Aaron Rodgers (12) raises the ball in victory after taking a knee at the end of the Green Bay Packers' win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. © Dan Powers / USA TODAY NETWORK.
Wily Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has purloined the offseason news cycle for a third straight year as the Packers franchise and its fans wait in suspense on “what Aaron will do.”
The annual saga began in 2021 when Rodgers seemed to request a trade from Packers brass, reneged several weeks later, and returned to the team in the summer. From that year on, he’s conducted a Favrian attitude regarding the offseason — stay, retire, leave?
It’s fine and dandy that Rodgers enjoys this circus, but it shouldn’t affect the Minnesota Vikings 2023 offseason planning one iota. Here’s why.
Rodgers will be 40 years old in December. He’s contemplated retirement for at least the last two offseasons, so this season or 2024 will probably be his last hurrah. His impact on the Vikings win-loss outcome isn’t long for this world.
He might exit his now-famous “darkness isolation retreat” and retire on the spot. He could tunnel out of the darkness and declare an overdramatic return to Wisconsin. Or he might say, “trade me to the Jets or Raiders, please.”
If he ventures to the AFC, then nobody cares for Vikings purposes. He’d be as relevant or scary as Tua Tagovailoa.
The man is nearing a climax to his storied career, and Vikings leaders Kevin O’Connell and Kwesi Adofo-Mensah are building something for the future. Rodgers won’t affect that future.
Of course, there’s a chance that Rodgers returns to Cheeseville and his team rattles off 13 wins like it did in 2019, 2020, and 2021. But that’s the best-laid plans by Packers optimists.
Let’s face it. Green Bay wasn’t very good in 2022, suffering confounding losses to teams it would otherwise beat during a normal Rodgers-led year. This could be just the end of his reign, like Drew Brees in New Orleans or Ben Roethlisberger in Pittsburgh not long ago.
And while Rodgers has personally sliced and diced the Vikings throughout his career, the Vikings team has not struggled against the Packers in recent history. Minnesota is 8-7-1 (.531) versus Green Bay since the start of 2015.
The Packers might not be the big bad wolf anymore, and even if they are, the Vikings generally find a way to split the season series.
Listen, oddsmakers believe the Detroit Lions are the team to fear in 2023 — not the Vikings, Packers, or Bears. You know the world is getting funky when you read that sentence.
Detroit finished the season on a high note — a beautiful event as the Lions spoiled the Packers playoff push — and Dan Campbell’s gang is the fashionable pick to reach the postseason in 2023.
Oddschecker tweeted Monday early Super Bowl LVIII favorites for next year’s big game, and the Packers and Vikings play second and third fiddle to Detroit — if that can be believed.
It’s time to prepare the Lions as the NFC North’s bullies (per sportsbooks) while keeping an eye on the rebuilding Bears.
For Vikings-related Packers purposes, the next step is determining how well Jordan Love develops — because Rodgers’ significance to the Vikings is dwindling due to age and the possibility of a trade to the AFC.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.