Brett Favre Or No Favre, Packers' Aaron Rodgers Best QB In Talented NFC North

The NFC North boasts perhaps the best overall talent of any division in the NFL as far as young quarterback talent is concerned. Still, the Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers is head and shoulders above all others in the division.

Notice that I wrote "young" talent. The Detroit Lions boast Matthew Stafford, who continues to make strides as a second-year QB. In three preseason games, Stafford is now 34 for 46 for 332 yards and three touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Rodgers and the Bears' Jay Cutler are both only 26.

With the Vikings Brett Favre leaning toward playing again this year, he is an obvious Hall of Famer who certainly has done more than any of these guys probably ever will, no matter how good they may be.

Still, who would you rather have going forward? Well, that's easy, given the age differences and the likelihood that this is Favre's last season.

But even for one season, this season, I would take Rodgers. The ironic part of this, of course, is that he spent the better part of the 2005—2007 seasons backing up the former Packers legend.

But Rodgers showed his mettle, playing well as Favre's replacement despite having to fill some large shoes and amid all the controversy over the trade of Favre to the Jets.

Rodgers hurt his shoulder in game four of his rookie season and failed to win close game during the season despite seven opportunities to do so. Still, he had a streak of 157 consecutive pass attempts without an interception that season. 

Last season, he led the Pack to an 11-5 record, passing for 4,434 yards, 30 TDs against only seven interceptions, and a 103.2 QB rating.

While the Packers lost the wild card game to Arizona, he threw for 423 yards and four TDs.

Sure, Jay Cutler has a cannon for an arm and he is better than his showing last season, when he threw 26 interceptions. With Mike Martz as the new offensive coordinator, he may be in for a huge season.

Still, no QB in the division is in a better position that Rodgers going forward.And that pains a Bears fan to admit, but a fact is a fact.