Packers Might Have Closed Rodgers’ Super Bowl Window

The Green Bay Packers didn’t make any moves at the NFL trade deadline, a decision emblematic of their too-careful way of doing business.

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Nov 1, 2022 10:08 PM EDT
Original:
Nov 1, 2022

In this story:

Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – On Nov. 1, 2022, Aaron Rodgers’ hopes of winning a second Super Bowl ring might have ended forever.

Maybe Rodgers will come back to Green Bay for another season. Maybe he’ll be traded to continue his championship chase elsewhere. Or, maybe, this is it. If that’s the case, if Rodgers is in the midst of the final year of his legendary career, his pursuit of that long-coveted second NFL title might have ended with a whimper on a Tuesday.

The Green Bay Packers didn’t make a move at the trade deadline. They didn’t make a trade when they had powerhouses, and they didn’t make one this year even with a roster that was begging for help.

I understand general manager Brian Gutekunst’s perspective. He thought he had built another championship-worthy powerhouse, this one with an elite defense good enough to offset his trade of Davante Adams. At some point, with Matt LaFleur directing the ship, Rodgers at the wheel and three receivers added via the draft, the offense would take flight.

None of that happened. The defense has been a huge disappointment and the offense might not be any better than it was when it got trounced in Week 1. Why throw good money after bad? Would Chase Claypool have been the defibrillator needed to get the offense going? Or was the green-and-gold patient too far gone, and the price tag of a second-round pick (and something else) too valuable for the inevitable rebuild that’s to come?

Honestly, probably the latter.

That being said, it’s Aaron Frickin’ Rodgers. No, he has not played to his standard this year. No, at age 38, maybe he’s not good enough to strap the team to his right arm and take it on one of those legendary runs. But Allen Lazard, Claypool and, say, Romeo Doubs would have been a darned good starting point to the passing game. A competent passing attack and a really good running attack can be a winning formula in the playoffs.

Guys like Rodgers are once-in-a-generation players. That the Packers went from Brett Favre to Rodgers is impossibly improbable. Would that second-round pick that would have gone to Pittsburgh in the Claypool trade be useful in navigating the post-Rodgers path? Of course. But if you don’t have a quarterback, who cares?

Aaron Rodgers, who won his only Super Bowl in 2010, lost at Buffalo on Sunday. (Photo by Gregory Fisher/USA Today Sports)

If the Packers thought Jordan Love was the next big thing, they wouldn’t have moved heaven and earth to bring Rodgers back in the first place. Had Gutekunst wanted to trade Rodgers this past offseason, he could have received at least a couple first-round picks in exchange and gotten his hand-picked quarterback into the lineup.

Instead, it was Rodgers or bust.

But for only eight games.

When Rodgers talks at his locker following Wednesday’s practice, he’ll probably say all the right things. He’ll state his belief in the receivers, of the ability for the defense to turn things around, of his ability to unleash holy hell on opponents.

He’ll probably also know, in his heart of hearts, that it’s going to be really hard to get this team into the playoffs, let alone to the Super Bowl. He’ll give it all he’s got. It probably won’t be enough.

Imagine being Rodgers on Tuesday and following the news. At the trade deadline the last three years, the Packers were 7-1 in 2019, 5-2 in 2020 and 7-1 in 2021. This year, they’ve lost four in a row. Gutekunst stayed on the sideline each time. Meanwhile, on Tuesday:

- The Minnesota Vikings, after back-to-back losing seasons in which they finished a combined 12 games behind the Packers in the NFC North, swung a trade with the Detroit Lions for standout tight end T.J. Hockenson.

- The Chicago Bears, who are in the beginning stages of their rebuild and haven’t finished ahead of the Packers in the division since Chester Arthur was president, gave up the second-round pick to get Claypool.

- The Buffalo Bills, already the Super Bowl favorites, acquired do-it-all running back Nyheim Hines from the Indianapolis Colts.

- The Miami Dolphins, who are 5-3 after missing the playoffs the past five seasons, made the blockbuster deal of the day by acquiring Denver Broncos pass rusher Bradley Chubb.

- On deadline eve, the Baltimore Ravens acquired star linebacker Roquan Smith from the Bears.

- A handful of days before the deadline, the undefeated Philadelphia Eagles added to their elite defensive line by landing Robert Quinn, who had 18.5 sacks last year for Chicago.

All those trades. All those teams trying to get better. All those teams going for it.

And the Packers? Nothing. As usual. They haven’t been buyers since 2010, when they sent a conditional draft pick to Jacksonville for safety Anthony Smith a couple days before the deadline. He played in four games.

Ultimately, there will be a lot of reasons why Rodgers’ remarkable run in Green Bay might end with one Super Bowl championship. The special-teams debacle last year against the 49ers. David Bakhtiari’s ACL and an empty Lambeau Field in 2020 against the Bucs. Horrendous defensive performances, such as the against the 49ers in 2019. All-time meltdowns, such as against the Seahawks in 2014. Some un-clutch play by the quarterback, too. It’s all part of the stew.

So, too, are the lack of bold moves. For too long, the Packers tried to live with one foot planted in the current season and another foot in the future. Trade up to draft a quarterback in the first round, even with Rodgers having led the team to the NFC title game? Sure. Give up a future draft pick to get that one missing piece at the deadline in 2019, 2020 or 2021? Nah. Give up a future pick to breathe life into the current team? No thanks.

Then-Packers GM Ron Wolf signed Andre Rison and won the Super Bowl in 1996. The Rams signed Odell Beckham and won the Super Bowl in 2021. Sometimes, you’ve got to go for it. Who cares about next year when a Super Bowl ring lasts forever?

Gutekunst didn’t go for it on Tuesday. Ultimately, in this case, it was probably the right decision. But it was a decision emblematic of the franchise’s way of doing business. They’ve been really good at being really good. They’ve been terrible at being great. And now, if this really is going to be the final nine games in Green Bay for Rodgers, who knows when they’ll get another shot at greatness.