Talk of the Threads: We love to talk about Aaron Rodgers. Why?

Even as the NFL’s oldest player at 41 years old, Aaron Rodgers has still found a way to remain at the center of football talk.

The NFL season began three weeks ago, and storylines sprouted from the get-go.

Los Angeles Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert appears to have finally taken the leap to become one of the NFL’s elite. C.J Stroud’s puzzling sophomore year woes have continued into this year, and Daniel Jones —of all quarterbacks — has led the Indianapolis Colts to a 3-0 start.

Although there’s lots to discuss beyond the four walls of Acrisure Stadium, Rodgers seems to come up in every conversation.

In recent years, it’s no secret that the four-time MVP has become one of the league’s most divisive players, as his off-the-field controversies have begun to garner nearly the same amount of attention as all the Hall of Fame-caliber achievements he’s had throughout his 20-year career.

From his COVID-19 “immunization” controversy in 2021 to his advocacy of HIV conspiracy theories on Joe Rogan’s Joe Rogan Experience podcast, to the peculiar “ayahuasca” psychedelic drug retreats that he’s documented in his Aaron Rodgers: Enigma Netflix special series, Rodgers has developed a bit of a penchant for his antics and the oddities surrounding many of them.

There’s a reason that “Perc Rodgers,” a term stemming from his admission to taking Percocets before games for pain management, has debatably become Rodgers’ most iconic nickname. He’s effectively developed a reputation as the NFL’s senior hippie — a talented one at that.

For a while, though, his eccentricities were overshadowed by some quality quarterback play. Rodgers is undoubtedly one of the best arm talents in league history, and his MVP seasons are among the most efficient quarterback seasons ever. When you can throw for 48 touchdowns and just five interceptions in a season, you can say a lot of things, and people will turn a blind eye.

However, following a three-year stretch where Rodgers missed an entire year to injury and produced two lackluster seasons by missing the playoffs, it appears that his intangible drawbacks are beginning to outpace his output on the field.

Rodgers has entered this season with arguably more eyes and doubts on him than ever. Many have been waiting for a chance to pounce on Rodgers’ poor play, and his recent inconsistent performances have made it easy for critics to label him a loser.

To make matters worse, even during his peak years, the former Super Bowl MVP has long been under scrutiny for his underwhelming playoff resume. Rodgers won his only Super Bowl in 2010, and since then, it’s been nothing but continued disappointment.

Rodgers-led teams have made the NFC Championship game on four occasions since 2010, and lost every single time. His teams have gone into the playoffs as the No.1 seed three times over that period, too, and every time they ended up being upset at home by a wildcard team.

He might not necessarily be the one to make big mistakes and actively lose his teams these games, but at this point, it feels like a given that he’ll never make the plays needed to win. For almost the past 15 years, it’s felt like the bigger the moment is, the smaller Rodgers shrinks.

Now that his playoff struggles have seemingly extended to regular-season games, it’s becoming even easier for critics to cement Rodgers’ legacy as what it might become: a generational talent whose mentality, attitude and inability to be clutch in big moments held him back from true greatness.

Still, it is the mix of all these variables that makes Rodgers so interesting to cover. Love him or hate him, football fans pay attention to whatever he decides to do — even if he’s completely off the rocker.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were the only team to give an aging Rodgers a chance to start, so this season truly feels like his last chance. So far, Rodgers has the Black and Gold at a 2-1 record, and though the Steelers’ offense has shown flashes of promise, it has been inconsistent. Rodgers put up mediocre performances in back-to-back weeks, and as it stands now, I’m unconvinced they have what it takes to make it past a wildcard game — if that.

Rodgers’ infamous quirks — his perceived arrogance, detachment and stubbornness — have debatably been the things that propelled and held him back from football greatness. It’s up to him to prove to football fans that the behaviors he’s so stubbornly stood by were his superpower, and not his kryptonite.