Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions could become the 21st quarterback in NFL history to throw for 40,000 passing yards Monday night in Green Bay.

Already, you can hear the yawns. And read stories undercutting the milestone. These stories aren’t part of a conspiracy to downgrade the accomplishment, of course. Just an attempt to understand the boom of prolific passers.

Pass-favorable rule changes are part of the explanation. So are offensive strategies that emphasize throwing over running.

A couple of weeks ago, The Athletic Kansas City noted that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has thrown 36% of Troy Aikman’s touchdown passes in “about 8% of the games.”

Aikman, Fox Sport’s lead NFL analyst and a former Dallas Cowboys quarterback, responded with this:

"Talk to me when (Mahomes) has 33% of my Super Bowl Titles.”

OK, then.

Yes, winning matters. And because Stafford hasn’t won at nearly the clip as most of the other QBs who’ve thrown for 40,000-plus yards — he’s 68-76-1 — his ascension to the club will be viewed with skepticism.

[ The epic tales of Stafford at 40,000 yards: Dislocated fingers, pranks and TDs ]

As in: Stafford is a stat stuffer.

Yet even by today’s pass-happy standard, reaching 40,000 yards is notable. In fact, as long as he throws for 352 yards in the next five games, he’ll hit the mark faster than any quarterback ever. This says something, too.

What exactly it says is hard to know.

Yet.

Even though it feels like he’s been around forever, Stafford is still 31. And while he’s got a long way to catch the quarterbacks at the top of the all-time yardage list — Drew Brees and Tom Brady are both over 70,000 yards and still playing — Stafford, assuming relative health, could leave the game as the gaudiest passer in history.

Again, to Aikman’s point, yardage isn’t the only standard by which quarterbacks are measured. And yards tend to mean more, especially to fans, if they are backed up with winning.

If Stafford never wins a playoff game and finishes his career with a losing record, even an all-time passing stat might not be good enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. As the saying goes: quarterbacks get all the credit for winning and all the blame for losing.

But … should they?

Yes. To a point. No quarterback can overcome a bad defense or a leaky offensive line or receivers who can’t get open or an offensive coordinator who struggles to call plays. Yet great quarterbacks often lift otherwise mediocre teams.

That's the trope, anyway. Then again, the Saints are winning this year without Brees and the Colts are winning without Andrew Luck and the Patriots once won without Brady.

For a while.

More on Stafford:His favorite TD pass? To Calvin Johnson, of course

In 2008, the year Brady went down with a torn ACL, the Patriots still won 11 games. In many seasons, that would’ve been good enough for a playoff berth. That season, it was good enough for second in the AFC East.

Like the Patriots that year, it’s unlikely the Saints will make a Super Bowl run without Brees. It’s also hard to imagine the Chiefs winning much at all without Mahomes.

So, yes, quarterbacks can be the difference between a championship and a first-round flameout. Or the difference between winning 10 games as Peyton Manning did with the Colts in 2010 and winning two games as the Colts did in 2011 without Manning.

Then again, the Eagles won the title two years ago after losing starter Carson Wentz.

Hello, Nick Foles.

Which brings us back to Stafford, who is absolutely a better quarterback than Foles, by metric and by our eyes. In other words, there is a reason Stafford is about to pass the 40,000-yard threshold. And a reason he is nowhere near done climbing up that all-time list:

Talent.

[ Lions' Kerryon Johnson bothered by Matthew Stafford parody video ]

He's got oodles of it. But don’t assume it’s all in his arm. Because it’s not. He is also smart and nimble and tough.

It’s true that sometimes he misses making the one extra play to push his team to a win. It’s also true that 21 other players on the field can do the same and too often haven't.

The truth is the close of Stafford’s career is a long way away. And narratives can change in a hurry. Look at his performance this season, and how quickly he has made us forget his struggles from a year ago.

Because he’s winning again, at least for now. A reminder that wherever he finishes in the stat book will only tell part of the story.

Contact Shawn Windsor: 313-222-6487 or swindsor@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @shawnwindsor.