National Football League

Turning Back the Clock

Updated Oct. 6, 2020 4:52 p.m. ET

With a historic start to the 2020 NFL season, Aaron Rodgers could be on track to win his third league MVP award.

And at age 36, he's making it look easy.

Through four games, Rodgers 92.8 Total QBR ⁠— a per-play metric that measures a quarterback's efficiency ⁠— is the highest since the stat was tracked in 2006.

That puts him in elite company, along with an elite trajectory.

After dicing up the Atlanta Falcons and passing for 4 touchdowns in Monday night's 30-16 win, Rodgers now has 13 passing TDs on the season and the Packers are sitting at 4-0.

Rodgers' previous best passing touchdown total through four games (12) came in 2011.

He went on to throw 45 TD passes that season, win the MVP, and lead Green Bay to a 15-1 regular-season record.

It's difficult to pick against the Packers the way Rodgers is playing right now, as Nick Wright called attention to on Tuesday's First Things First.

"Just pick Aaron Rodgers, especially when Aaron Rodgers has evidently activated 'God Mode' ... [The Packers] look as good as anybody in their conference right now, there's no question about it."

ESPN's Marcus Spears is riding with A-Rodg, too, saying Rodgers is locked in and building an award-winning resume early in the season.

"Aaron Rodgers is in a groove. And when he's in this type of groove, I've been on the other side of that, and it's going to be almost impossible to beat Green Bay."

While everything seems rosy with Green Bay now, that wasn't necessarily the vibe heading into the season.

There were questions about Rodgers' relationship with second-year head coach Matt LaFleur, especially after the Packers traded up in the first round of the 2020 NFL Draft to select QB Jordan Love, rather than bolster Rodgers' offensive arsenal.

However, NFL Network's Kyle Brandt believes that move, along with other chatter, is fueling Rodgers to start the season:

"There is the ax to grind. ... It's draft-related. It's age-related. It's his opponents-around-the-league-related.

"He doesn't let it come out, because he's tapped into the zen, but it comes out on third down and it comes out when he's chucking it to [Robert] Tonyan all over the field."

Can Rodgers grind that ax to the point of chopping down those favored ahead of him in the MVP race?

Only Russell Wilson (+160) and Patrick Mahomes (+260) out-price Aaron Rodgers (+550) in FOX Bet's odds for MVP.

Coincidentally, or perhaps not, all three of those quarterbacks are at the helm of undefeated teams.

Circling back to Monday night's game, Rodgers completed 81.8 percent of his passes for 327 yards and four touchdowns, and did so with two of his top receivers out injured.

When Davante Adams and Allen Lazard are back in the fold, there might be another level to which the Packers and their superstar can ascend.

If that's the case, opposing franchises should just pack it up.