Why Aaron Rodgers Is Already an All-Time Great QB in NFL History

Joe Montana. Tom Brady. Dan Marino. Peyton Manning.

Gods and titans clash in the hearts and minds of football analysts and fans for all-time supremacy. Do statistical juggernauts take the cake, or are championships more important?

The discussion is naturally slanted toward the modern game, with Manning and Brady at the forefront in a quintessential battle of numbers and rings. The former is the record-smasher, while the latter wins championships. 

Recency bias makes sense—quarterbacks have put up unprecedented numbers as the game has evolved. There is one deserving, modern-day name that never comes up in the conversation, however: Aaron Rodgers.

Green Bay's latest, greatest quarterback just wrapped up his second MVP campaign at 31 years of age. Despite some big numbers—4,381 passing yards and 38 touchdowns—he didn't lead the league in any volume statistics. Of course, those didn't win Rodgers his first MVP either; brutal efficiency did the trick.

Rodgers did lead the league in adjusted (9.5) and net (7.68) yards per attempt, and he had the lowest interception rate (1.0 percent). He didn't break the season record for passer rating like the last time around, but he came in second to Tony Romo at 112.2.

Better yet, Rodgers lifted everyone around him and led the Packers to a 12-4 record and the brink of a Super Bowl appearance on one leg, hobbled by a debilitating calf injury late in the year.

It was yet another masterful season, one that had former Falcons head coach Mike Smith gushing about him near the end of the year, per Paul Imig over at Fox Sports:

"

No disrespect to any quarterback in the NFL, but right now he's at a level that's much higher than anybody else. When you look at his pure statistics, they're phenomenal. Then when you watch the tape, it's even more impressive. He's got a great grasp of how to attack defenses. He's extending plays.

I don't know that there's been a quarterback that's had a stretch like he's had in the history of the NFL.

"

So he's had a couple of great years. Big deal. Why should he be considered an all-time great?

For starters, it's taken more than two MVP seasons to make Rodgers one of the best statistical quarterbacks in history.

What Rodgers lacks in volume statistics—a rather comical sentence when you look at his career numbers, but they pale when juxtaposed with a person who started twice as many games—compared to some of his peers, he more than makes up for in surgical skill. Rodgers is simply better with the ball in his hands than anyone else, and that may hold true historically.

Statistic	Aaron Rodgers	Rank
106.0	Passer Rating	1
65.8%	Completion Rate	3
6.5%	Touchdown Rate	5
1.6%	Interception Rate	1
8.2	Yards Per Attempt	3
8.79	Adjusted YPA	1
7.22	Net YPA	2

Perhaps most impressive is that glimmering passer rating, the best of all time by a country mile. Rodgers is the only quarterback hitting triple digits in the record books, nearly 10 points higher than his next-closest competitor. 

Of course, passer rating isn't the end-all statistic; it has its flaws, most notably the fact that supporting cast can buoy or sink the rating. Everybody gets one, though, and Rodgers' dominance is plain to see.

Numbers aren't everything, however. Just ask Manning or Brett Favre, whose assaults on the record books will mean little in the minds of those who value championships. The fact that quarterbacks get far too much credit or blame for wins and losses is a topic for another day, but winning just one championship won't cut it in the all-time discussion.

The fact that Rodgers has matched his predecessor in championships is going to dog him forever unless he can snag another one or two. Fortunately, he has a few great years left in him, and some of his contemporaries will be heading out to pasture soon enough. 

Beyond statistics and rings, however, Rodgers is quite simply a joy to watch. A modern-day Rembrandt with the football, Rodgers makes the outrageous look routine. He has a defensively ruinous combination of accuracy, arm strength and mobility unlike any we have ever seen, at least not at the consistently great level he has performed. 

There is always the possibility Rodgers will fall to mere mortal levels of performance. Injuries have hampered him in the past, and there is a chance—though hopefully negligible—of a Joe Theismann-level event.

Anything could happen to derail Rodgers' ascent to the top of the heap at quarterback. I might also solve the theory of everything.

Given he is in the thick of his prime, the best may be yet to come for the two-time MVP. It won't be long before Rodgers chisels his visage onto Quarterback Mount Rushmore at this rate. 

A few more years of this kind of production, however, and he will force his way to the top.

Follow @AlexMiglio