Looks like Packer fans will have a few more years to see if Aaron Rodgers can get it done "this time"

 

I suppose as a Packer fan I should make a comment on Aaron Rodgers’ new deal. Was I surprised by it? Not really, I mean why would Rodgers want to leave a comfortable situation? He’s receiving what is $150 million in guaranteed money over the next three years, and even if he doesn’t play in the fourth year of the deal, his dead money hit in 2025 will likely put the Packers in rebuilding mode. He will still be playing in a relatively weak division, and will win games and make the playoffs.

Rodgers’ number one fan, ESPN’s Steven A. Smith, seemed not to care about the deal, although he has been blabbering about how the Packers supposedly have been treating Rodgers “poorly”—although after Rodgers “officially” authorized the media to report that it was a done deal there was faint criticism that Rodgers did have the weapons these past few years, and it was now time to maybe start pointing fingers at him for not getting it “done,” especially after scoring only 10 points in the playoff loss to the 49ers.

As a fan, I was prepared to see Rodgers go, but I also assumed that there was a good chance he’d return for another year, depending on what Davante Adams was going to do. That isn’t yet a “done deal” since although there was the assumption that Adams would receive the franchise tag, there was a chance Adams would hold out if he objects to it. Oh wait, stop the presses: the Packers are trading Adams to the Raiders for two "prime" picks. Perhaps not such a dumb move, since the tag gave the Packers the right to receive compensation for him. Still, one must remember that even with Adams, Rodgers hasn’t gotten it done in the playoffs—especially when he was tunnel-visioned targeting Adams at crucial times when other receivers were wide open. Maybe this move will open his eyes a little wider.

As a fan, we know the “good times” has to end sometime. Jordan Love is obviously not the “answer” any more than Brett Hundley was, and the Packers have to draft someone who has those “intangibles” to play smart and with plenty of self-confidence to burn. The past three decades Packers have had two quarterbacks like that, but they only have three Super Bowl appearances to show for it. There are those who are now tempering their enthusiasm and say that Rodgers’ ultimate “legacy” will be defined if he can reach another Super Bowl. That is always the “plan” for every team in the league, but with the Packers there has been this attitude that just being “good” every year (well, not every year) is “good” enough.

But as a fan, I have this sense of déjà vu, of more of the same that we’ve seen since 2010, and we should remember that it was stellar defensive play that got the Packers to the Super Bowl that year. I suspect that a lot of Packer fans have gotten too used to the fact that the team has been “good” for so long that not making it to the Super Bowl is just a price one has to pay for having the “good fortune” of being “blessed” with two Hall of Fame quarterbacks who failed too many times when the pressure was on the most.

While it may feel “good” that “our” team is better than others because of the general play at the quarterback position, it is becoming somewhat embarrassing that particularly with Rodgers who always seems to play well enough to have gaudy quarterback rating numbers in the regular season, that he doesn’t play like that during playoff time, and here we are, once more waiting to see if he can get it done “this time.”