Despite four MVPs and a Super Bowl victory, Aaron Rodgers might be remembered most for what could have been.
Rodgers has the dubious distinction of owning the lowest winning percentage in conference championships of any quarterback in NFL history. Even worse, he has the same number of conference championship wins as Rex Grossman. As Rex Ryan said so eloquently, “This guys’ legacy is coming up short.” After the miracle run in 2010, he’s had 16-straight playoff starts without making it back to the big game.
Legacies start and end with championships, and it’s fair to criticize debatably the franchise’s greatest player for coming up short in four of the biggest games of his career. So lets take a look.
2014 NFC Championship game
28-22 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks
Rodgers and the offense turned four Seahawks turnovers into only six points. Two fourth-and-goals from the one-yard line netted only field goals. Rodgers threw two interceptions, one in the end zone. He went 19/34 for 178 yards in the game with a 55.8 passer rating.
Great players need to make great plays in big games, and his lack of clutch play would be a theme for the rest of his career.
The team’s third phase pooped the bed twice, Mike McCarthy put on a masterclass in bad game management, and the rest was history; the Green Bay Packers snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
This was the closest the team would come to the Super Bowl for the remainder of the McCarthy era.
What could have been? The Packers were a talented enough team that year to handle Tom Brady’s Patriots. This was the Super Bowl where Malcolm Butler famously intercepted Russel Wilson in the end zone. Seattle had the game in hand but elected not to give the ball to their best player, Marshawn Lynch, at the one-yard line. The rest was history, but it could have been Green Bay’s history.
2016 NFC Championship game
44-21 loss to Atlanta Falcons
This was a new way for a Rodgers-led team to lose in the playoffs: non-competitively. Rodgers, Jordy Nelson, and Mason Crosby, among others, had flu-like symptoms in the week leading up to the game and failed to score any points until the third quarter. Peak-of-his-powers Julio Jones unsurprisingly torched LaDarius Gunter for 180 yards on nine catches and two scores. League MVP Matt Ryan played like the league MVP.
Rodgers’ three garbage time TDs inflate his stats, but his second-quarter interception contributed to the team being shut out in the first half. By halftime, the game (and season) was all but over.
What could have been? This team had no business winning a Super Bowl, much less making it to one. Ted Thompson’s unconventional roster construction had finally caught up to the team: Gunter, Marwin Evans, and Kentrell Brice played key roles. Somehow Ty Montgomery was the team’s leading rusher that season. Rodgers put this island of misfit toys on his back to get them through a weak NFC, but Atlanta was clearly the best team in the NFL — at least until it surrendered an epic lead to Tom Brady’s Patriots in the Super Bowl.
2019 NFC Championship game
37-20 loss to San Francisco 49ers
It wouldn’t be a true Packers-49ers playoff game if the Niners weren’t breaking rushing records. Raheem Mostert became the first player to ever rush over 200 yards and score four touchdowns. Raheem freaking Mostert.
Rodgers needed to play at an elite level for Green Bay to have a chance, and he didn’t. A fumbled snap and interception put the team in an early hole they could never dig out of. Reminiscent of the Falcons matchup four years earlier, he amassed a final stat line of 326 yards and two touchdowns in garbage time. He threw a game-sealing interception on the team’s last drive.
This game is a microcosm of Rodgers’ career: He could never best his childhood team in the biggest moments. Despite his bold proclamation on draft day, the 49ers always got the best of him but for a few regular-season contests.
What could have been? It’s hard to see that year’s Packers squad putting on a competitive showing in Super Bowl LIV. Matt LaFleur was a rookie head coach, the offense was a year away from being dangerous, and the run defense was a sieve. San Francisco had built a 20-10 lead over the Kansas City Chiefs with nine minutes left in the game, but they surrendered three consecutive touchdown to the Pat Mahomes-led offense. Rodgers and Co. wouldn’t have made it even that close.
2020 NFC Championship game
31-26 loss to Tampa Bay Buccaneers
During a season in which so much went right, this game saw everything go wrong. Rodgers failed to lead the offense on a scoring drive after the team fell behind 7-0 early, then squandered a chance to score before halftime by tossing an interception. Somehow the Packers put Kevin King in isolated coverage with Scotty Miller. Unsurprisingly, he surrendered an easy touchdown seconds before halftime.
In the second half, the Rodgers-led offense squandered multiple opportunities at a go-ahead touchdown and game-tying touchdown. Matt LaFleur questionably elected for a field goal down eight instead of trusting his offense that had scored touchdowns on 76.8% of its red-zone trips that season. After squandering chances to play Tom Brady in the Super Bowl, Rodgers fell to him in the NFC Championship game.
This game would be emblematic of the LaFleur-Rodgers era: Tampa Bay punched the team in the mouth in a key moment, and they couldn’t respond.
What could have been? Not since 2014 did a Packers team look this poised to win it all. Best offense in the NFL, an MVP quarterback, and an “okay” defense. The Bucs pantsed Kansas City 31-9. Green Bay’s defense wasn’t nearly as good as Tampa Bay’s, so this could have been a Mahomes-Rodgers shootout. How fun would that have been?
