Packers' Aaron Rodgers on 'Special' 2019 Season: Football 'Became Fun Again'

Aaron Rodgers is 36 years old. He likely doesn't have that many more realistic chances to win a Super Bowl, and he seemed to understand that following Sunday's 37-20 loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. 

"It's a little raw right now for sure," he told reporters. "It definitely hurts a little more than early in the career."

It was still an important year for Rodgers on a personal level. He said the 2019 season "will always be special because it became fun again," per Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

On paper, Rodgers finished with solid passing numbers at 31-of-39 for 326 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. However, both scores and most of the yards came in the second half when San Francisco was in something of a prevent-defense mode after taking a 27-0 lead into intermission.

The 49ers defense has been strong all year and consistently pressured Rodgers into mistakes when the game was hanging in the balance.

He fumbled a snap while down 17-0 to cut short a promising drive, threw a key interception to Emmanuel Moseley before halftime to set up another San Francisco touchdown and didn't look like the version of himself that will one day be in the Hall of Fame until it was far too late.

Still, he told reporters he didn't think the gap between the two teams was "that big" while adding, "I think it's pretty close. I think we're just a little bit more consistent performance from playing with these guys."

Unfortunately for Rodgers and the Packers, this is the third time in six years they have fallen short in the NFC Championship Game. As talented as he is, he has just one Super Bowl ring in his career and wasn't particularly close to toppling San Francisco in Sunday's game.

Rodgers can at least walk away with something of a silver lining considering he enjoyed this season more than others in the recent past. It just would have been more fun for him if he reached the Super Bowl.