GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Green Bay Packers will take a three-game winning streak into Sunday’s latest must-win game. If the Packers can knock off the NFC North-winning Minnesota Vikings, they could enter next week’s game against the Detroit Lions in control of their playoff destiny.
Given the state of the team back in October and November, a 9-8 record and a spot in the playoffs would be a remarkable feat. But this is Titletown. This is a franchise that’s supposed to be about Super Bowls not No. 7 seeds.
Is Aaron Rodgers, at age 39 and enduring one of his most difficult seasons, good enough to do more than get the team into the playoffs?
“Is that a rhetorical question?” receiver Randall Cobb said with a smile.
Sort of.
Rodgers’ 91.3 passer rating is the worst of his career. He’s got a chance to have career-worst seasons in interceptions (11; career-high 13), touchdown-to-interception ratio (2.18; career-worst 2.15) and yards per attempt (6.8; career-worst 6.7). He’s lost some of his mobility and has been dealing with a bunch of injuries, the latest to his left knee.
With all that, is Rodgers the man to get the Packers to the promised land?
“Is he the guy to get us there? I’m not going to entertain that question. That’s my answer,” Cobb said, still smiling.
Is that because, as it was phrased, “He’s Aaron (Expletive) Rodgers, as simple as that?”
“As simple as it can be,” Cobb said.
As simple as can be, Rodgers needs to find his vintage form. And fast. One of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, Rodgers is still looking for his first 300-yard game. In 2020, Rodgers set an NFL record with 14 games of 100-plus passer ratings. This year, he has three. That’s tied for 21st in the league with the likes of Carson Wentz and Brock Purdy. Rodgers is second all-time with 63 games of three-plus touchdowns and zero interceptions. This season, he has one.
After 15 games of mundane play, can Rodgers get hot for the next two and, potentially, more?
“I’ve been playing, I feel like, a little bit better,” he said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into it. I’ve just got to be sharp on my decision-making. I need to play really clean games. Been close – really close. At some point, it’s all going to fall the right way. There’s some things that are out of your control – tipped passes, route depths, different things, no-calls. One of these days, it will all come together.”
Sunday would be the day for it to all come together. His counterpart, the Vikings’ Kirk Cousins, has Rodgers beat in completion percentage, yards and touchdowns. Thanks to a dominant group of perimeter weapons, led by unstoppable Justin Jefferson, Cousins has more 400-yard games (two) than Rodgers has 260-yard games (one).
Having been unable to do so through the first four months of the season, is Rodgers capable of putting the team on his back in January?
“I think so,” quarterbacks coach Tom Clements said. “He had three great throws in the last game. The one to Allen (Lazard), the long ball when we were backed up in our own end. Probably the one to Marcedes (Lewis), I don’t know too many quarterbacks who could make that throw. If you look at the film, when he actually let that ball loose and you see where Marcedes was in relationship to the DB, it’s amazing that he hit him right in stride. And then in the fourth quarter, the throw to Romeo (Doubs) over on the right. So, he’s capable of making all the great throws, and hopefully we’ll see a few more.”
Just about every quarterback in the league is capable of making a few big-time throws in a game. That’s why they’re in the NFL, after all. But how about play after play, series after series and, ultimately, game after game?
“I think so, yeah,” Clements said.
Why that belief?
“I see him every day in practice and I see him in the games doing amazing things, making amazing throws. He’s still probably the most accurate passer I’ve ever been around, maybe in the history of the game.”
If Rodgers gets hot, the Packers have the ability to turn their three-game winning streak into a five-game streak to end the regular season. And, with a little help – the Cleveland Browns beating the Washington Commanders today, for instance – a nine-game winning streak would bring the Lombardi Trophy back to Green Bay.
“We’ve got to win one first. We’ve got to win one and we’ve got to win another,” Cobb said. “It’s about winning the game. This is a team sport. No one man can do it by himself, and we all know that. This is a team game. Everything has to go our way as a whole for us to win the game and to move onto the next week. There’s a lot that can happen in one game.
“Yes, you’re correct, we haven’t played up to a standard that we have set for ourselves. We haven’t won as many games this year as we have in other years. But it doesn’t matter. You give yourself an opportunity to get into the playoffs, you give yourself an opportunity to play for the ultimate goal.”
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