CHICO, Calif. — As flood advisories were issued here last Sunday, patrons at the End Zone Bar & Grill — who braved slick, debris-strewn roads to watch an N.F.L. playoff game together — had something more distressing on their minds. The bar’s big-screen TVs showed the Green Bay Packers’ offense, commanded by Aaron Rodgers, Chico’s native son and favorite quarterback, clogging like a storm drain.

The fans tried to cajole the quarterback as the Packers punted on their first five possessions against the Giants. It was never “Come on, No. 12” or “Let’s go, Rodgers.” It was always Aaron, as in “Aaron, this is not your first rodeo. Let’s make a first down.”

The patrons were on a first-name basis with Rodgers because many attended school with him, or have children who were his classmates, or have a family member receiving chiropractic treatment from Rodgers’s father. Even those who weren’t born when Rodgers was a scrawny, 5-foot-3-inch high school freshman feel as though they know him; he made an impression on the teenagers on Pleasant Valley High School’s newly crowned state championship football squad by delivering a pep talk by video that they watched before they won a state title in December.

It seems everyone in this college town of about 88,000 has some connection to Rodgers, a two-time most valuable player in the N.F.L. and the middle of three sons of Ed and Darla Rodgers, graduates of California State University, Chico. When Rodgers rebounded from a 4-for-11 start against the Giants to complete 21 of his final 29 passes in the Packers’ 38-13 victory, the bar pulsed with pride.