Aaron Rodgers puts his expected self-serving “spin” on the state of affairs for the benefit of himself and his apologists

For Kenny Mayne’s swan song for ESPN, he might as well go out with a “bang”—meaning coaxing the biggest story of the sports year thus far onto his show, and so it goes that his Royal Heinous, Aaron Rodgers, finally makes an appearance and puts his two-bit in for the edification of the world, and for Packer fans like myself who have seen it all over the years, when the “bad” was just as entertaining—if slightly more frustrating—as the “good.” Rodgers may feel like he “cleansed” himself, but he’s leaving some Packer fans feeling as if they had just been shit on. What transpired was the following:

Self-serving statement number one: “With my situation…it’s never been about the draft pick.”

Rodgers is referring to Jordan Love, who he claims is a “great kid” and “loved” to work with. This is at odds with what has been the talking point in the media since the moment Love was drafted. Why didn’t the Packers draft a wide receiver in the first round, since Rodgers was clearly not able to maximize the talent already on the team? That’s right, the “elite” player who is supposed to play “elite” never has enough “weapons”—except when he is “forced” to use them. In 2019 Rodgers had his best 3-game stretch without his number one receiver, Davante Adams, in the line-up, throwing for 1,017 yards and 10 TDs; he only had 14 TDs in the 12 games when Adams was on the field.

In fact, Rodgers had his best statistical game of his career in 2019 against the Raiders, going 25 of 31 for 429 yards and 5 TDs—his first, and only, “perfect” passer rating game. Yet two games later he threw for just 169 yards on 35 pass attempts in a blowout loss to a 3-5 Chargers team. Want to take a flying leap over a cliff assuming which game Adams actually played in? Adams did catch 115 passes in 2020, but he wasn’t the team’s deep threat; his yards-per-target was just 9.2. Marquez Valdes-Scantling was the team’s “deep threat”; thus he had a lower target/catch percentage, but a higher yards-per-catch and yards-per-target average (20.9 and 11.0).

Self-serving statement number two: “Love the coaching staff, love my teammates, love the fan base in Green Bay.”

Yada, yada, yada…isn’t that what everyone says when they are trying desperately not to look like the real villain of the story? Yet the truth is that Rodgers’ grudge game disrespects all of those entities. Packer management indulged him by dumping Mike McCarthy even though they knew that it was Rodgers who was principally responsible for creating the toxic atmosphere between them, and got him a new coach and “philosophy,” one that saw the team improve from 6-9-1 to 13-3 despite little noticeable improvement in Rodger’s play overall in 2019. He disrespects his teammates by refusing to acknowledge their role in making him—what was that, “elite”? Rodgers completed 70.7 percent of his passes last year and yet he had no “weapons.”  He disrespects the fans who supported him despite the fact he has let them down every year since 2010 by not playing straight with them and giving them bullshit reasons why he doesn’t want to play in Green Bay anymore.

Self-serving statement number three: “It’s just about a kind of philosophy and maybe forgetting that it is about the people that makes the thing go.”

This is all about a raging narcissist. He’s the only “people” populating his world. He is the one who makes “the thing go.” The question is “where,” exactly, since he is the “team.” Playing just good enough to make the playoffs? Is that it—because that is all we have seen from him. What “philosophy” is he talking about, anyways? The coaching “philosophy” that he just said he “loved”? If it isn’t just some “hard word” he just threw out there for kicks, all we can assume is that it is about his “philosophy,” whatever the hell it is.

Self-serving statement number four: “It’s about character, it’s about culture, it’s about doing things the right way.”

Yeah, Rodgers shows a lot of “character,” doesn’t he, where every imagined instance of "disrespect" sticks to him like a tar-baby. Rodgers being responsible for creating the toxic “culture” between himself and McCarthy from day one showed a lot of “character.” How could Packer management know that Rodgers was the kind of person who once he starts a grudge, is too immature to let it go? Is that thinking straight and “doing things the right way”? I think not.

Once the media throws around superlatives, players’ heads inflate to the point they float away in some stratosphere where they lose all contact with reality. They never blame themselves; it is always someone else’s fault when they make egregious mistakes and choke under pressure when it most counts for them to play big. That is not showing “character.” Just like in all the other big games from previous playoffs, Rodgers didn’t man-up to the horrible interception he threw late in the first half in the past season’s NFC championship game that allowed a real clutch player—Tom Brady—to throw a TD pass with just seconds remaining.

Rodgers didn’t “man-up” about throwing three terrible passes after first-and-goal with the game and a Super Bowl appearance on the line, instead allowing Matt LaFleur to take all the “blame” for his choking. Even if Rodgers didn’t run the ball in on that third down play, he certainly would have gotten the ball close enough for make the next decision more palatable; after all, LaFleur trusted Rodgers in the 49ers game last season, and he only got burned big time.

Self-serving statement number five: “It’s about the people, and that’s the most important thing.”

Rodger’s went on to put himself in the same category as Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, et al. He doesn’t deserve to be put in the same category as any of those greats. He probably doesn’t even deserve to put in the same category as Brett Favre, despite being a more “efficient” passer who made fewer mistakes. But make no “mistake”: Favre played to win, which meant that he frequently made forced, hair-pulling throws that cost the team wins. Packer fans had to accept that from a player who at least put them back on the football map. Rodgers, on the other hand, too often played like he is more interested in his passer rating than in winning. Sure he throws fewer interceptions, but in order to do that he just threw away passes instead of making the tough throw, which usually led to long periods of three-and-outs that put the team in a hole it couldn’t dig out of.

Self-serving statement number six: “I think sometimes people forget what really makes an organization. History is important, legacy of so many people that build foundation of those entities. I think sometimes we forget that.”

Does Rodgers even know what he is talking about here? I don’t think he does, frankly. “Philosophy,” “culture”—if you asked him to explain what he means by those terms, and this is all he can come up with? He is clearly talking about his nonsensical “beef” with the front office and GM Brian Gutekunst, who is yet the latest person he holds a stupid “grudge” against because he needs a scapegoat to paper-over his own failures.

You know what? I think that to most Packer fans, living up to the “Titletown” moniker is what the team’s “legacy” is about, and for all the superlatives people throw at him, Rodgers just isn’t the guy anymore after so many failures in championship games. The Packers’ front office spent a lot of money laying the foundation around Rodgers in the expectation that he would lead the team to the promised land, and since 2010 he has repeatedly failed. He has “forgotten” that if you never live up to the “elite” status others claim for you, you are no longer part of the “foundation.”

Rodgers was the league MVP three times; how many of those seasons did he lead the team to the Super Bowl? None, zero, nada. Rodgers went on to claim that the Packers only want him back because he won the MVP award. That doesn’t mean he will play as well this year, does it? I personally think that if Rodgers does choose to suit-up in the green-and-gold this season, he should be thankful he is getting another chance to prove he is not the choke artist he has shown himself to be year after year—and that he is deserving of being an important part that Packer historical legacy. If he doesn’t, then don’t let the door hit you too hard in the fundament on the way out.

Oh, and by the way, why doesn’t someone ask Shailene what she thinks about Green Bay—the town and the area, not the team. We could probably learn a whole lot more about this “situation” from her answer than all this self-serving bullshit that Rodgers expectorated last night.