Aaron Rodgers Time: Why Green Bay's QB Will Dominate the NFL for the Next Decade

As the clock dwindled, with the Green Bay Packers only seconds away from a legendary Super Bowl victory, fans began to reminisce, grins and gratification omnipresent. 

It was a time when the resilient Brett Favre was beginning to decline and Green Bay needed an infusion of youth. The Packers were still competitive, having gone 10-7 the previous year, but were yearning for a quarterback to take the reins when Favre was finished.

With the 24^th pick in the 2005 NFL Draft, the Packers were looking for the best talent on the board. The 49ers had the first overall pick and were unsure whether to take Utah’s Alex Smith or Cal product Aaron Rodgers with the pick. They decided on Smith and teams watched Rodgers plummet all the way to pick number 23.

With the Raiders on the board, Green Bay began to see the light at the end of the tunnel grow dim, as they knew the Raiders needed a quarterback. As cornerback Fabian Washington’s name was announced at the podium, the Packers’ front office took a deep breath and wiped the perspiration away.

“With the 24^th pick, the Green Bay Packers select quarterback Aaron Rodgers out of the University of California.”

It was a statement that meant little for the first three years of the signal caller’s career but now has changed the face of the Wisconsin franchise forever. 

Many mistake his humbleness for trepidation and his creativity for impetuosity, but Rodgers is a different breed. Comfortable in his own skin, the man is on a mission to prove his doubters wrong, the do what it takes to win a game. 

Before this season, Rodgers was easily the fourth best statistical quarterback in the NFL after Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees. While his stats have been superb in his three years of starting, 86 touchdowns, 31 interceptions and 12,394 passing yards, it is his passer rating that has placed him in the upper echelon of quarterbacking. 

With Favre never topping a 100 rating in his 16 years as Packers quarterback, Rodgers is clearly a more efficient passer, 93.8 quarterback rating in the 2008-2009 season (his lowest), 103.2 during 2009-2010 and 101.2 this season. However, while he may not statistically be number one, he will dominate the league more than any other quarterback in the coming decade. He has the tools, the team and the aura to do so.

In discussing the top quarterbacks in the league, the likes of Manning (the older one if that wasn’t already clear) and Brady are ubiquitous choices. Peyton is an obsessive-compulsive machine who is inhuman at times with his precision and has a ring. Brady is the poster boy for the NFL with his model wife, three rings and two Super Bowl MVP awards. Then there’s Brees, the leader of the Saints, with his miraculous playoff performance last year and the potential to throw for 5,000 yards every year. Now, Rodgers has established himself as one of the best, with more to come.

He may not be the best yet, but Rodgers is ready to dominate the NFL for years to come. Being in the NFC, the unanimously weaker conference, Rodgers’ only elite competition lies in Drew Brees, Matt Ryan and Eli Manning. Michael Vick will notably present the biggest threat in the upcoming couple of years, but not the decade. With the first three being the only NFC quarterbacks in the top 10 leaders in passing yards and touchdowns, Aaron Rodgers only has to be better than them to reach the Super Bowl every year. With a team that fights hard every down, has a stout defense with the likes of Charles Woodson and Clay Matthews, as well as gargantuan B.J. Raji, a physical offensive line and the ability to face the adversity of multiple injuries and win the big game, Rodgers doesn’t have to carry the team on his back.

While the more known quarterbacks, Manning, Brady, Rivers and Roethlisberger, battle it out in the AFC every year, Rodgers will dominate the NFL’s weaker conference.

The Packers began the year with high expectations that quickly faded with key injuries to the likes of running back Ryan Grant, lineman Mark Tauscher, linebackers Nick Barnett and Brandon Chillar and tight end Jermichael Finley. Rodgers struggled during the year but worked through the concussion issues to finish with 3922 yards passing, 28 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and, most notably, a 65.7 completion percentage.

He is undoubtedly the NFC’s best quarterback, if not the league’s best, and has his team believing. While Favre is a true legend in Wisconsin, albeit the rough breakup, Aaron Rodgers is quickly making Packers’ faithful put number 4 behind them.

While the Cheeseheads will never forget Brett Favre and everything he did for the team, fans are beginning to see the future. For all the young fans who don’t remember the prime of Favre’s career, they form the new loyalty.

Excited for the future, fans can expect to see Aaron Rodgers dominate his conference for years to come. He will bring a plethora of rings to the only publicly owned professional football team in America. It’s only a matter of time before chants of ‘number 4’ are replaced by the echoes of ‘number 12’ and the Hall of Fame comes calling. With every snap of the ball into Rodgers’ hands, Canton, Ohio sounds more plausible.