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The Green Bay Packers are fast running out of time to prove they've not wasted Aaron Rodgers' prime

Aaron Rodgers might be the best quarterback ever - yet he could retire with just one Super Bowl: Getty
Aaron Rodgers might be the best quarterback ever - yet he could retire with just one Super Bowl: Getty

In sport we become all too accustomed to fans calling for the sacking of their team's coach.

It always sits uneasily because these are people with families, people who work every hour their preferred deity sends to try and succeed in the job they have always dreamed of and, in so many cases, the struggles aren't necessarily all their fault.

What is more rare in sport is when fans of other teams want a specific coach sacked. When fans of the sport in general want a coach to be fired for the good of everyone.

But it feels like that is the point where we are now with Mike McCarthy and the Green Bay Packers.

As always with the Packers, the reason for everything is Aaron Rodgers. Tucked away in this frozen corner of northern Wisconsin, Green Bay is a unique franchise because it is the only team owned by fans and, due to a change in league rules, it is the only one that ever will be. It is also the only non-profit franchise in major league sports and with this ownership structure and the small-town vibe comes a little bit of an old-time feel. Their home, Lambeau Field is one of sport's must-visit cathedrals, a vast, open bowl that embraces the elements and dares them to toy with opponents from warmer climes, but despite the often fearsome weather conditions it has been sold out every game since 1960

Rodgers, a quarterback from California, has taken on these conditions and forged them into his being. Great quarterbacks have been lost in blizzards at Lambeau but Rodgers is so phenomenally talented that there is no wind or snow that can stop him and this was once again on show on Thursday night against the Seattle Seahawks, and never moreso than in the nonchalant flick of the wrist that somehow rocketed a ball 54 yards and perfectly into the open arms of fourth-string tight end Robert Tonyan.

This is what Rodgers does. He elevates players you've never heard of - like Tonyan, who had never even caught a ball in his career - into productive NFL players and he elevates good players into great ones. Players take paycuts to catch passes from him, willing to move to the frozen tundra of Wisconsin's northern realms just to play with the man who is arguably the most-talented quarterback of all-time, but a man who might well retire with just one Super Bowl to his name.

Even if you aren't an NFL fan you've probably heard of Dan Marino. The Miami Dolphins QB is widely-considered to be one of the best to ever play the game but he retired, heartbreakingly, without a single Super Bowl ring. Rodgers got one in 2010 and the assumption was, given his quality and the importance of the quarterback position, that many more would follow.

Yet eight barren years later, Rodgers is 35 and remains with just the single title. There is growing anger within the fanbase that head coach McCarthy is wasting - or has already wasted - Rodgers' prime while neutrals share the concern that a player so wonderful to watch and so clearly above his peers is being restricted by everything the Packers have put around him.

There is a glimmer of hope, and that is that this historic but often slow-moving franchise do appear to have finally realised changes need to be made. Last off-season, longtime general manager Ted Thompson stepped aside after years of being criticised for his conservative approach to roster-building. Thompson very rarely traded for players and advocated a draft-and-develop strategy but still managed to let quality players walk out of the door for free. In the modern NFL, where there have never been so many trades, Thompson's passiveness cost the Packers in seasons where they were close to being a championship team.

Aaron Rodgers needs help or his prime will be wasted (Getty)
Aaron Rodgers needs help or his prime will be wasted (Getty)

45-year-old Brian Gutekunst has replaced him and looks to be a bit more forward-thinking but the clock is already ticking and fast.

The way the American football works means that despite having possibly the best player ever at the most important position in sports, you're not guaranteed to win but the way the league itself, the NFL, is structured means that having Rodgers has kept them good enough to not earn high draft picks. Since that Super Bowl win in 2010, the highest pick they've had is 18th and that was after Rodgers missed much of the 2017 season with injury. You can still find good players there, of course, but it means the injection of absolutely top-level talent is harder to get a hold of and with Thompson not trading or splashing out in free agency, it left Rodgers surrounded by too much mediocrity to succeed.

Even without the ability to bring in genuinely elite young players annually, Rodgers has taken the Packers to multiple NFC Championship games and regularly deep into the playoffs. This year, though, they're almost certain to miss out on the post-season for the first time with Rodgers playing a whole season. Despite the laser TD to Tonyan on Thursday night, the Packers couldn't get past the Seahawks and with the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears threatening to run away with the NFC North, there seems almost no pathway to the wildcard spot.

The Bears are Green Bay's oldest rivals, in fact it's the oldest rivalry in the sport. For decades now, with Rodgers and before him Brett Favre, the Bears have lived in the Packers' shadow but after GM Ryan Pace was bold in hiring young head coach Matt Nagy and trading for superstar pass-rusher Khalil Mack last summer, Chicago now top the division. Nagy is one of a number of brilliant offensive-minded coaches - most notably Sean McVay in Los Angeles and Andy Reid in Kansas City - who are using playcalling to make average-to-good players produce at the top level regularly. Mitch Trubisky, the Bears' QB, will never be able to make the sort of throws from a solid base that Rodgers does on one leg but he doesn't need to, because Nagy's scheme creates easy decisions for him and wide-open receivers.

Green Bay fell apart when Rodgers broke his collarbone last year (Getty 2017)
Green Bay fell apart when Rodgers broke his collarbone last year (Getty 2017)

Frustration mounts in Green Bay as much from watching other teams play as their own. Why are they stuck with a turgid head coach who threw away their final chance of salvaging their season on Thursday night when he didn't trust Rodgers to find two yards on fourth down? Packers fans watch the LA Rams or their most-hated Bears and wonder what life would be like if one of the most-talented passers to ever toss a spiral had an innovative playcalling mind putting him into a position to succeed rather than someone whose decisions restrain his greatness.

It seems evermore likely that McCarthy will leave at the end of the season, especially if they don't make the post-season. The vacancy he would leave might become one of the most desirable in the sport, with coaches - particularly offensive-minded ones - falling over themselves for the chance to work with number 12 even approaching the twilight of his career.

Gutekunst will come under the spotlight too. Having managed to acquire an extra first-round pick during last year's draft, he has the opportunity to inject much-needed talent into this team through the draft and he boasts the salary cap room to do so in free agency. Should he get that right, plus the hire of McCarthy's (likely) replacement, then the Packers will be one of the Super Bowl favourites once again.

Get those decisions wrong and it could set the Packers back several more years, and they are years that the 35-year-old Rodgers might not have left to waste.