Aaron Rodgers relished every opportunity to rub salt in the wound of Chicago Bears fans for almost two decades as quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. So much success can often lead to an inflated ego. There is no question Rodgers is a future Hall of Famer, but he’s still just one man entering his 40s. Still, he seemed beyond self-assured that getting traded to the New York Jets would change nothing. He’d elevate that organization just like he had Green Bay.
Well, it appears reality chose to deliver the knockout blow this year. Rodgers’ tenure got off to a terrible start when he tore his Achilles in the first game of 2023, forcing him to miss the season. Expectations were he’d return healthy this year and finally get the Jets over the hump. Instead, the team has crumbled to a 3-8 record, with both the head coach and GM getting fired. Yet that’s not the best part of Rodgers’ humiliation. It starts with the shocking revelation from Zack Rosenblatt and Dianna Russini of The Athletic.
According to those sources, the day after the Jets’ loss to the Denver Broncos on Sept. 29, there was a contentious meeting at the team facility. It included Johnson, Douglas, vice chairman Christopher Johnson, team president Hymie Elhai, and Ira Akselrad, an adviser to Johnson. It also included a group of coaches: then-head coach Robert Saleh, offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, then-defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and special teams coordinator Brant Boyer among them.
The coaches had been called in to explain what happened with their units during the 10-9 home loss to the Broncos. During the meeting, Johnson suggested to the coaches that they bench Aaron Rodgers in favor of Tyrod Taylor because he felt Rodgers’ performance was holding the team back. The coaches and Douglas, stunned at the suggestion, talked him out of it and convinced Johnson to stay the course and that benching Rodgers, with his pedigree, four games into the season would not sit well with the locker room. The coaches also felt it would embarrass Rodgers. The idea of benching the future Hall of Famer sounded so absurd that one coach asked whether the owner was serious — multiple sources from that meeting believed he was.
New York beat writer Connor Hughes of SNY went on WFAN Sports Radio and revealed players in the locker room had checked out. Most of them are already tired of Rodgers’ message and want the season to be over.
There is no question he will be in the Hall of Fame. He’s accomplished way too much for that to be any discussion. However, there was a point in time when many felt he was in the conversation for the greatest quarterback of all time. That has died a slow, agonizing death as the red flags keep popping up in recent years. After winning the Super Bowl in 2010, he has failed to reach the big game again since, losing four NFC championship games along the way. His ability to deliver in the clutch is being questioned.
Now he’s tried to prove to everybody that he can have the same longevity as Tom Brady. Instead, he’s on course to finish with the worst passer rating (88.9) of his career on a team that is close to having the worst record in the NFL. What makes it worse is the Jets don’t lack talent. They have multiple stud receivers and a capable defense. It shouldn’t be this bad. That should tell you everything you need to know. Aaron Rodgers has lost his mojo, and the steady implosion is beautiful to behold.
