The Cult of Aaron

Good to know the haters are still out there. 

I'd thought everyone had decided they were cool with Tom Brady. The GOAT debate was over. Then again, I thought that debate was over after the 5th Super Bowl win. And then again after the 6th Lombardi. Then Brady took his talents to the Gulf Coast and won a 7th ring, and it felt like Brady was everyone's best friend; everyone's cool friend. We were all doing tequila shots with Tom. 

But wait!

With nothing else to write about, pigskin pundits and bobbleheads have turned to fan fiction, exploring an alternate reality in the multiverse, one where Aaron Rodgers had played his career in New England with Bill Belichick, and Brady had instead played his games on the famously frozen tundra of Lambeau Field.

Seriously.

You're a Packers fan and you don't make this trade in a heartbeat? 

You're a Patriots fan and you ask for a sweetener of like, I don't know, 20 first round draft picks? 

Wait. I'm a Patriots fan and I'm afraid they might say yes to that. Never mind. 

No. 

Hard no.

Rodgers, despite his obvious, elite skills as a quarterback has won just one conference championship, just one Super Bowl because he's... Unlucky? Cursed by gypsies? Because he's a tragic pigskin Sisyphus? 

The implication being that Brady is just lucky. Still on the front end of his deal with the devil. Sprinkled with fairy dust when he was 10-years old. Or maybe he's the son of Jor-El. 

The irony of this storyline following the season where Brady won a championship without Belichick is not lost on the true Brady believers like myself. 

Look, I'm happy to stipulate to the fact that Rodgers is the more gifted athlete but results do matter. At least, that's what my boss always told me at annual bonus time. Anyway, the Cult of Aaron believes the Patriots would've won more games and championships with Aaron Rodgers under center. Sure... 

Because the famously thin-skinned Rodgers would love having Bill Belichick tell him in a loud, sneering, disgusted voice in front of the whole team that Johnny Foxborough could make a better throw? 

Because Rodgers is well-known for taking below-market deals to free up cap space for the supporting players a team needs to compete for a championship?

Look, maybe this all works in Madden but the real world is a little bit more, well, complicated. 

Rodgers' numbers have already punched his ticket to Canton and that Super Bowl XLV win is forever. Aaron Rodgers is a great - all-time great - quarterback.

What Brady has done, however, defies description, and perhaps more importantly, it defies comparison. I know you know the numbers but if you'll indulge me, gentle reader…

In his 20 seasons as a starter (including 2008 when he played in just one game), Brady has won 230 regular season games (Peyton Manning and Brett Favre tie for second on that ist with 186 wins) and 34 playoff games (Joe Montana is second on that list with 14). In those 20 seasons, Brady made it to the conference championship 14 times. He made it to the Super Bowl 10 times. He hoisted the Lombardi 7 times, 5 times as SB MVP.

And you're telling me Aaron Rodgers would have done better than that? 

Child, please! 

Steve Rogers couldn't have done better than that!