Arguably no quarterback in the NFL is harder to properly evaluate than Aaron Rodgers.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback is supremely talented and highly accomplished. He’s set an incredibly high standard, both internally and for outside evaluators. Rodgers believes he’s the best of the best, and the Packers agreed, signing him to the richest contract in NFL history this past summer.

It’s difficult to apply all that generalized context when evaluating his performance on a play-by-play, game-by-game, season-by-season basis.

Compared against most other quarterbacks, Rodgers is having a borderline great season. He’s thrown one interception in 11 games. He’s battled through a significant knee injury. His passer rating is over 100.0.

But Rodgers must be held to a different standard. He’s widely viewed as the most talented quarterback to ever play, and no player in the game is making more money. Expectations rise. They have to rise.

There should be a baseline expectation that the most talented and highest-paid quarterback ever should regularly elevate everyone around him, make big plays in the biggest moments, hit every chance for a game-turning play, lead from the front and overcome obstacles, big and small.

Rodgers has failed to meet that standard in 2018.

By his own ridiculously high standards, Rodgers has been nothing short of mediocre. In fact, he’s playing a starring role in one of the most disappointing seasons in recent franchise history.

Again, the proper context must be applied. Rodgers has transcendent talent in his right arm. And he has unwavering confidence in his ability to extend plays. Together, those abilities have created a highlight reel of magical plays no quarterback in the history of the game could ever come close to topping. He is considered one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game because he consistently produces moments no other quarterback could ever dream of producing.

Take one play Sunday night in Minnesota. Rodgers dropped back, stepped up into the pocket to escape the rush and delivered a frozen rope on the run, hitting rookie Equanimeous St. Brown for a big gain downfield. Rodgers threw the ball before St. Brown had even turned to find the ball. It was a perfect throw, with perfect anticipation after a perfect maneuver to buy time in the pocket.

But for every one moment of sandlot excellence in 2018, there’s been five more of Rodgers bypassing the easy play, attempting to escape the pocket and just throwing it away or taking a sack. And it’s handcuffing the Packers on offense and leading to maddening inconsistency drive-to-drive, game-to-game.

It’s easy to tell when Rodgers is confident in the offense. Early on Sunday night, he threw on time, in rhythm, trusting in his receivers to be in the right place at the right time and just letting the ball fly. He was sharp, and the Packers were devastatingly productive, marching down the field on Mike Zimmer’s defense for a pair of touchdown drives early.

But just as soon as confidence was building, it quickly eroded. And when Rodgers doesn’t trust what’s happening around him, everything becomes sandlot football.

In 2018, sandlot football doesn’t work for Rodgers or the Packers.

It leads to a few big plays, but the side effects are missing open receivers, holding the football too long, taking unnecessary sacks and a disjointed, inconsistent offense.

Andy Benoit of Sports Illustrated might have put it best when he said Rodgers’ style “creates an illusion of dysfunction around him,” which makes it easy to pass on the blame to the offensive line, the receivers and the play caller. When everything looks like it’s blowing up around Rodgers, he emerges from the rubble as the poor quarterback stuck playing with no blocking, no receiving talent and a coach with his head stuck in the sand.

In reality, Rodgers has one of the NFL’s best offensive lines and elite, game-changing talent at critical positions (Aaron Jones, Davante Adams). Sure, a few rookie receivers have been thrust into bigger roles, but the overall talent level around the quarterback in, say, New Orleans isn’t significantly higher than it is in Green Bay.

Mike McCarthy deserves plenty of blame here – he does little to curb Rodgers’ freelancing style, and his offense clearly doesn’t inspire the confidence in Rodgers to play on time, in rhythm – but how do you force a quarterback with so much control over the game and the play calls to reimagine himself and play a certain way?

Rodgers is greedy when he doesn’t need to be. The NFL has changed. It’s never been easier for a quarterback to sit in the pocket and dissect a defense, snap after snap, without fear. Rodgers can do it. He’s done it in the past. He did it early Sunday night against the Vikings.

Far too often, Rodgers bypasses the path of least resistance and tries to jam his outdated style of playing quarterback into an offense just begging for a trustworthy distributor.

On a third down in the first half, the Packers lined up Adams in the slot to the right and Jimmy Graham out wide to the left. Adams ran an in-breaking route and was immediately open. Graham crossed formation to the right and had no one in his vicinity for yards in each direction. But instead of just taking the easy play, Rodgers attempted to escape the pocket and run, and it led to a drive-killing sack.

Late in the fourth quarter, Rodgers simply missed two throws in a row when the Packers absolutely had to have a touchdown.

Again, Rodgers is having a statistically great season, largely because he’s so uniquely talented. Compared to the average NFL quarterback, he is still a demi-god, and that gives him a buffer zone against criticism, both within the Packers fanbase and the national media.

But Rodgers must be held to a higher standard, regardless of his age or any other factor. And when a quarterback doesn’t meet a standard, criticism is warranted.

The Packers are paying Aaron Rodgers to be the best player in football. Through 11 games, he is 10th in the NFL in passer rating and 20th in Total QBR.

The Packers have many problems in 2018, and Aaron Rodgers is most certainly one.