Aaron Rodgers Inconsistent in Green Bay Packers Win: Is It Time To Be Concerned?

In the first half of Sunday's 28-26 win over the Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked eerily like the best version of the man in whose shadow he has labored since taking over the starting gig in 2008. Rodgers threw just nine passes, connecting on eight and firing three touchdown strikes. Donald Driver, Jermichael Finley, and Greg Jennings registered scores.

The Good

Already leading 7-0, Rodgers led a second-quarter drive that ended with a superb throw into tight coverage for a touchdown by Finley. Looking left before throwing to Finley just to the right of the goal post, Rodgers laced the pass between two defenders and into the hands of a diving Finley. The throw summoned images of Brett Favre throwing to Keith Jackson during the glory days of the last Packers dynasty.

With less than two minutes left in the half, Rodgers struck again with a tremendous throw on a fade route to Jennings along the left sideline. Arcing the ball high into the air, Rodgers placed the ball perfectly onto Jennings' outside shoulder, leaving Detroit with no hope of stopping the touchdown.

As the teams retired to the locker rooms, Rodgers stood tall. The scoring throws seemed to be the breakout he had so badly needed, after tossing five touchdowns and three interceptions through three fairly pedestrian games. Two of the touchdown throws had been from within the red zone, giving Rodgers 41 touchdowns and just one interception inside the opponents' 20-yard line for his career.

A touchdown return on a Charles Woodson interception gave Green Bay a two-score cushion with which to work with, by the time the offense took the field in the third quarter. The game seemed very much in hand, with Rodgers at the helm of what had been a spectacularly efficient offense in the first two quarters.

Immediately, the Packers offense drove off the tracks. Rodgers appeared to dodge a bullet when an offside penalty canceled a Lions interception deep in Detroit territory. Instead, Rodgers promptly threw another. 

The throw was either badly off-target or a miss-read altogether. Rodgers seemed to have expected his target, Jennings to do something other than run a deep fade, throwing behind and to Jennings' back shoulder. The receiver never had a chance to even break up the pass.

Detroit pulled to within 11 points, then eight, then five. They built an offensive rhythm on the strength of Green Bay's stagnation. After the field goal that brought the Lions to within a touchdown of the lead, Green Bay got the ball back with a chance to stop the bleeding. Instead, Rodgers and head coach Mike McCarthy tried to do too much.

Rodgers threw deep down the middle of the field, targeting Jennings again on a post route. He overthrew the ball a bit, though. Jennings leaped for the ball, but it eluded him and fell into the grasp of the Lions defender over the top. 

Ultimately, the Packers defense kept Shaun Hill and the Lions out of the end zone in the second half, and Rodgers did enough on a long final drive to put the game out of reach.

Still, Rodgers' apparent inability to play mistake-free football or make plays in the second half is becoming a troubling pattern. It represents the worst of the example set for Rodgers by Brett Favre. Like Favre often was, Rodgers is sometimes guilty of trying too hard, of overestimating his estimable skill set. Rodgers was supposed to be more efficient than Favre, in order to compensate for his lesser physical skills. So far, that superior field awareness and poise have not materialized.

Rodgers' team has no impressive wins, and the man himself has no impressive full-game performances. He threw for just 181 yards Sunday. On a team with no running game of which to speak, Rodgers nonetheless ranks 12th in passing yards and ninth in passer rating.

None of this is meant to imply that Rodgers is not a solid quarterback. Indeed, he is a top-ten signal caller in the game even now. Nor is it meant to suggest that Rodgers cannot quickly recover his form and be elite again. The former first-round pick has all the tools, and seems smart enough to effectively captain the Packers' spread offense.

Unless he steps up his performance soon, however, he may find his team's Super Bowl aspirations quashed as Green Bay enters the tougher part of its schedule.