I’ve always believed that the Packers asked Brett Favre for a decision as to whether he’ll play in 2008 in early February because they knew that, by doing so, he’d say no. They wanted to turn the page to Aaron Rodgers, and so they forced the issue, secured a retirement, drafted multiple quarterbacks, and hoped Favre wouldn’t change his mind.
The unauthorized Aaron Rodgers biography by Ian O’Conner doesn’t confirm that directly, but it comes close.
The moment came during a late November Thursday night game at Dallas. Favre suffered an injury, and Rodgers entered. It was rocky at first and the Packers still lost (both teams entered the game 10-1) but the Packers saw enough to know that it was time to pivot from Favre to Rodgers.
The day after the Dallas game, linebacker Brady Poppinga attended a party. Packers executive (now Seahawks G.M.) John Schneider was there. And Schneider was talkative.
“Brady,” he said, “we got our guy.”
Poppinga was confused.
“No more, ‘Is Brett Favre retiring, or is he coming back?’” Schneider said. “Aaron is our guy. . . . We’re done with Brett, man. Aaron was awesome yesterday.”
Despite the change of heart regarding Favre, he almost took the Packers back to the Super Bowl that year. But then he was gone, and Rodgers (after three years on the bench) took over.
The Schneider story ends Chapter 7 of O’Connor’s book, simply titled Brett. And there are tales of the dysfunction between Favre and the man who eventually replaced him. Through it all, Rodgers comes off as a guy who could dish it out but not take it.
He supposedly called Favre “Grandpa” more than one or twice. Rodgers also bragged about his Wonderlic score (as if anyone truly gives a shit). But then Rodgers was upset when Favre and Craig Nall put Rodgers’s helmet on a table of items to be signed by the team and sold for charity. Rodgers wore the thing to practice with autographs all over it.
It was funny. Rodgers had a chance to ingratiate himself to his teammates if he’d just laughed it off. Instead, he said to someone in the locker room, “Do you know what the mutherfucker did to me?”
Lighten up, Aaron.
Rodgers is a huge fan of The Office. And, as the saying goes, everyone knows a Michael Scott — and anyone who doesn’t know a Michael Scott is a Michael Scott. Based on the Brett chapter from the Aaron Rodgers bio, there’s a real chance that Aaron Rodgers is a Michael Scott.
