Rodgers still 'a great player' in Bears eyes despite stats
The numbers say that, for the first time since he became the Green Bay Packers' starter in 2008, Aaron Rodgers is an ordinary quarterback.
Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio isn't buying it, despite the numbers.
Rodgers has 10 TD passes, 4 interception and a passer rating of 88.4 this year, which is 20th in the league and more than 12 points lower than the Bears' Brian Hoyer's 100.8.
In every season from 2009-14, Rodgers had a passer rating over 101, and he threw 197 touchdown passes and just 43 interceptions over that six-year span. He had just 5 interceptions for the entire 2014 season, along with 38 touchdown passes. In 2011, he had 6 interceptions and 45 TD passes.
But this year, Rodgers' fourth-quarter passer rating is 79.2, almost 20 points lower than Hoyer's 99.0. On third downs, Rodgers is ranked 14th at 86.5, while Hoyer is 11th at 93.5.
Partly as a result, the 3-2 Packers are an uncharacteristically lackluster 25th in total yards and passing yards.
"I still see the great quarterback that he is, with the release and the scrambling and the mobility and the creativity and the accuracy," Fangio said of Rodgers. "They've gotten beat by maybe the two best teams in the NFL in Dallas and Minnesota, and (in) tight games. They're still the same offense they've always been, and he's still the same quarterback he's always been."
That's bad news for the Bears, who are 3-12 against the Packers when Rodgers starts, not including the first game in 2013, when he left the game after the first series with a fractured collarbone.
The question, "What's wrong with Aaron Rodgers?" doesn't seem to be one that Packers coach Mike McCarthy enjoys.
"That's a very general question," McCarthy said on a conference call with Bears media. "I think there's more to offensive production than one player. I clearly understand the importance of the quarterback position. We're just really focusing on the improvement from our last game."
That was Sunday's 30-16 loss at home to the Dallas Cowboys in which Rodgers threw 1 interception and fumbled twice, losing one. He completed 31 of 42 passes for 294 yards and a 90.8 passer rating.
Not bad numbers, but hardly "Rodgersesque."
When the topic of his and the Packers' decline is broached with Rodgers, he doesn't deny the drop in the numbers.
"It's a work in progress," the two-time MVP said. "Every season there's highs and lows, there's great times and frustrations. You have to try to remain the same in the midst of all of it. Do your best to deflect credit when it comes your way in the highs, and own your share of the criticism that you're due in frustrating times.
"I feel like we do a good job of that here, and we're going to keep plugging away and get this thing turned back in the right direction."
The Bears defeated Rodgers and the Packers 17-13 last Thanksgiving in Green Bay, when they limited the quarterback to a 62.4 passer rating. In the past seven years, he's had a lower passer rating in a full game just twice.
But Bears coach John Fox isn't buying into the demise of Rodgers and the Packers.
"I see a great player," Fox said, "and a pretty darn good football team."
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