Skip Bayless claims Aaron Rodgers never took football seriously

According to Skip Bayless, Aaron Rodgers never took football seriously.

It’s hard to say who had a worse second act: Skip Bayless post-Undisputed or Aaron Rodgers trying to revive his career with the New York Jets. But let’s consider Bayless’ claim for a moment.

If five NFC Championship appearances, four NFL MVPs and a Super Bowl title don’t count as serious football experience, what does? Imagine Rodgers Strictly speaking attempt. His resume already makes him one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Even his disastrous two-year stint with the Jets can’t erase that, even if it could hurt him – if it hasn’t already.”

Bayless’ criticism stems from Rodgers’ Netflix documentaries. Aaron Rodgers: Puzzlewhich, in his words, reveals Rodgers as a player who was “never obsessed with football”. According to Bayless, Rodgers peaked after his 2010 Super Bowl victory and was content to idle while Tom Brady stacked his rings.

“So, here’s my biggest revelation while watching Aaron Rodgers: Enigma on NetflixBayless began. “A riddle is something mysterious, enigmatic, difficult to understand, and yet it is painfully clear to me what exactly happened to Aaron Rodgers’ career; no puzzle needed. He and his 2010 Packers came out of nowhere with no expectations as a sixth seed, an away wild card team, and what, wait, they won the Super Bowl? Yes, they have.

“And as Aaron says in the Netflix documentary, that night after he won the Super Bowl, he realized that winning didn’t really make him happy. His reaction was, “Is that all?” I think he expected nirvana, Valhalla, utopia, heaven on earth. And he got a trip back to Green Bay and a ring – that was it. He also woke up the next day and realized, ‘Oh no, everyone’s going to expect me to do this over and over again.'”

For Bayless, that moment defined Rodgers’ career.

“This is all why, as I said from the beginning, Aaron Rodgers is the flip side of Tom Brady,” Bayless continued. “Brady won his first Super Bowl, and he couldn’t wait to win his second, his third, and his fourth, and so on and so forth, because Brady still paid an extreme price to be in extreme shape and extreme after his win to be prepared.” Seventh Super Bowl in the ten years he has played. Just remember: It’s been 15 years since Aaron Rodgers played in his only Super Bowl, because he was never obsessed with playing in his first Super Bowl.

“For Aaron Rodgers, football is just a game – a game that comes pretty easy to him because he could always throw a football. For Brady, football was life; it was his reason for being. Tom’s Heaven on Earth dominated the National Football League. As you can see in this document, Aaron Rodgers is constantly experimenting to find out what life is really about and what makes him happy. He still hasn’t found what he’s looking for, as U2 once sang.”

Bayless particularly objected to Rodgers taking trips to South America to “expand his thinking” on the eradication of ayahuasca. A well-known Ayahuasca enthusiast, as he is often featured The Pat McAfee ShowRodgers was apparently mocked by Bayless for seeking enlightenment from ordinary people, rather than athletes, elsewhere in the world.

“I don’t think Aaron Rodgers was ever obsessed with staying in top shape or studying football or learning game plans before his biggest playoff games,” Bayless, 73, added. “No, the 2010 team went on the road and narrowly won in Philly, won big in Atlanta and finally won the NFC championship game in Chicago, in large part because my husband Jay Cutler from Vanderbilt University had lost before halftime due to a sprained ACL.

“Then Troy Polamalu tried to play in the Super Bowl with a strained Achilles tendon — and he probably shouldn’t have been out there. And my husband Ryan Clark was on his last legs for the Pittsburgh Steelers. And yes, it happened – Green Bay beat Pittsburgh and Aaron Rodgers won the Super Bowl MVP. That was the highlight of his career. Since then, as I always point out, Aaron Rodgers is 7-9 in the postseason, and of those seven wins, six were due to big luck. Those nine defeats include his last three miserable defeats – double the only seeding in Green Bay at home…

“Aaron Rodgers has been pathetic in the postseason lately and no one but me seems to notice.

That’s one way to look at it. If Skip was interested, we could also take a close look at Tom Brady’s rings. Analyzing every game to downplay someone else’s legacy because you don’t like the subject of a documentary is petty – and believe us, we get it. But are you trying to pick apart one of the greatest quarterback careers of all time just to prove a point?

It’s Bayless, yes, but that doesn’t make it any less misguided.

“(On the field), Aaron Rodgers became a choke artist, rejecting blame and rejecting blame,” he added. “That’s who the Jets traded for. The Jets paid for that. To do that, the Jets went out and got Davante Adams. The Jets are 4-11. Aaron has plummeted to 23rd QBR in the NFL; 23rd, just a tad above Kirk Cousins. I wonder now what the Jets decision makers were thinking as they watched Aaron Rodgers: Puzzle on Netflix.”

And we wonder whether Skip Bayless would be singing a different tune if Aaron Rodgers’ Netflix docuseries had been presented as a story of triumph rather than a story of introspection and vulnerability.

Not that Rodgers deserves the benefit of the doubt, but when it comes to undermining him, there’s no need to belittle his career accolades to make his point. His flaws are obvious enough without rewriting history to diminish one of the most successful quarterbacks of his generation.

(The Skip Bayless Show on YouTube)