Remembering when the Green Bay Packers las played without Aaron Rodgers

With the threat of never returning to the Green Bay Packers, fans need to take a serious look at how the team would look without Aaron Rodgers as their quarterback.

To spice up NFL Draft weekend, it was reported that Aaron Rodgers spoke to several members of the Green Bay Packers saying that he did not wish to return to the team. Following this revelation, the theories and predictions as to where the 2020 MVP will play for the upcoming season have spread like wildfire.

The focus of these ideas that has yet to be investigated is, in the cataclysmic event that Aaron Rodgers decides not to return to Titletown, how would the Green Bay Packers look without him.

Green Bay hasn’t experienced a losing season like their NFC North counterparts but the closest they have reached the depths of the standings was in 2017 when they lost Rodgers in a Week 6 contest against their rivals in Minnesota, the Vikings. In this tilt, linebacker Anthony Barr delivered a hit that was well after the play on the franchise quarterback and resulted in a broken collarbone that sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

Up until this point, Rodgers was performing at an MVP level and had led the team to a 5-1 record before his injury midway through their Week 6 game.

What ensued after Rodgers’ season-ending injury was a mere glimpse as to where the team really stands when he isn’t there to carry them on his back. Forced into the ranks to replace the superstar in 2017 was Brett Hundley, a fifth-round selection in the 2015 NFL Draft. The Packers would drop emphatically in the standings under him as he led the team to a brutal 3-7 record (counting the loss against Minnesota).

The last time the Green Bay Packers played without Aaron Rodgers offers an ominous sign for the possible future.

While it’s almost impossible to expect a second-year guy to step up and fill those massive shoes left by a legend, it does not excuse how impossible it was to not see how shaky the Pack really is without their guy under center. In the blink of an eye, they went from Super Bowl hopefuls in 2017 to a below-average NFL team simply just by losing Aaron Rodgers.

There have been some adjustments to the roster made since this forgettable season as Brian Gutekunst stepped into the office and brought in pass rushers Za’Darius and Preston Smith, along with safety Adrian Amos and offensive lineman Billy Turner to have one of the most impressive offseasons since the team acquired Reggie White

However, there haven’t been enough changes. Since that summer, the Packers have continued to neglect Aaron Rodgers and have yet to provide him with a true No. 2 wide receiver to pair with Davante Adams.

As much as you can argue that defense has been the issue for this team to support the selection of a defensive player every year in the draft since Rodgers became the starter, any argument provided towards the support of not only selecting a quarterback in the first round last season (Jordan Love) but trading up to get him is null and void.

The organization stands on ever-worsening ice but, because they had a really solid draft this past weekend, it would not be a shock that the team remains intact and Aaron Rodgers comes back as the starter in Week 1. The quarterback may be petty and dramatic in terms of a lot of his decisions but, for the team to start taking his demands seriously, he needs to threaten to leave.

If this were to ever happen, fans better pray that the team won’t be as abhorrent as they were in 2017 without him. For then, and only then, will people realize just how much Aaron Rodgers has carried the Green Bay Packers.