Aaron Rodgers and the Price of Making History: When Going Global Becomes a Grind

Listen, I'll tell you something about Aaron Rodgers that you might not realize if you've only been watching football for the last five years or so. This is a guy who has done everything the hard way. He fell to the 24th pick in 2005 when every expert said he should've gone in the top ten. He waited his turn behind Brett Favre when that must've been like watching someone else eat your steak. He's won a Super Bowl, been the MVP, made more incredible throws than just about anybody in history, and he's done it all while dealing with injuries, drama, and more noise than any reasonable human being should have to deal with. So when Aaron Rodgers gets annoyed about something, you better believe there's a reason worth listening to.

Now here we are, and Rodgers is looking at playing in Paris with the Pittsburgh Steelers, which by itself sounds like a movie pitch, doesn't it? But what's got him fired up isn't just the travel. It's the logistics, the preparation, the way the whole thing is being handled, and frankly, it's the principle of the thing. This is a guy who has played in one of the toughest divisions in football, who understands what it takes to win at the highest level, and when you ask a quarterback to go perform at his best in a foreign country on a short week, well, that's when the cracks start showing in how we do things around here.

Let me back up for a second because this is actually a pretty remarkable situation when you think about the history of it. Rodgers is about to become the first quarterback in the history of professional football to play international games in three straight seasons, and they're in three different countries. That's not just remarkable, that's almost unprecedented in terms of the demands we're placing on one person. Last year he played internationally, the year before that he played internationally somewhere else, and now we're doing it again. Think about what that means from a purely logistical standpoint. You're not just dealing with jet lag. You're dealing with different food, different sleep schedules, different practice facilities sometimes, different game environments, the works.

The thing that separates a good quarterback from a great one isn't just arm talent, though Rodgers has got plenty of that. It's also the ability to control the variables around you, to be prepared, to know exactly what you're walking into on Sunday. When you're playing in Green Bay or New York or anywhere familiar, there's a comfort there. You know the field, you know how it plays in different weather, you know what to expect. But when you're heading to Paris or London or Mexico City, you're operating at a disadvantage that your opponent might not be. And if the Steelers' travel plans and preparation aren't what they need to be, then Rodgers is justified in raising his voice about it.

I think what's happening here is that Rodgers has learned through experience that the preparation is everything. You can't just show up to play in a different country like you're going to Kansas City or Denver. You need extra time to acclimate. You need to get the practice schedules right. You need to make sure your offensive line is on the same page because they're dealing with the same jet lag, the same adjustment period. You need to make sure your receivers know how to operate in a different environment. These aren't excuses, these are facts. And when a quarterback who has won at the highest level is telling you that something isn't right with the preparation, you better listen because he's not doing it to get attention.

What strikes me about this whole thing is that Rodgers is one of the few guys in the league who has the standing to say something and have it actually matter. He's earned that. He's been one of the best to ever do it at his position. So when he comes out and expresses frustration with how something is being handled, it's not him being difficult for difficult's sake. It's him saying, "Look, I know what it takes to win, and I don't think we're setting ourselves up to do this the right way." That's the voice of experience talking, and that's the voice of a guy who cares about winning.

Here's what I think about the international game situation in general, and I've watched enough football to have seen a lot of changes over the years. The NFL wants to grow the game globally, which is great. I'm not against that. Football is the greatest game ever invented, and if more people around the world get to see it played at the highest level, that's a good thing. But there's a cost to that, and someone has to pay it. Usually, that someone is the players, and specifically, it's the players who are trying to prepare their teams to win championships. The Steelers didn't ask to play in Paris this year. They were assigned to it. And now their quarterback, who has been down this road before, is rightfully pointing out that the way it's being handled might not be optimal.

Think about what this does to a regular season. You're in September, October, November, and you're dealing with this extra burden that other teams in your division might not be dealing with. The Ravens and the Browns get to stay home and prepare normally while Rodgers and the Steelers are dealing with all the complications that come with international travel. Is that fair? I don't know. Maybe it evens out over time. Maybe it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. But from Rodgers' perspective, and from my perspective as somebody who understands football, it matters in the moment. It matters when you're trying to put together a winning season.

What I respect about how Rodgers has handled this is that he's not complaining just to complain. He's not making noise for attention. He's identifying a legitimate issue and bringing it to the forefront. That's what leaders do. That's what guys who care about winning do. They speak up when something doesn't seem right, even if it's uncomfortable, even if it might draw some criticism from people who think he's being ungrateful for the opportunity to play in Paris.

The reality is that Paris is amazing. Playing a game in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, kicking off in front of European fans who are discovering football, that's incredible from a lot of perspectives. But Rodgers isn't a tourist right now. He's a quarterback trying to win football games with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Those are two different roles, and you can't play both simultaneously and do either one well. The guy has to be locked in on his job, which is to move the football down the field and score more points than the other team.

This situation also tells you something about where we are in professional football right now. We're asking more and more of the people who have already given so much. We're asking for more international games, more Thursday night games, more content, more everything. And somewhere in there, we have to ask whether we're actually making the game better or just making it more complicated. Rodgers is essentially saying that we need to think about that balance, and he's right to do it.

For the fans, here's what this means: You're getting to see history. You're going to witness Aaron Rodgers play in Paris, which is something that will probably never happen again in quite the same way. But you should also understand that what Rodgers is asking for, what he's pushing back on, is reasonable. He's not asking for special treatment. He's asking for the same preparation and consideration that every quarterback deserves when they're asked to do something difficult. He's asking for the organization to think through the logistics and make sure that everything is set up to give him the best chance to succeed.

That's just good football sense. That's just understanding that if you want to win, you have to prepare like you want to win, and you have to make sure your best players have everything they need to perform at their best. Rodgers knows this because he's lived it. And if he's concerned about the travel plans and the preparation, then we should all be paying attention because this is a guy who doesn't complain without cause.