Aaron Rodgers, Football’s Rorschach Quarterback

Perhaps it was all part of a grand plan: The Pittsburgh Steelers’ dreadful 2–5 stretch in October and November. The failure to convert nine consecutive third downs in a loss to the Los Angeles Chargers. The blowout defeat to the Buffalo Bills, during which the Pittsburgh crowd booed the Steelers’ quarterback Aaron Rodgers and chanted for the head coach, Mike Tomlin, to be fired. And the team’s 13–6 loss to the lowly Cleveland Browns in Week 17, during which Rodgers did not reach a hundred passing yards until late in the third quarter. Maybe the idea was simply to ratchet up the pressure, a circumstance in which Rodgers famously thrived.