[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t´s the first game of the Green Bay Packers’ 2018 season. They are playing the Chicago Bears at home in Lambeau Field. Green Bay is down 10-0 in the second quarter and marching down the field when star quarterback Aaron Rodgers falls to the ground with a knee injury. The heart of every Packers fan drops as he is carted off the field, just a season after he suffered a broken collarbone. To everyone´s relief, Rodgers returns for the second half, but will it even matter? Green Bay falls to 20-0 at the end of the first half in Rodger’s absence.

The Packers would do the impossible that night and overcome what had seemed like an insurmountable lead. Bleacher Report writer Scott Polacek jokes that, ¨All he did was throw for 286 yards and three touchdowns while directing an incredible comeback in a 24-23 season-opening victory.¨ Aaron Rodgers had once again added to the book of reasons why he is the greatest quarterback to ever play the game of football.

Skill King

While quarterbacks like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have more Super Bowl wins, Aaron Rodgers is the better player and has stats to back him up (all stats in this section are from the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers biography).

The career passer rating is the single best judge of quarterback skill and efficiency and is based on completion percentage, yards per attempt, touchdowns per attempt, and interceptions per attempt. Aaron Rodgers has the highest such rating in history, at 103.8 on a scale from 0 to 158.3, and is the only quarterback to average over 100. Russell Wilson, in second place, does not even come close to Rodgers, having a 99.1.  Objectively, Rodgers is the best quarterback of all time, but I don´t expect to win you over with just one statistic. Stay with me.

Another stat that moves Aaron Rodgers into a league of his own is that he was the fastest to hit the 300-touchdown milestone: ¨He hit Ty Montgomery for a one-yard touchdown pass with his 43rd passing attempt Sunday night, which was his 4,742nd career attempt, making him the fastest quarterback to throw 300 touchdowns.¨ This alone is a testament to how great of a quarterback Rodgers is, but what truly sets him apart is how he hit it while only having thrown 74 interceptions. Nobody else has hit the 300-touchdown mark with so few interceptions, with the closest being Tom Brady with a distant 115.

Rodgers is number one in NFL history in interception percentage (1.59) and Touchdown/Interception ratio (4.01, 313/78), showing he is far above every other quarterback in how few interceptions the man throws. Many quarterbacks throw multiple a game, but Rodgers will go many games without throwing a single one.

Let’s not forget how he is Mr. Hail Mary. With this man as quarterback, a game is never over until the clock hits zero.

Just Watch this beautiful play via SB Nation. https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/672767345635430400

Picture from Chräcker Heller via Pixabay

Makes His Team Better

The Packers with and without Rodgers are two completely different teams.

Let´s face it: Green Bay without Aaron Rodgers just is not a very good team. Before the 2017 season, Green Bay was tied with the Patriots for the longest active consecutive playoff streak at 8 seasons. When Rodgers broke his collarbone last season they did not even make the playoffs.

Some critics would argue Rodgers is overrated, saying that because his postseason record is 9-7, he does not show up in the playoffs, but this really comes down to the Packers as a team and not just Rodgers as a player. His passer rating in the playoffs is a 99.4 much higher than players with better playoff records such as Joe Montana who has a 95.6 playoff passer rating, Tom Brady who has a 90.9, and Peyton Manning who has a very distant 87.4. Rodgers has not been the reason for any of his playoff losses. It has come down to the team surrounding him. He has not had the same luxury of a great team backing him up that these other great quarterbacks have had.

What About Brady?

Five rings doesn´t make you the GOAT.

Many people argue that Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback of all time because he has 5 super bowl wins but this does not mean he is the best individual player. Zayne Grantham from BleacherReport says ¨Tom Brady is simply a system quarterback,” meaning he operates under a specific offensive system run by the true mastermind of the operation, and head coach of the New England Patriots, Bill Belicheck. This offensive system makes Brady seem much better than he is and inflates his stats. You could take any average Joe off the street, make him play quarterback for the Patriots and he could play just as well as Tom Brady. In fact this basically happened: ¨In 2008, Brady was injured and Cassel, a quarterback who had not completed a pass since high school, stepped in to take over. Cassel led the Patriots to an 11-5 record and was a top-10 quarterback in 2008. He threw for just under 3,700 yards and 21 touchdowns and also ran for 270 yards and two touchdowns.¨ If Tom Brady really was the greatest ever, wouldn´t his team suffer during an entire season without him? In contrast, last season Green Bay was 4-1 when Aaron Rodgers was injured. Without him Green Bay missed the playoffs and had a record of 7-9. The reason Brady has more Super Bowl wins is because he has such an amazing team surrounding him, not to mention one of the greatest coaches ever.

Picture from Mike Morbeck via Flickr

No Defense

Year after year Rodgers has had to carry his team to the playoffs with barely any defensive help.

It is safe to say if Rodgers had a better defense he would have many more Super Bowl wins. University Daily Kansan writer Logan Fricks states that ¨Rodgers has had a top-10 defense only twice and the only time he has had a top-five defense, Green Bay won the Super Bowl. In seasons where the Patriots went on to win the Super Bowl, they have had a top-10 defense every time. In his 15 seasons as a starting quarterback, Brady has played with a top-15 defense 13 times.¨ It is clear Tom has had the better defense helping him in his career. Another all time great, Peyton Manning, even admitted flat out that he was carried by his defense. Manning compared how impressive it is that Serena Williams won the Australian Open while pregnant to ¨two years ago when the Denver Broncos’ defense won the Super Bowl while carrying [him].” Football is a team game, so when comparing individual players, Super Bowls shouldn’t be taken into account. Still don´t believe me? Take it from Tom Brady himself. From CBS,  [perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “He’s so much more talented than me¨   [/perfectpullquote]

Conclusion

Aaron Rodgers is the best quarterback to ever play. Even Tom Brady agrees! He has the highest quarterback rating in history, has the best touchdown to interception ratio in history, is the Hail Mary king, has a bigger impact on his team than any other quarterback, and has not had the luxury of a great team surrounding him that many other all-time great quarterback have had. The facts are here. Will you ignore them, or will you accept the truth?

Featured image from Mike Morbeck via Flickr