After Offseason Tension, Rodgers And Packers Stink Up The Place

If this is how Aaron Rodgers' season is going to go, maybe retirement isn't such a terrible option.

Granted, it's just one game, but Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers never got anything remotely close to going and fell hard to the New Orleans Saints by a 38-3 count in Sunday's opener, played in Jacksonville.

How bad was it? Bad enough that Rodgers didn't even finish the game. He was pulled in favor of Jordan Love, Rodgers' supposed eventual replacement.

Speaking of replacements, it was quite a day for Jameis Winston, who did his best Drew Brees impersonation by throwing for a whopping five touchdowns without a single interception.

Meanwhile, Rodgers threw two interceptions, no touchdowns and 133 yards.

These are the numbers of a man, mind you, who admittedly contemplated either requesting a trade or retiring altogether earlier this year.

"I did,” Rodgers told Fox's Erin Andrews prior to the game on Sunday. “Because (the Packers) wouldn’t commit to me past 2021. So I figured if they want to make a change, even though I just won MVP, why wait? They drafted my replacement, so let him play if that’s what you want. But I also could picture myself not playing, so it was a lot of things.

“I don’t feel like I have anything left to prove on the field,” he added. “I think it’s more about the enjoyment and the happiness and the quality of life that this game has afforded me over the years. And being able to 100 percent commit to everything that my job entails, and there were many times during the offseason where I felt like I wasn’t able to fully do that. And until I was, was a possibility.”

Now, again, it was just one game and there are 16 left. Rodgers, 37, has a history of being great when it means the most. So there's no reason for the Packers to panic.

But with another game like Sunday, the Packers may be making the move to Love sooner rather than later. And probably without any concern about moving on from Rodgers.