The San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers might be two of the luckiest teams in the NFL.
What do they have in common you might ask, since the 49ers (a popular NFC West Champion pick) are at 0-2 and the Packers are leading the NFC North at 2-0 with the Chicago Bears.
They are the two teams that in the past 10-15 years have seamlessly transferred from one Hall of Famer to another potential Hall of Famer.
Let's look at a few other quarterbacks that tried to succeed future Hall of Fame quarterbacks.
After Troy Aikman in Dallas, the Cowboys started four quarterbacks the following year, led by Quincy Carter.
After John Elway in Denver, the Broncos had Brian Griese start for the next four years.
After Dan Marino in Miami, the Dolphins had to rely on Jay Fiedler, A.J. Feeley, Cleo Lemon, Daunte Culpepper, Gus Ferotte, and Sage Rosenfels to name a few.
The 49ers transitioned seamlessly from Joe Montana to Steve Young, 2 Hall of Fame Quarterbacks.
The Packers? A seamless transition from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers.
After the departure of Favre in 2008, many Packers fans were still in Favre's boat and refused to cheer for the Packers.
Fast forward to 2010 and the Packers have one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.
Thanks to one of my few Packers friends on the central Minnesota Gustavus Adolphus campus, Keith Linné, he sent me a website that compared Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers through their first 32 starts.
Brett Favre ('92-'94)
667 completions, 1072 attempts- 62.2% completion percentage
6995 passing yards, 39 touchdowns, 39 interceptions
78.1 QB rating
Aaron Rodgers ('-08-'09)
691 completions, 1077 attempts, 64.2% completion percentage
8472 passing yards, 58 touchdowns, 20 interceptions
98.5 QB rating
Stats don't lie. Rodgers has had an amazing first 32 starts of his NFL career.
We can even compare Rodgers' last season to Favre's last season with the Vikings, who many consider it to be Favre's greatest statistical season of his career.
Favre (2009): 363-531, 68.4%; 4202 yards, 33 TD, 7 INT; 107.2 QB rating
Rodgers (2009): 350-541, 64.7%; 4434 yards, 30 TD, 7 INT; 103.2 QB rating
Despite a lower completion percentage and quarterback rating, Rodgers performed admirably for his 17-32 starts in the NFL, almost as well as Favre's best statistical season of his illustrious career.
Be thankful Packer fans, that we have been so spoiled in our quarterback play and may just have another Hall of Fame quarterback leading the green and gold.
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