NEWSLETTER
NFL mortality is inevitable. But when it comes to Packers quarterbacks, they tend to pester us for decades at a time. And in doing so, there is a feeling that it just doesn’t end.
However, we might be seeing the start of the decline phase of Aaron Rodgers’ career. And if you’re a fan of the Bears, Vikings, Lions, or schadenfreude, this collection of tweets is for you:
Well, that certainly escalated quickly. And I’m enjoying every bit of it.
At the risk of spitting into the wind, I’m ready to announce that the Rodgers decline phase is here. I never thought it would happen, but it’s happening. The balls we are used to seeing him hit aren’t hitting — and it’s not all on the shoulders of his crummy receivers. On top of that, Rodgers is getting sacked and hit a ton. It felt like the FOX broadcast showed slow-mo replays of Rodgers getting drilled whenever I looked at the Packers game.
Rodgers and the Packers getting their doors blown off at home doesn’t happen to a QB in peak condition. Neither is a rookie cornerback getting the best of Rodgers. The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin has the Packers’ ranks in offensive EPA (a measure showing how well teams perform relative to expectations) are 22nd in passing and 20th in rushing. Those aren’t too far off from the Bears’ numbers (25th in passing, 18th in rushing). And you know as well as I do that you don’t want offensive numbers hanging around the Bears. That’s how teams catch offensive cooties. Losing to the Giants and Jets has to gnaw at Rodgers and the Packers. Especially since this can’t be wiped away with the caveat of being a Week 1 thing.
In the end, the Packers’ problems lingering into Week 7 is chicken soup for my cold football soul. And that Rodgers is taking a tumble makes it all the more delicious. Unfortunately, the Bears aren’t better positioned to take advantage of this in 2022.
That’s the real shame in this whole thing. We’ve been waiting so long for this slide, that the Bears are fumbling around with another rebuild — doing so with a first-year GM responsible for cleaning up the messes he inherited (and the ones he created) — hurts a little. Ideally, you’d want to see the Bears on the upswing while the Packers were on a downward slide. I suppose there is still time to make up ground. After all, this isn’t the final season of the NFL. But it sure would’ve been nice to see the Bears in a better place than where they are now (even as I enjoy a good Packers tumble as much as anyone else).
