The reaction to the Packers’ loss on social media wasn’t just from football fans, and it wasn’t all about the football. Much of the reaction was directed exclusively at Rodgers, as evidenced by “Goodbye Aaron” Hashtags that trend as people the next morning happily roasted Quarterback for his earlier comments about Covid-19. (“Guess who’s got more time to ‘do my own research’,” one of the more popular tweets said, mocking Rodgers’ earlier statements that he had his own fact-finding on covid treatment. And, of course, there were a lot more “colorful” comments.)
There was one reaction, however, that really resonated with me. It was one of the more delicious and thoughtful responses directed at the Green Bay QB: “Always enjoyed watching you play and respected you as a great quarterback,” read tweet, “After this year… no.”
That’s exactly what I feel about the three-time NFL MVP, who is a football expert pay attention On the way to a fourth MVP trophy this year (one ha.) can still be obtained) thanks to a remarkable on-field performance that helped his team best record in NFC. Rodgers’ road from being one of the most loved and most respected players in the league to being the target of ridicule shows just how prevalent and polarizing COVID-19 misinformation has become.
The origins of this “rise and fall” began in November. That’s when Rodgers found himself in a firearm test positive For Covid-19. The positive test triggered a chain reaction that involved Rodgers publicly sharing unproven COVID treatments. recommended Comedian Joe Rogan for him – and admitting that he was not vaccinated against the coronavirus. Worse, it became clear that Rodgers had misled the public in August, when he gave the impression during a press conference that he had received the vaccine. (When Asked If he had been vaccinated by journalists, Rodgers replied, “Yes, I am immunised.”)
As a fan of Rodgers, I wrote a pillar At that time urged him to show leadership by apologizing for past comments and stop promoting misinformation about COVID-19. To his credit, Rodgers took a few days later “full responsibility” To comment on the status of his vaccine “which people may have thought was misleading.” This whole story could have ended here.
But instead, Rodgers stumbled again at the end of December. sharing Misleading information about covid. In a radio show, Rodgers criticized NFL protocols designed to keep players safe without qualifying, saying, “It makes no sense to me to continue to spread the narrative that non-vaccinated players are more dangerous.” Or are these superspreaders, which have not been proven to be true.”
“It’s clearly not an epidemic of the unchallenged,” he said. Actually, A CDC Study Found Last Fall That unvaccinated people were about 4.5 times more likely to be infected with Covid-19 and 10 times more likely to be hospitalised. The NFL’s protocols were only designed to save lives, not play politics.
Rodgers poured gasoline on the fire by embracing faux right-wing talking points a few days before this weekend’s game interview with espn, When asked about President Joe Biden funny comment Last month to a Packers fan that he should ask Rodgers to get vaccinated, Rodgers responded with a rant that sounded like an audition for a hosting job at Fox News.
“When the President of the United States says, ‘This is an epidemic without vaccinations,’ it’s because he and his constituents, which I don’t know how anyone looks at any of his attempts at public speaking, but I think he got 81 million votes,” Rodgers said, adding that there’s nothing to “guess” – Biden did, in fact, get 81 million votes in the 2020 election. And for bad measure, Rodgers referred to the Biden administration as a “fake White House set,” which, of course, belies Trump’s repeated use of the phrase, “fake news.”
All of this helps to explain the mix of anger and glee that was directed at Rodgers from many corners of the internet when his team lost on Saturday. It didn’t help the last two times when his team had a football game tied At 10-10, Rodgers only complete In one of the four passes he threw, he took a total of four yards – plus he was dismissed. With a last-second field goal, the 49ers won 13–10.
After the defeat, Rodgers told the media He was “a little numb”. He then added a line that went beyond Saturday’s game: “[I] Didn’t think it would end like this.”
None of us who have been fans of Rodgers thought it was going to end this way, either—not only with the loss of the Packers, but the prospect of seeing one of the NFL’s most famous players. With the disappointment it became arguably the funniest of all. But Rodgers doesn’t blame anyone other than himself for it.
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