Aaron Rodgers Suffers Further Indignity

You'd think it would get old by now, but it really hasn't: It's almost therapeutic to watch Aaron Rodgers eat shit week after week. The preceding months of smugness, sneers, and hack pop-culture references just enhance the results, and in a stroke of serendipity, today is Aaron Rodgers's 41st birthday. Hey—happy birthday, big guy. You don't play a day over 65.

The New York Jets made sure to extend birthday wishes to their still-QB1, even if it serves as a reminder that this organization hitched sincere championship hopes to this poisonous, washed-up kook. In other team news Monday morning, interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich announced that the Jets would stick with Rodgers as starting QB for this week's game against the Miami Dolphins. It was a necessary update: Ulbrich said immediately after Sunday's 26-21 home loss to the Seattle Seahawks that there would be no change at the position "as of today," which wasn't a no. In terms of coaching, this guy makes Robert Saleh look like Bill Parcells.

Like many games this season, Sunday's started out well for the Jets and then deteriorated at alarming speed. New York held a 21-7 lead in the second quarter, and didn't score again. The turning point was when Rodgers threw a red-zone interception to defensive lineman Leonard Williams (drafted by the Jets), who ran 92 yards for a touchdown.

Here's how the Jets' four second-half drives ended, in order: punt, fumble, three-and-out, and the turnover on downs seen below. There he is, supine on the turf after throwing a pass under pressure that's only vaguely in the vicinity of Garrett Wilson. That's Aaron Rodgers now: reminiscent of 2008 Brett Favre, except that Jets team won nine games. This year's squad will be lucky to win five.

Rodgers finished 21-of-39 with 185 passing yards, two touchdowns, and the aforementioned pick. The team still has not achieved his previously stated goal of scoring 30 points. For comparison, Mac Jones had a better game in mop-up duty for the Jaguars after Trevor Lawrence got hurt.

What's impressive about this loss is that the Seahawks weren't that much better. Seattle is now 7-5, and the Jets 3-9, but yesterday's stats show that these were two comparable teams. New York committed twice as many penalties as Seattle, but the offenses had similar levels of productivity and yardage; Geno Smith (also drafted by the Jets) threw for 206 yards and a TD. But Sunday was representative of the Jets this entire season: They always seem like they're one play, one drive, one hot streak away from being dangerous, when in fact they're actually always one drive away from squandering the game. The only thing they are guaranteed to do is finish under .500. Rodgers's established reputation for game-winning drives has taken a hit. Even if you want to assign some blame to the defense for a couple of these late-game collapses, he simply can't do it anymore.

Last week, Rodgers said he wasn't sure whether he'd play in 2025. The Jets have him under contract for one more year, but none of that money is guaranteed, and seeing as how they've recently fired both the head coach and general manager, they might want a fresh start. NFL Network's Ian Rapoport assessed his return to the Jets next season as a "long shot," which is putting it politely. The team owner was ready to bench him for Tyrod Taylor at the end of September! Maybe it's worth revisiting that idea.

If Rodgers does decide to play one more year, it's unclear who would take the risk. Most teams have better options. Any organization inviting him in would have to be completely blinded by his increasingly distant reputation, and carry an irrational desperation that one player could solve generations' worth of squandered potential. I hope Cleveland Browns fans are ready to buy one more jersey.