FanPost

4 Downs to Aaron Rodgers’ NFC North Farewell

1st Down: From 1993-2007, Brett Favre was a green-and-gold thorn in the side of our Minnesota Vikings. Upon his absconding from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets prior to 2008, it looked for all the world like the Purple Faithful would perhaps get a breather from Wisconsin QB dominance. In 2008, this new Aaron Rodgers kid looked "just okay" and in 2009 he proved to be a solid signal-caller. But of course Favre was Purple in ’09 and beat the youngster twice—not quite ready to cede his NFL QB dominance to the next generation just yet. At this point, most Vikings fans were probably not shaking in their boots over the prospect of an Aaron Rodgers NFC North reign of terror.

2nd Down: But then, a funny thing happened midway through the 2010 season—Rodgers started playing at an elite level and the Packers took home the Lombardi Trophy. That dominance—especially over the Vikings—would continue from 2011-2014. In those seasons, it never seemed like our crew had much of a chance against Rodgers’ offensive juggernauts. He was clearly the best quarterback in either conference and our defenses were—not. I’ll never forget a 2013 contest in which Rodgers picked on CB Josh Robinson so badly that it practically drove the young corner off the roster. Equally as remarkably and regrettably, Rodgers proved to be an even more formidable adversary than the Mississippi gunslinger.

3rd Down: By 2015, Mike Zimmer took the defensive play-calling reigns and was finally able to build a unit capable of at least slowing #12 down a bit. 2015-2018 produced some of the great Rodgers/Vikings battles that I can recall. Just when it looked like MN might be gaining the upper hand after 2019, Rodgers found a late-career surge that produced back-to-back MVP campaigns (2020/2021). With Zim’s defenses cracking at the seams and Rodgers re-invigorating by Packers’ HC Matt LeFleur’s new schemes, those years felt a lot like the old ’11-’14 dominance. Was this guy ever going to stop tormenting the Vikings?!

4th Down: The answer to the above question is now a definitive "yes", chance an encounter in the Super Bowl, with Rodgers officially in a darker shade of green. I think the gut reaction of all Vikings fans to this is something along the lines of "finally we don’t have to battle this guy twice a year!". I share that sentiment to a certain extent and will appreciate some easier sledding in the NFC North. But at the same time, I also watch NFL football for the high drama and those epic Vikings/Packers clashes during the Rodgers Era provided that in spades. When the Vikes would beat him, fans could truly use that as a measuring stick of the team’s success and it felt like a major accomplishment had been achieved. That likely won’t happen in 2023+ and a part of me will miss those two contests feeling like the biggest ones of the season. I mean, Jordan Love can’t possibly continue such a high-bar legacy, right?

(Looks back at 1st Down and gets slightly nervous…)

This FanPost was created by a registered user of The Daily Norseman, and does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the site. However, since this is a community, that view is no less important.