Back in 2008, a young Aaron Rodgers was tasked with replacing all-time great Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre.
Green Bay posted a disastrous 6-10 record that season, leading to questions about whether he had a future as its franchise quarterback.
Fast forward nearly 15 years, and Rodgers himself will end up going down as one of the greatest of all-time.
Unfortunately, this season’s iteration of the Packers is looking similar to that 2008 team. Green Bay put up an embarrassing performance in a 15-9 road loss to a bad Detroit Lions team. For his part, Rodgers threw three interceptions in the red zone in what was one of the worst games of his career.
Following said outing, Rodgers was asked whether he regrets coming back for an 18th season in the NFL after rumors of retirement surrounded him during the spring. In said Q&A with reporters, it was also suggested that Rodgers looks “miserable” on the field. He responded in kind.
“I think that’s an exaggeration. Frustration and miserability are two different emotions. When I decided to come back, it was all-in and I don’t make decisions and then, you know, hindsight 20/20, you know, have regrets about big decisions like that,” Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers following Sunday’s loss. “So I was all-in. This is a lot of life lessons, for sure, this year. But luckily, it’s not over. Still a lot of games left. We’ll be counted out probably by many. And we’ll see how we respond.”
Losers of five in a row for the first time since that 2008 season, Rodgers has clearly been frustrated on the field at times this year. He’s taken to the media to call out his teammates and has not backed down from that in recent weeks.
But for Rodgers, the criticism should land at his footstep, too. He knows that all-too well. “Had some s–tty throws for sure,” Rodgers told reporters.
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Where do Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers go from here?
Green Bay heads into Week 10’s outing against a superior Cowboys team at 3-6 on the season. It is averaging a mere 17.1 points per game.
For Rodgers, Sunday’s three-interception outing is the first time he’s thrown multiple picks in a game since Week 1 of the 2021 campaign. It’s also the first time the future Hall of Famer has been picked off three times in a game since back in November of 2009.
This team just isn’t good enough to overcome mistakes of the magnitude we saw from its best player on Sunday.
- Aaron Rodgers stats (Week 9): 23-of-43 passing, 291 yards, 1 TD, 3 INT
Green Bay fell to Detroit despite outgaining its opponent by nearly 150 yards. It also converted on a solid 8-of-15 third-down opportunities.
The margin for error just isn’t there for this team. And that’s not going to change moving forward on the season. Green Bay finds itself two games behind the San Francisco 49ers for the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC. It boasts a massive five-game deficit in the loss column to the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC North.
Following next week’s outing against Dallas, this team must go up against the Tennessee Titans and undefeated Philadelphia Eagles as well as a surprisingly competitive Chicago Bears squad leading up to a Week 14 bye.
It’s going to be a lost season in Green Bay. One also now has to wonder whether this will in fact be Aaron Rodgers’ final seasons with the Pack.