AARON RODGERS IS NO LIAR, BUT GIVE HIM PROPS FOR REGAINING CREDIBILITY

It’s beyond insane to think he’s faking a torn Achilles tendon with so much at stake in his final seasons, yet critics are so agitated by his Covid vaccine stance that they call him a medical fraud

     The day will arrive when Aaron Rodgers, tucked in an NBC booth beside Mike Tirico, realizes this year wasn’t so dreadful. He managed to deflect a country of detractors and regain credibility, aside from his freaky aversion to Covid vaccine jabs. Knowing his time was finished in Green Bay, he tried New York as his 40th birthday approached.

     And though his Achilles tendon was torn on just the fourth play of the season, while the Packers trotted out a suddenly efficient quarterback in Jordan Love, Rodgers didn’t sulk or ponder retirement. He kept insisting he could return by Christmas Day, which is more an unprecedented ambition than a curse. His words didn’t stop a nutballish Indianapolis columnist — who DID NOT criticize Colts owner Jim Irsay for blaming his DUI arrest on prejudice he’s a “rich, white billionaire” — for calling Rodgers a liar on social media.

     “I don’t believe for a second he suffered a torn Achilles, at least not as we know what a torn Achilles is,” the wackjob wrote on Twitter/X. “Whatever Kevin Durant, Kobe and Brandon Graham suffered, he did not. Because this procedure would be trumpeted as a breakthrough, not treated as a secret. Plus he’s a liar.”

     Why Rodgers would fake a tattered Achilles — when he was trying to win only his second Super Bowl in 13 years of waiting, when he moves from the Wisconsin woods to a New Jersey house overlooking Manhattan, when he took up residence with a downtrodden franchise — is beyond my mental capacity. The columnist says Irsay is “mind-blowingly open and vulnerable and honest” for jeopardizing human lives on a street. Without reason, he nonetheless calls Rodgers a medical fraud. It’s hard to imagine someone whose tissue cord is severed in Week 1, to the point of never competing for a NFL title again, wouldn’t want to shred up a doubter.

     “Well, I am trying to do something that no one has ever done before,” Rodgers responded this week to ESPN’s Pat McAfee. “There was a time a few years ago when anybody who had any ideas outside of the mainstream narrative and normal thought process was called the C-word. I am glad that more people are joining the ranks, questioning things.”

     The C-word no longer works, but something similar does. Considering he made his comeback pledge when the Jets still had a chance to make the playoffs, there is nothing to lie about in any authentic sphere. Seems his critics are allowing his Covid stance to interfere with basic injury realism. Since he left MetLife Stadium, the Jets have less than a 1 percent chance of qualifying amid a five-game losing streak. Rodgers won’t be returning to the lineup, though he claims physically that he could play and execute. He must pour the remainder of his career into the 2024 season, unless he figures out a bizarre way to maneuver one play in Week 17, just to say the liars were the liars. At this stage, what’s the point?

     “I don’t think that would make a ton of sense. I don’t know what the team is going to feel about that,” Rodgers told New York media. “It would be a risk for myself, for the team to sign off on. If we’re out of it, I would be surprised if they would OK that, to come back.”

     Still, he wonders why anyone even would ask about his return attempt. “Why? Do you know my history? It’s not ‘why try?’ It’s ‘why not?’ ’’ Rodgers said. “From Sept. 12 on, my goal was to come back to the practice field and try to play again. It was contingent on my health and our team being in position to make a run. That’s why I worked so hard for those 77 days, to get back on the field.”

     Returning to practice was well more than enough. If nothing else, we might ask why Rodgers chose the J-E-T-S as his second professional endeavor. Once he was sidelined, they slipped into their usual buffoonery, which suggests he should have chosen another team. Much of the tumult surrounds the backup quarterback, Zach WIlson. Benched last year and benched this year, as he was gashed by Joe Namath and team-bashers everywhere, Wilson reportedly didn’t want to return to the lineup this weekend against Houston. Was he more vulnerable to injury as he tries to find another team in his doubtful future? Rodgers, who has tried to help the third-year bust find his way, was livid at organizational leaks about Wilson’s reluctance to return. He’ll play anyway against a Texans team staring at a postseason bid.

     “I think it's chicken s— at its core — and I think it has no place at a winning organization," Rodgers fumed. “It basically is saying that this kid is quitting on the team and doesn't want to play and has given the middle finger to the organization. I’ll tell you that I love the kid and I've spent a lot of time with him, and I think he's an amazing young man. ... He's gone through a lot of s--- in the last three years, and he's got every right to be frustrated and disappointed about it. I think he's done a good job of standing up and taking accountability this year when it's been his part to do it.

     “Some conversations are only meant for certain people and shouldn't leave the building. There's a trust that goes along with being in the locker room, where you say something to your homie and s— doesn't go anywhere. Or you say something in the team meeting room (and it) doesn't go anywhere. There have been too many instances this season where stuff is happening. It's not OK, and we need to weed it out in whatever way necessary.”

     If he’d stayed near his Los Angeles surgeon, Rodgers wouldn’t be dealing with Zach drama. He has sensed all along that the Jets, coached by Robert Saleh, “need to fine-tune a couple of things, just tighten things up.” Why would next season be any different for Rodgers, or any quarterback, when this team cannot win?

     “I believe in the individuals in the position of leadership,” Rodgers said. “I think that there's, just like anywhere, a lot of reactions that happen at various times, and some may be influenced by fans and pundits, maybe a little more than I'm used to. But I think it's a great opportunity for us to stick together now and to just watch and see how it all plays out and how people respond to this adversity. It's been a wild ride, and I look forward to taking back the reins. The recipe is in place to be really successful. This team can get to where it wants to go.”

     His mid-life dream would require a Super Bowl. It’s not happening, ever. With the postseason nearing and HBO touting the Miami Dolphins — possible AFC favorites on “Hard Knocks” — nothing is left for Rodgers but watch the Jets lose five more and finish 4-13. Had he returned to the lineup, he might have trashed his Achilles again. Ended his career for what reason? “Sit your ass home,” said ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, accurately. Meanwhile, the Packers have strained and stretched to appear right without him, watching Love throw eight touchdowns and no interceptions in three straight victories, two over the Chiefs and Lions. His former coach, Mike McCarthy, finally has removed his appendix and is making Dak Prescott perform like a Most Valuable Player.

     Aaron Rodgers has one season with good health and open coffers before saying goodbye. His career will conclude with a rash of conclusions, with his ayahuasca lapses drawing many winces, including here.

     But a liar? Don’t be surprised if he calls a lawyer.

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     Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.