Green Bay Packers Quarterback Aaron Rodgers Wins His 4th NFL MVP

Jim Brown. Joe Montana. Brett Favre. Peyton Manning.

Those were the only players in NFL history to win back-to-back MVP awards before Thursday. That’s when Green Bay Packers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers joined that elite group and won his second straight MVP award.

In the process, Rodgers captured the fourth MVP award of his career, which trails only Manning (five). Rodgers received 39 of the 50 first place votes, while Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady had 10 votes.

Rodgers threw for 37 touchdowns and just four interceptions, an impressive TD-to-INT ratio of 9.25-to-1. He also posted an NFL-best 111.9 passer rating, threw for 4,115 yards and led the Packers to a 13-4 record and the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

“I’m playing with the best quarterback to play the game,” Packers wide receiver Davante Adams said late in the year.

Green Bay running back Aaron Jones said he believed Rodgers deserved MVP No. 4

“I definitely do,” Jones said. “(He’s) playing at the same high level as he was last year, leading this team to wins and he looks good doing it, too.”

Brady was considered the top challenger to Rodgers for the award.

Brady led the league with 5,316 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes. Brady’s passing yardage total was the third-most in league history, he completed 67.5% of his passes and had a passer rating of 102.1.

“I think if he doesn’t get it, it’s a travesty,” Tampa Bay coach Bruce Arians said of Brady last month. “Most completions ever, 5,000 yards, touchdowns, the whole nine yards. To me, it’s not even a close race.”

Fortunately for Rodgers, the MVP voting is strictly a regular season award. That’s because Rodgers had another subpar postseason performance.

Rodgers didn’t throw a touchdown pass when Green Bay lost to visiting San Francisco, 13-10, in the NFC divisional playoffs. Rodgers is now just 7-9 in the postseason since leading the Packers to a Super Bowl title 11 years ago.

Favre is the only player in the NFL history to win three straight MVP awards, doing so from 1995-97. Manning went back-to-back at two points in his career (2003-04 and 2008-09), while Brown (1957-58) and Montana (1989-90) also won consecutive awards.

Rodgers was tied with Tom Brady (2007, 2010, 2017), Favre (1995-97), Brown (1957, 1958, 1965) and Johnny Unitas (1959, 1964, 1967) with three MVPs, but moved into sole possession of second place behind just Manning.

Rodgers’ future with the Packers remains a mystery. He’s entering the final year of his contract and has said anything from retirement to playing in Green Bay to playing elsewhere is on the table.

If Rodgers returns for the 2022 season, he’ll have a chance to catch Manning for most MVPs ever and Favre as the only player with three straight MVPs.

“We’re hopeful he’ll be back next year, obviously,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said on Jan. 24. “This guy has done so much for such a long period of time for this organization, for this city, for this team. And so, I want to be respectful of his process. Whatever he needs to go through to make the best decision for himself, and certainly we would love for him to be a Packer and be a Packer to the day he decides to retire.”