WS Chronicle

Last week on Sunday Night Football, the world saw quarterback Aaron Rodgers come back from injury and lead the Green Bay Packers to victory, overcoming a 20 point deficit to defeat the Chicago Bears.  That performance is just another notch in the cap for Rodgers as he continues to climb the ladder of the greatest of all time list, but is he already the greatest?

For the past decade, Rodgers has put up eye catching numbers year after year.  His career numbers would be even better had he not sat behind Brett Favre for his first three years.  Since taking over for Favre, Rodgers has made six Pro-Bowls and brought another Lombardi trophy to Title Town.

In my lifetime, I have never seen a quarterback with the skill set Rodgers has been blessed with.  He is mobile in and out of the pocket, deadly accurate and has a huge arm that allows him to make any throw in the playbook. 

Along the way, Rodgers has never had a top-notch defense.  He has also never had a top-tier running back at his disposal, either, but he has somehow kept the Packers in playoff contention every year.  That has to count for something, especially in a tough division such as the NFC North.

Whenever the conversation of the greatest quarterback comes up, someone in the room always brings up Tom Brady.  Brady has a valid claim when it comes to the greatest, but he has also had the luxury of having one of the best coaches in the history of the game on his side in Bill Belichick.

For me, Brady is the most accomplished quarterback of all time.  Brady has five Super Bowl victories, while making the big game a total of eight times.  Brady also has 491 touchdown passes in his career and has made the Pro Bowl every year since 2009.

Dan Marino, Joe Montana, John Elway, Peyton Manning, Favre and Johnny Unitas all have their followers who will say why they are the greatest.  I was able to see all of these above mentioned quarterbacks, besides Unitas, in their primes and none of them can match Rodgers, in my opinion.

Without Rodgers, the Packers would be a team fighting for mediocrity every season.  He takes an average team and makes them a contender.  I have always felt that if the Packers front office ever gave him a stout defense with a stud running back, Rodgers could do some things we have never seen before in this league.

I had this very discussion with a close friend of mine and he said “Rodgers can’t be the greatest of all time because he only has one Super Bowl victory.”  I feel as though that was an asinine point to bring up in that particular discussion.  Football is one of the most difficult sports to predict because of all the things that go into winning a game.  One mistake could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

Rodgers will be 35 years old in December.  With quarterbacks playing longer than ever before, it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that he has five or six more years left in him. 

With these types of arguments, you can’t go on stats or accolades alone.  The eye test has to be included in there as well.  Rodgers not only has the stats, but when you look at him on the field, it seems as though his team has a chance to win every game.  The intangibles he brings to the table are like nothing I have seen before.  His teammates even seem to have more confidence and play better with him under center.

I’m sure many people will disagree with me on this point, but Rodgers is simply the best I have ever seen, even with only one Super Bowl trophy.