Brats & Beer

The Aaron Rodgers Question

With the NFL season grinding relentlessly to its conclusion, we Packer fans are left to watch the John Deere oracle for signs of white smoke. There’s a long, cold winter ahead with plenty of time (too much?) to ponder and speculate about the future of our team.

The Brett Favre question is obviously the biggest and most important issue to be decided before heading into the draft, but I’m pretty confident with the improvement that the team showed this season that No. 4 will in fact return for another season. Which of course will leave the question of what to do with Aaron Rodgers.

Picked by Green Bay 24th in the 2005 draft, Rodgers held the promise of being a successor to Favre, a glimmer of hope that should the bearded wonder from Mississippi up and retire that a new young stud would be able to take his place and keep the Packers on the path to glory. I don’t think that’s the case anymore, however.

I get the distinct feeling that Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy have lost confidence in Rodgers and his ability to step into the role of starting quarterback. I say this without the benefit of inside knowledge, it’s just a hunch based on the fact that young Aaron has been given precious little chance to mature as a pro quarterback, and the fact that TT and MM were so adamant — and so public — about their desire to see Favre come back for another year. The Chargers front office and coaches clearly must have had some confidence in Philip Rivers to let Drew Brees slip away; the Packers, on the other hand, seem desperate for No. 4 to stay.

If the powers that be really thought that Rodgers was the man, why wouldn’t they try and persuade (gently of course) the old man to step aside? There’s the obvious reasons, of course — fan support, ticket sales, media interest, merchandise sales — but the big thing that TT gains by Favre returning for one or two seasons is time. A 24th draft pick, a first round quarterback, isn’t easy to just trade away without admitting a mistake. But after three or four years have passed, memories fade and making a trade seems less like sweeping a problem under the rug and more like a shrewd move, especially if in the interim your veteran QB has led the team back to the playoffs.

But it’s not just TT and MM, of course. We fans are desperate to see Favre return for another run at a title, so desperate as to start online petitions asking the veteran not to retire just yet. So desperate as to take seriously theories about the Packers making a deal for Jon Kitna. Sure, it could just be undying loyalty to the hardened warrior, but even more I think it’s a lack of confidence in the greenhorn.

Anyone out there in Packer Nation ready to see Rodgers under center at Lambeau Field, now or in the future, please raise your hand.