American Football

Wednesday Cheese Curds: Packers trying to get the quarterback question right

March 22, 2023

NFL: Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears — Mark Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s how the Packers got to where they are

At the most basic level, the Packers find themselves in their current conundrum with Aaron Rodgers because they’re trying to solve the most important question in football: how do we make sure we have a good quarterback?

The Packers took Jordan Love — correctly or incorrectly — as insurance against the ravages of time. Whether it was 2020 or 2023 or some point in between or beyond, Aaron Rodgers would eventually no longer be the Packers’ quarterback, and Brian Gutekunst’s gamble was a hedge against ending up in a quarterback-less wasteland. Because let’s face it: in the NFL, either you have a quarterback who can make you a contender and you have a realistic shot at a Super Bowl or you don’t and you have no chance of going anywhere. The days of the “game manager” quarterback carrying a strong defense to a Super Bowl (hi Trent Dilfer!) are gone, and even recent runs that look like exceptions to that rule (Eli Manning twice, Joe Flacco once), were bolstered by high-level play from quarterbacks who don’t typically play at that level.

Consider the San Francisco 49ers, ever the bridesmaids since Kyle Shanahan took over. Shanahan’s brilliance and strong defenses have gotten the 49ers close, but the trio of Jimmy Garoppolo, Trey Lance, and Brock Purdy haven’t been able to seal the deal. The 49ers’ quarterback dilemma is such that they even made overtures toward Ben Roethlisberger in 2022. If that’s not a sign of desperation, what else would be?

This is not to say the Packers’ situation isn’t annoying. It is. There are 900 other things that are more interesting to focus on than Rodgers’ inevitable exit. But we should remember what got us here, and the stakes in play for getting this situation wrong.