Rodgers Ends in Drama

Sir Isaac Newton. Albert Einstein. Brian Gutekunst. I may not have the order right.

That’s the way it looks this week after the Packer’s new quarterback Jordon Love looked, well, lovely in his first regular season start for the team followed quickly by Aaron Rodgers’ going down for the season after taking only four snaps for the Jets.

The Pack will now be out from under Rodgers’ massive contract — the Jets are on the line for $75 million even though he won’t play again this year and perhaps ever. And that’s in addition to his pay for this season, which if you were wondering, worked out to $9,375,000 per snap. Seems like a lot, but he didn’t drop any of them, so there’s that.

The only downside for the Pack is that they’ll now get a second round draft pick next year instead of a first rounder. We can live with that, but the implications are far-reaching, including possible bankruptcy for a Milwaukee tavern.

But overall, I feel bad for Rodgers, the Jets and football fans everywhere. We’re on the side of the underdogs here at YSDA and the Jets sure are that. They’ve got the longest playoff drought of any pro sports franchise at 12 seasons and, probably now, still counting. They haven’t won a Super Bowl since the days of Willie Joe Namath in 1969. Watching Rodgers try to pass them up the field and back to glory would have been fun, had he been successful or not.

And Rodgers, for all his oddness, has been entertaining. The future Hall of Famer was fun to watch and he had attitude. “I own you!” It looks like the Packers just continued the lease they have on the Bears, but it was enjoyable to hear Rodgers rub it in. (The Bears are one sorry franchise we do not rout for.)

The darkness retreats, the celebrity girlfriends, the dance with conspiracy theorists, the difference between having been “immunized” and getting an actual vaccine, the contract drama, the drama, the drama, the drama. It was all kind of interesting until it wasn’t. Packer fans put up with it because he was just so damn good on the field. The one thing I don’t think any us ever liked was his checking out of voluntary practices and team meetings. That’s very un-Wisconsin. Rodgers put the “I” in team and it created an awkward spelling. Somehow, New York seemed a better fit.

And now it’s over and it could be really over. Achilles tears are a career-ender for 20-year olds and Rodgers is twice that age, but experts say that he could come back next year if he wanted to.

Don’t expect him to decide any time soon. Jets fans will probably have to endure some drama.