You still wonder what could have been for Aaron Rodgers
8:46 PMBy Art Spander
It’s hard to watch Aaron Rodgers play as efficiently and successfully as he did in the NFL playoff game Saturday and not think what could have been. Indeed, what should have been.
Rodgers threw for 296 yards, and the Green Bay Packers beat the Los Angeles Rams, 32-18, to advance to next week’s NFC championship game, where they’ve been before. Four times before.
And when it comes to Rodgers, who has won a Super Bowl, we’ve also been there before.
He seems to be everywhere; in those State Farm Insurance commercials; usually in the field for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (not this year, however — no amateurs) and in the opposition’s hair. Or end zone.
Where he isn’t is in a 49ers uniform. Even though he grew up in Chico hoping to be, and as an undergrad played for Cal, maybe 25 miles away from the Niners' facility.
An old story? Absolutely, but also an irritatingly unforgettable story.
The Niners had the No. 1 selection in the 2005 NFL draft. The presumption was they would choose Rodgers, who one Saturday against the previous No. 1 team in the land completed his first 23 passes, tying an NCAA record.
That wasn’t good enough for the new 49ers coach, Mike Nolan, who wanted someone more athletic and mobile than Rodgers. The pick was star-crossed Alex Smith of Utah, who now 15 years, several teams, many coaches and one serious injury later is with the Washington Football Team.
Nolan last was defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys who, failing to qualify for to the postseason, fired him a week ago.
Nolan was hardly the only one not to put his faith and future in Rodgers. The quarterback remained untaken until the 24th pick by the Packers, whose QB at the time was Brett Favre.
“Quarterbacks need time to develop,” said Mike McCarthy, who in one of those all too typical sports mixtures was San Francisco's offensive coordinator when Nolan didn’t take Rodgers, became Rodgers' head coach with Green Bay and is now coaching the Dallas Cowboys, who just let Nolan go.
Rodgers has developed — into a star, a salesman and a celebrity. He’s 37, older than most NFL quarterbacks but younger than Tom Brady and Drew Brees, with whom he is ranked.
Asked about his performance Saturday, Rodgers was not quite as cool as he appears in the State Farm ads, like the one in which he launches a tee shot, wonders if the ball came down yet and then shrugs as it plops into the cup.
The victory Saturday at Lambeau Field in Green Bay (no frozen tundra on a 35-degree afternoon) set up Rodgers for his first home conference championship game. The other three, including last year’s loss at San Francisco, were on the road.
Unlike games in California during this Covid-19 crackdown, a few thousand fans were permitted to attend the win over the Rams.
“I’m definitely a little emotional, just thinking about what we’ve been through,” said Rodgers, who Saturday went 23 of 36. “It got me emotional with the crowd out there today.”
Rodgers threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams and a game-clinching 58-yarder to Allen Lazard with 6:52 remaining. Rodgers also had a 1-yard touchdown run, the first by a Packers quarterback in a playoff game at Lambeau since Bart Starr’s winning sneak in the Ice Bowl against Dallas on Dec. 31, 1967.
The Rams also had a Cal quarterback, Jared Goff, who was the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. He was in the Super Bowl his second season, but as of now he’s not Aaron Rodgers. His lone TV commercial is one of those ESPN promos.