Having Emerged From Darkness, Has Rodgers Seen the Light?

After a four-day darkness retreat, perhaps Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has found clarity on his football future.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Feb 23, 2023 3:15 PM EST

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers exited his four-day darkness retreat on Wednesday, according to ESPN.com. He left the 300-square-foot room located at Sky Cave Retreats in Southern Oregon perhaps feeling enlightened about his future in the NFL and with the Green Bay Packers.

The retreat was scheduled months ago and had nothing to do with Rodgers’ annual career contemplation.

“It’s a darkness retreat,” he explained a couple weeks ago on The Pat McAfee Show. “And I’ve had a number of friends who’ve done it and had some profound experiences, and it’s something that’s been on my radar for a few years now. I felt like it’d be awesome to do regardless of where I was leaning after this season, so it’s been on the calendar for months and months and it’s coming up in a couple weeks.”

Among the highlights of the three “earth-bermed retreats,” according to the The Sky Caves Web site:

Private and off-grid
Hot bath, sink & flushing toilet
Soundproof & spacious 300 sq ft room
Organic latex mattress
Professionally engineered ventilation & cooling system
Radiant wood fired heat
Mountain spring water
Organic food

The specifics were detailed by ESPN.com’s Xuan Thai.

“Retreating into darkness is a spiritual practice thousands of years old, with origins throughout India, China and Tibet,” Thai wrote. “The Sky Cave website traces the roots of darkness retreats to various ancient practices and rituals. Some medical benefits are possible, yet it states that those benefits are not scientifically proven.

“When discussing origins of the retreats, [Sky Cave’s Scott] Berman acknowledged the different cultures who he says have practices related to darkness, such as the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians, and the Kogi, an indigenous people of Colombia who Berman explains select certain children at birth to live in darkness with their mothers.”

Thai spoke to Colin O'Brady, who completed The Explorers Grand Slam – reaching the North Pole and South Pole and scaling the tallest peak on all seven continents – in a record-breaking 139 days. He stayed eight days in the same room as Rodgers earlier this month.

"People always ask me what's more important, the physical or the mental side of that?" he said. "If you take my first solo crossing of Antarctica ... to be able to pull a 375-pound sled, 1 mile, let alone a thousand miles, there's a minimum physical requirement for that.

"So of course, I train my body to get stronger to sustain the physical challenge of that. But I often say the physical side of that is just the table stakes. There are a lot of people that could pull that sled a certain amount of distance, but that basically just gets you to the starting line."

Perhaps the retreat will get Rodgers to the starting line of the marathon grind that would be a 19th NFL season and 16th as a starter.

Rodgers was on the fence in the immediate moments after the season-ending loss to the Detroit Lions. As he talked to McAfee every week, Rodgers said he still hadn’t come to a resolution.

“It’s a feeling,” Rodgers said after the finale. “Do I feel like I have anything left to prove to myself? Do I want to go back and gear up for another grind? Or is it time? Is time to step away? Is it time for another voice to be leading this team? I think I need to get away and contemplate those things. Those are real to me.”

If Rodgers, whether it’s the competitive fire inside him or some deep insights from four days of solitude, decides he wants to return for another NFL season, the next step presumably would be to discuss the future with general manager Brian Gutekunst. Together, they’d plot the next steps – which could be another year in Green Bay or a trade to a potential Super Bowl contender such as the New York Jets.

Rodgers wants to win the Super Bowl championship that’s eluded him since 2010. Does he see that as a possibility in Green Bay? The Packers, again, have salary-cap challenges – many of those challenges are rooted in Rodgers’ colossal contract – that will make building a championship-worthy team difficult.

However, the offense should be stronger with a year of chemistry alongside promising receivers Christian Watson and Romeo Doubs. If 2022 was a trial by fire for an offense in transition following the trade of Davante Adams, Year 2 of Rodgers throwing to Watson could be fire.

“I have a lot of pride in what I’ve accomplished in this league but I’m also a realist and I understand where we’re at as a team,” Rodgers said after the Detroit game. “We’re a young team. There could be some changes with some of the older guys and it could be time to step away. But I could take some time and say hell no, man, I need to get back out there and go on another run. But I’ll have to see what it feels like once I’m away from it.”