NFL
Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers Quietly Matched an Insane NFL Record in Their Regular-Season Finale
The 2020 regular season has come to a close and Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers are sitting pretty as the No. 1 seed on the NFC side of the bracket in the NFL playoffs.
Rodgers, who will likely win NFL MVP for the third time, led the Packers to a 35-16 win over the rival Chicago Bears in Week 17, a victory that clinched the No. 1 seed for Green Bay, and also helped the franchise make a little bit of NFL history in the process.
Aaron Rodgers is in the driver’s seat to win his third NFL MVP award
The race for NFL MVP seemed to be pretty tight there for a while and was essentially a two-man race between Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers. And, honestly, it would be tough to argue against either of them.
Mahomes, who won the award following the 2018 season, completed 66.3% of his passes (390-for-588) for 4,740 yards and 38 touchdowns against just six interceptions in 15 games, also adding 308 yards and two scores on the ground.
Rodgers, who won NFL MVP following the 2011 and 2014 seasons, completed a league-leading 70.7% of his throws (372-for-526) for 4,299 yards with a league-best 48 touchdowns against five interceptions, also adding 149 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.
Both the Packers and Chiefs are No. 1 seeds on their respective sides of the NFL playoff bracket but with Mahomes sitting out Kansas City’s final game of the regular season, the edge likely goes to Aaron Rodgers.
Aaron Rodgers’ four touchdown passes against the Bears helped the Green Bay Packers set an NFL record
As he’s been all season long, Aaron Rodgers was fantastic in the Green Bay Packers’ conference-clinching win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday. The nine-time Pro Bowler completed 19 of 24 passes for 240 yards and four touchdowns with zero interceptions, earning him his highest quarterback rating of the season at 147.9. And those four touchdown passes helped the Packers do something that only three teams in NFL history have ever done.
With those four TD passes against Chicago. Aaron Rodgers finished the year, as mentioned, with a league-best 48, which has been talked about at length. But something that hasn’t been mentioned as much, or really even at all, is the fact that the Packers only punted the ball 46 times during the 2020 season, including the two Green Bay punter JK Scott booted away against the Bears.
So the Packers had more touchdown passes than punts in 2020. Only three teams in NFL history, the 2018 Kansas City Chiefs, the 2007 New England Patriots, and the 1990 Houston Oilers have accomplished this feat.
Davante Adams had more touchdown catches than Mason Crosby had field goal attempts
Need one more example of just how dangerous the Green Bay Packers’ offense is?
Look no further than the fact that Davante Adams had more touchdown catches with 18, which tied a franchise record, than Mason Crosby had field goal attempts. Crosby attempted just 16 field goals in 16 games and made all 16.
Stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference