Aaron Rodgers Escapes Brett Favre’s Shadow

When the Green Bay Packers grew tired of Brett Favre’s retirement waffling three years ago and traded him to the New York Jets, Aaron Rodgers was placed in a very difficult situation. He was to replace an immensely popular, and successful, quarterback, who was the face of the Packers and one of the most popular players in franchise history. The quarterback is the leader on a football team, so Rodgers not only had to win over the fans, he had to earn the respect of his teammates as a leader. While most of the fan outrage over Favre’s departure was directed at Packers general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy, something that was left unsaid but implicitly understood was the belief that Favre could lead the Packers to the Super Bowl (Green Bay lost the NFC Championship Game in Favre’s last game) but the inexperienced Rodgers could not.

Some fans even went so far as to say they were done being Packers fans because of the way Favre had been handled. Some TV stations even began broadcasting the Jets telecasts.

Green Bay made Rodgers its first round draft choice in 2005 with the intention of grooming him as Favre’s successor.  Perhaps feeling his job was threatened, Brett Favre was anything but a mentor to Aaron Rodgers in the years the latter served as Green Bay’s backup quarterback.   In 2008, Rodgers played very well in his first year as a starter but the Packers went from being one game away from the Super Bowl to finishing 6-10.  Then in 2009, Favre managed to sign with Packer division rival Minnesota, and he led the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost to the eventual Super Bowl winners, the New Orleans Saints. Green Bay improved to 11-5, but lost in the first round of the playoffs.

In 2010, Favre returned once again, and with most of their team intact, a lot of people picked the Vikings to win the NFC. But Favre had the worst season of his career, and the Vikings imploded, never coming close to making the playoffs. Rodgers, meanwhile, led  the injury depleted (15 players on injured reserve) Packers to the playoffs. Green Bay made it in by beating the Chicago Bears in the last game of the regular season.  As the lowest seed in the NFC, Green Bay would have to win three playoff games on the road to  get to the Super Bowl.  And with Aaron Rodgers at the helm, they did just that.

In the last three years, Aaron Rodgers has won over the fans and his teammates with his play on the field and his leadership.  Still, the comparisons to Brett Favre are made, notably that Favre won a Super Bowl and Rodgers has not.  Through it all, Rodgers has remained a class act, and has never had any bad things to say publicly about Favre. When asked, he focuses on the goal of winning the Super Bowl, the ultimate prize in his profession.  Here’s a clip from an interview with Sirius/XM Radio firm Super Bowl Week:

Winning a Super Bowl would finally make Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers equals in something   Both will be champions.  And then none of the other comparisons will matter.