Aaron Rodgers Criticizes Packers Coaches, Can’t Stop Sticking His Toe in His Mouth
K. Joudry
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A certain HBO TV series made the phrase “King in the North!” part of our culture’s common language. If things continue like they have been, Aaron Rodgers and his infamous toe will soon inspire phrases like “Moron in the North.”
Yet again, GB’s unlikeable QB is getting his name in the headlines. Here is PFT‘s recap of Rodgers’ latest headline-grabbing comment:
“I don’t know who’s talking. It seems like there are certain coaches that may have friends in the media that they don’t realize are actually just trying to report things on . . .” Asked by Hawk whether Rodgers is referring to members of the Green Bay coaching staff, Rodgers said, “There were guys for a while who had their people who they would leak stuff to.”
Yet again, Aaron Rodgers put his foot toe in his mouth.
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Now, I probably don’t need much help when it comes to convincing Vikings fans to be annoyed with Rodgers. Moreover, I recognize that writing this piece basically plays into his trap. Rodgers loves being in the headlines, so the outlandish things he says and does keep him there. No reasonable person could say and do the things he has been saying and doing without understanding that they’ll obviously create a media poopstorm (that’s the technical term). My conclusion, then, is that his shenanigans are about keeping his name in the headlines rather than about some sort of supposedly righteous crusade.
This is bad news for his team.
In all likelihood, the Packers will emerge as the NFC North champions. Something truly remarkable would need to happen for that to not happen. What’s so peculiar about the Rodgers shenanigans is that his continued comments may do precisely that.
Quite often, you don’t need to beat the best teams, you simply watch them beat themselves. Internal strife and disagreement can do that. A kingdom divided against itself cannot stand, as the Lord says. Having a QB publicly throw his coaches under the bus – especially after the weird comments about being cancelled, the lying about his vaccination status, the frankness with which he publicly criticized the organization before the season – is getting dangerously close to a divided kingdom. One has to assume there are at least a handful of teammates who find all of this craziness difficult to accept. We’ll probably only know once Rodgers moves on from GB.
The Packers will almost certainly be in the playoffs. The current odds, at least according to one source, suggests it’s a 99% chance of making the playoffs and a 98% chance of winning the division. Getting to the playoffs and succeeding in the playoffs are two different things. Both Packers and Vikings fans understand this reality far too well.
Having a unified bunch that will do whatever possible to fight for each other can be the difference between winning and losing. When a team’s best player and key leader is the one most willing to buy-in and sacrifice (see Brady, Tom), special things can happen. Anything less than that makes life difficult in the hyper-competitive playoffs. Rodgers is a truly sensational talent, someone who could easily go down as the most gifted (not best) QB to ever play. It’s possible that talent is enough to get his team past the finish line. It’s also possible that his refusal to put the team first takes the wind of the green and yellow sails.
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: it’s time for the Jordan Love era to start.
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