To most, Aaron Rodgers is considered to be the most talented quarterback in the NFL. He can make every single throw from every single arm slot in every single body position. He can run just about as well as any other quarterback in the league. But are we missing something? If not for one playoff run as the number six seed to win the Super Bowl, how would we view him? I assure you it wouldn’t be anything close to how he’s viewed now. He would be considered a choker, he can’t win the big game, doesn’t have what it takes, not a good leader, and so on and so forth.

Let’s start with Rodgers in the postseason. Outside of 2010, when Rodgers won the Super Bowl, he only has three playoff wins in six appearances. Rodgers also only has one fourth quarter comeback (defined as an offensive scoring drive in the fourth quarter with the team trailing by one score and only games resulting in a win or a tie are counted) in the playoffs. Looking at Eli Manning, someone most people relegate to a lower tier of quarterback than Rodgers, he has more playoff wins than Rodgers (even when you take away one of his Super Bowl runs like I did with Rodgers) in two less appearances. Manning also has three more fourth quarter comebacks than Rodgers.

Even looking at the regular season, Rodgers hasn’t been the top level quarterback we all think he’s been. He has a passer rating under 100 in fourteen straight games. Blaine Gabbert has two games with a passer rating of over 100 in that span. Blaine Gabbert. The next closest streak to Rodgers’ is Alex Smith with six games with a passer rating under 100. In two games this season the Packers join the Los Angeles Rams as the only two teams without gaining 300+ total yards in either game. That’s terrible. Last season Rodgers threw for the second fewest amount of yards in his career, his lowest completion percentage, tied for the third most interceptions in his career, and the lowest quarterback rating of his entire career.

It would be very easy to chalk all of this up to a slump, but at what point does it stop being a slump? And without his Super Bowl victory, how exactly would he be viewed? Probably much closer to Tony Romo (someone people bash for not being able to win a playoff game) than Tom Brady. Rodgers has a lot of making up to do right now. Until he shows us more, you can’t put him in the top tier of quarterbacks.

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