Green Bay Packers

Rodgers Was Never Going to Pass Up A Chance To Beat the Team He Owns

Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

When Aaron Rodgers jogged to the locker room, down 11 late in the game against the NFC’s top team, it felt like the end of the season. Jordan Love began to throw on the sideline as the Green Bay Packers watched Run The Table 2.0 fall apart before it even had a chance to get going. They weren’t able to pull the game out, obviously. Still, Love’s solid performance emphasized just how much there is to talk about with a team that’s probably about a handful of miracles away from the playoffs before they’ve even had their bye week.

One of the reasons it felt like the end as Rodgers emerged from the locker room without his gear is the combination of yet another loss and yet another injury. He already had been battling a broken thumb, felt like a natural transition point wherein Love would take over for the remainder of the season, the Packers would keep their top-10 draft slot, and as much of this year as possible would be forgotten. However, Rodgers intends to fight through injury and lead the 4-8 Packers into battle until mathematical death.

According to a New York Times simulator, they’re sitting at a 5% chance to come out of these next five games alive. If they win out (Run The Table 2.5?), those chances increase to 48%, and it doesn’t feel out of the question that the New York Giants and/or Seattle Seahawks could completely fold. The first team on their list, the team who could send that percentage below one, the team who could send their playoff chances to a place even Doctor Strange would struggle to find a path from, is the Chicago Bears.

You may remember the Bears as the team that Rodgers actually owns. Last time he was at Soldier Field, we got the official declaration of “I f***ing own you.” Amid a seven-game winning streak in the historic rivalry that’s been rather lopsided in the 21st century, there’s probably nobody else the Packers would feel more comfortable taking their frustration out on come Sunday. Crucially, it’s not going to be just another Packers-Bears game. It could be the final entry in which Rodgers, the man whose dominance has made the rivalry more of a biannual bullying session, leads the green and gold.

I mean, it’s almost time to decide on Love’s fifth-year option, and we’ve hardly seen the dude play. Rodgers has been open about his career winding down, and you’d imagine he’d like a guaranteed shot to contend moving forward. So maybe both sides will want to move on. Maybe not. But maybe. It’s something to keep an eye on in a game that will have little impact on the outcome of this NFL season, with its ceiling being as the first tiny domino of a miraculous Green Bay run.

Rodgers has cooked the entire NFC North throughout his 17-year career. It’s no secret that hasn’t been where Green Bay’s issues have lain. But no team has been burnt to a crisp more than Chicago, as Rodgers holds a 21-5 record against them. Each year he pummels them to the depths of the conference, earning them a high draft choice that somehow leaves them back in the same spot the following year.

From a contractual standpoint, it’ll be quite the quagmire if Rodgers and the Green Bay front office have conflicting desires on a path forward. The star quarterback is guaranteed a hair under $60 million for next season, and a post-June 1 trade would come with a hefty dead cap hit. It’s nothing the Packers can’t handle with a QB on a rookie contract, but they didn’t really create an ideal path for themselves just a few months back if they intend to change course. It’s definitely worth pointing out that it’s becoming sort of an if not now, when? type of game with Love, and it’s comical how little we know about the kid as season after season goes by.

Sunday’s game probably won’t be the end of Green Bay’s season. Not just because Romeo Doubs has a chance to suit up alongside post-breakout Christian Watson for the first time. Not just because Justin Fields might not even play. But because, if there’s any chance that this is it for Rodgers at Soldier Field in the green and gold — or perhaps in any uniform at all — he won’t let it get away from him.

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