Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers Has Not Yet Reached His Peak

It seems incredible to say that a player such as Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who is a two-time league MVP, a Super Bowl MVP and a two-time NFC Offensive Player of the Year, has not yet reached his peak in his 11th season in the NFL and eighth as a starter. 

However, as the 31-year-old passer demonstrated on Monday night in a decisive 38-28 win over the Kansas City Chiefs, he's still ascending.

It's hard to imagine Rodgers' peak could be much higher than the body of work he's put out to date, but the player who is already toeing the line of perfection is proving that as his experience grows, his mistakes lessen. 

To start, there's the obvious: Rodgers threw five touchdown passes against the Chiefs, something he has accomplished only three times before. He passed for five scores against the Chicago Bears in Week 15 of the 2011 season and six touchdowns against the Houston Texans in 2012 and the Bears in 2014. 

Rodgers also threw for 333 yards. It's even more remarkable that Rodgers was able to dominate through the air against the Chiefs defense, which, until Monday night, was leading the NFL's longest streak of not allowing an individual more than 300 passing yards in a game. 

That streak stretched back over multiple seasons. 

At the conclusion of the show Rodgers put on Monday night, he stood at 10 touchdowns and zero interceptions on the season.

Per SportsCenter, the only other player in NFL history who has thrown for 10-plus touchdowns and no picks through the first three games of a season is Peyton Manning, who did it with the Broncos in 2013. 

Rodgers has also extended his streak without an interception at home to 19 games and 580 passing attempts. Incredibly, the last one was on December 2, 2012. 

Football Perspective shared a graphic demonstrating just how exceptional Rodgers' career rank for touchdowns to interceptions is; he's a complete outlier. 

But it's not just about the gaudy numbers; Rodgers has always been capable of those. After all, he did lead the NFC in passing touchdowns in 2014 with 38, and he was second in the league in both 2011 and 2012. 

What's shocking is that Rodgers continues to limit his mistakes to a point where his games are becoming nearly flawless in their execution. In addition to the aforementioned zero interceptions on the season, Rodgers is completing the highest percentage of passes of his career. 

Before 2015, Rodgers' highest completion percentage in seasons that he started was 68.3. Through three games this season, Rodgers is completing a whopping 74.4 percent of his passes, by far the highest of his career. 

His passer rating reflects that excellence: Through three games, it's 131.9, higher even than his career-record 122.5 mark in 2011, which set a league single-season passer rating record. 

Sure, the more games in which a quarterback plays and the more passes he attempts, the greater the likelihood that his numbers will even out and/or go down, and Rodgers is only three games into the season.

But a start like this is unusual even for Rodgers. 

	2011 MVP Season, Weeks 1-3	2014 MVP Season, Weeks 1-3	2015 Season, Weeks 1-3
TDs	8	5	10
INTs	1	1	0
Completion %	71.3	62.8	74.4
Passer Rating	121.1	93.4	131.9

In Rodgers' MVP-winning 2014 season, he had thrown for five touchdowns and one interception three games in, completing 62.8 percent of his passes. 

In 2011, when he won his first league MVP award, Rodgers started off with eight touchdowns and one interception through the first three games, with a completion rate of 71.3 percent. 

Those numbers are closer to the level he's playing at now, but they still don't touch it. And remember that he's doing this without his favorite target, wideout Jordy Nelson, with his No. 2, Davante Adams, having missed time in two games with an ankle injury and with a re-tooled offensive line. 

In addition to limiting his own mistakes, Rodgers is also forcing opposing defenses into making them, displaying a mastery at the hard snap count and at diagnosing defenses. One of his free plays, coming off a neutral zone infraction, resulted in a touchdown. Two others helped convert 3rd-and-1 situations. 

As recently re-signed veteran receiver James Jones, who has caught four of those 10 touchdowns this season, said after Monday night's game, per Albert Breer, we're witnessing something special.

Some people will say that in order to be considered in the conversation about the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Rodgers will need to do better in the playoffs and/or win another Super Bowl.

But that's not correct, because wins are a team stat, not a reflection of individual performance.

As far as those go, it's hard to argue that another quarterback has been so precise and so consistent. It didn't seem like there was much room for Rodgers to ascend, but heading into Week 4 of the 2015 season, it turns out we don't even know how far he is from the summit.