Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers won his second straight National Football League Most Valuable Player award Thursday night, the fourth of his career. Amazingly he really wasn’t in the conversation until late in the season. Especially not after the Packers got shellacked 38-3 by the Saints in the first game. In fact it wasn’t until the 12th week that Rodgers cracked the top five and stayed there according to betwayinsider’s week-by-week breakdown of the MVP odds.
Rodgers opened the season second behind Patrick Mahomes but didn’t stay in the top five very long. By week three Rodgers had dropped out and he wouldn’t make it back until week seven. He bounced in out of the top five until week 12. By then he and the Packers were heating up on their way to the best record in the league. The MVP award usually goes to the best player on the best team as Rodgers so eloquently put it late in the year.
National TV every game it seems
One thing that always works in Rodgers favor is the Packers are on national TV almost every week, whether it be the late afternoon window or the primetime games. Hell, even the Packers’ noon games go to most of the country. So even though the competition wasn’t all that great, everybody was watching Rodgers throw touchdown pass after touchdown pass.
But so was Tom Brady. It was Brady who looked like a lock to win the award since he overtook the top spot in week 11. But a crushing loss to the New Orleans Saints in which he played dreadfully dropped Brady all the way to third in week 16. That catapulted Rodgers to the top spot in which he stayed with only two weeks left in the year. And really only one since the Packers locked up the number one seed in the playoffs with a game remaining. Rodgers did play in the finale but only for a very conservative half.
In the end Rodgers finished -500 to win the MVP with Brady second at +350. And of course that is how it played out Thursday night. I’m sure Rodgers would trade the MVP for another Super Bowl title but he seemed pretty proud of his accomplishment. As well he should be. The only question now is will he be back to go for three in a row?