 2021

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The time is here.

The time is now.

For Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be his fourth chance to get to his second Super Bowl. You never count out a great quarterback because of his ability to lift an entire team on his shoulders, but the 37-year-old might never again be in such a strong position to get to the Super Bowl.

Aaron Jones and Corey Linsley–and who knows who else from a team projected to be more than $25 million over next year’s salary cap–might not be with the Packers in 2021. And what about Rodgers, who called his own future a “beautiful mystery” this week?

Rodgers said there was “no more pressure than usual” entering this game, but the moment is, well, momentous.

Win and get to the Super Bowl for the first time in a decade.

Lose and wonder what on earth it’s going to take to get back to the top of the mountain.

The challenge could hardly be bigger. On the other sideline, it’s the Buccaneers, led by Tom Brady.

The Buccaneers routed the Packers 38-10 in Week 6. During a season in which Rodgers has topped a 107 passer rating in 15 of 17 games, the exceptions were a 91.6 vs. Carolina and a 35.4 vs. Tampa Bay.

Brady is the ultimate winner with six Super Bowl rings. Since Rodgers won the Super Bowl in 2010, Brady has won three Super Bowls and played in two others.

But, as the saying goes, if you’re going to be the best you’ve got to beat the best. Brady is the best, and he’s the one standing in Rodgers’s way.

As at ease as he’s been all season, Rodgers is embracing the moment.

Aaron Rodgers salutes the fans following the playoff victory over the Rams. Rodgers and Co. will host the Buccaneers on Sunday for a trip to the Super Bowl. (Image: Mark J. Rebilas/USA TODAY Sports)

“I’ve always been a football fan,” Rodgers said. “I grew up wearing out a VHS tape of Super Bowl highlights, and as a kid you dream about playing in Super Bowls, playing in big games, what that would feel like. Getting to play Division I football was a huge dream of mine, and I remember the first moment I stepped on that field as a starter. It’s a special, special feeling. And the same feeling you get when you step on the field as a starter in the NFL, and then when you take your first snap as a playoff quarterback, and get to the Super Bowl for the first time. A lot of special moments.

“This is just another one of those special moments in my career. It’s great fodder for media outlets. There’s just so many great storylines, and there always are. That’s the NFL. There’s so many great people and great stories to talk about. Obviously, Tommy’s had an amazing career. His legacy is one of so many wins and so many accomplishments. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time and enjoyed the few times we’ve gotten to play. I remember when I heard the news about him coming to the NFC, I thought this was a real possibility, and I’m excited about the opportunity to play against him one more time.”

It was easy to see Brady and Co. getting to this stage. It was difficult to see this from the Packers, last year’s 13-3 record notwithstanding, and Rodgers.

Rodgers missed half the 2017 season with a broken collarbone. He was ineffective in 2018, which cost longtime coach Mike McCarthy his job. He was no better in 2019 in Year 1 under Matt LaFleur. The Packers reached the NFC Championship Game, anyway, but never really were a threat to San Francisco’s supremacy.

This season, despite the infamous selection of quarterback Jordan Love in the first round of the draft, no noteworthy additions to the roster in general, the lack of offseason practices and the abbreviated training camp, Rodgers turned in arguably the best season of his career. Statistically, his best season was 2011, when he registered an NFL-record 122.5 passer rating on an offense so good that Randall Cobb was seventh on the team in receptions. This season, his 121.5 passer rating was the second-best in NFL history. For a comparison of weapons, Jace Sternberger was seventh on the team in receptions.

Rodgers is expected to win his third MVP, the Packers led the NFL in scoring and they’re back in the championship game.

“Definitely thankful to be back here,” Rodgers said. “A lot of people didn’t think we’d be back here after last season. We got a lot of interesting comments last year about us being the worst 13-3 team that people had seen. Not the same type of comments this year. Obviously, we’re clicking a lot better on offense. I do feel really thankful to be back here, thankful for the chance to be playing. There were so many unknowns when we started the season, just the Zoom offseason, whether we were going to get to this point. Now we’re here.”

The outside perspective–one voiced frequently by the legion of national critics who couldn’t find the locker room without buying a stadium tour–was that Rodgers was past his prime and no longer good enough to carry a team to a championship. There also was a belief that Rodgers was a bad teammate, selfish and uncoachable.

So much for those narratives.

Rodgers could have fumed and pouted after general manager Brian Gutekunst drafted his successor rather than adding an instant-impact player to a high-quality roster in the first round of the draft. Instead, he has spoken often about having “an attitude of gratitude.” Renewed physically (he’s spoken often about incorporating something he saw on some old film) and mentally, Rodgers has turned in a tour de force season.

That mindset should help him against Brady. Brady has the Super Bowl rings that Rodgers craves. He’s got the “GOAT” title that every competitor covets. He might walk onto Lambeau Field on Sunday with the better team, too.

“He’s at a point to where, he’s won MVPs, he’s won a Super Bowl, he’s very confident in his ability to lead on and off the field,” veteran tight end and close friend Marcedes Lewis said. “The things that happen outside of your control, they don’t matter. You don’t have control over them, so it’s really water off a duck’s back. The things you can’t control, let that flow. The things that you can control, try to do your best to control them.

“And I think he’s done an amazing job with the amount of attention and scrutiny that he’s always under because people expect so much. And he’s delivered, and it’s nothing short of what I expected from him. He’s delivered in the locker room, he’s delivered in the film room, he’s there as a mentor to the younger guys. I just think he’s at a point to where he’s at such peace, and it’s been really good to see. I’m proud of him.”

This is Rodgers’s 10th trip to the postseason but his first NFC Championship Game on the home turf. Opportunities like the one he’ll get on Sunday are exceedingly rare, as nobody understands better than Rodgers himself. At the height of his powers, with an ascending defense and a chance to beat the legendary Brady at Lambeau Field, this is the moment that’s been a decade in the making.

Winning this game wouldn't make him the GOAT, but it would add a long-awaited chapter to Rodgers’s legend.

“It’s historic. It’s definitely historic. There’s nothing like it,” Rodgers said of Lambeau Field. “Dreamt about it, playing in this stadium since I watched those VHS tapes of the Green Bay Packers and the Ice Bowl, Bart Starr, Max McGee, Paul Hornung, Fuzzy [Thurston], Willie Davis, Ray Nitschke.

“That’s what I dreamt about–being a part of an organization that had that kind of excellence. Vince Lombardi, all the quotes that he has that still resonate to this day. The trophy is named after him for a reason. Our city is nicknamed Titletown for a reason. It’s a special place to play. I’ve never lost that perspective. I think my perspective has slightly adjusted on some other things this year, but I’ve never forgotten where I play and where I live, and I’m very proud of that.”