Losing motivates this MVP more than awards

This isn't the way Aaron Rodgers would prefer to be spending his weekend, given that he's in Indianapolis, but not defending the Green Bay Packers' Super Bowl XLV championship.

However, winning the NFL's Most Valuable Player award isn't a bad consolation prize.

In a landslide victory, Rodgers received 48 of the 50 first-place votes, with Drew Brees grabbing the other two to finish a distant second.

But Rodgers isn't the type of player to be satisfied with his accomplishments. Sure, he won the Super Bowl last season and was named MVP of the game. Yes, he led Green Bay to 19 straight victories spanning nearly an entire calendar year. And now he's only the fifth Packers player ever named the league's MVP.

Just don't expect Rodgers to be content with the litany of resume bullet points. And it's for that very reason Packers fans can rest assured the high point of his career is on the road ahead, not behind.

After receiving the award, Rodgers told reporters he will probably remember this season more for the team's inability to beat the Giants in the playoffs at home than for being named MVP.

And that's not just something Rodgers says to sound like a team guy. He means it. He isn't tentative about sharing his true feelings publicly, even if they rub some people the wrong way. He proved that again this week when he said some of his NFC Pro Bowl teammates should be embarrassed by their effort level in last weekend's game. He also showed it earlier this season when he continually mocked those who criticized him for not organizing private workouts with teammates during the lockout. Turns out the offense ran pretty smoothly without them.

While leading the Packers to a 15-win season, Rodgers set the league's single-season passer rating record at 122.5 and threw 45 touchdown passes and only six interceptions. Even without a second Super Bowl victory, that's a pretty good follow-up season to a Super Bowl victory in only his fourth year as an NFL starter.

"Hopefully we can win a couple more championships," Rodgers told reporters in Indianapolis, keeping his focus on the Packers' future and not just his current successes.

And to think that only 10 years ago this was a player who not a single Division I college football team would offer a scholarship. As Rodgers joked in a recent tweet, it was a decade ago that he was signing his letter of intent to play at Butte Community College. This was typical Rodgers humor, seeing as there was no letter of intent and no hoopla about his decision to attend Butte. There was only him showing up and playing. No television cameras. No one knew. No one cared. Rodgers, in fact, considered forgetting football altogether and either joining the military or working his way toward a law degree.

But after a year of turning heads at Butte, the quarterback finished his college career at the University of California.

That went very well for Rodgers, and soon he was being considered as the top pick in the 2005 draft. Better yet, his favorite team growing up, the San Francisco 49ers, had the first pick. The question was whether the Niners, with a coach named Mike McCarthy as their offensive coordinator, would go with Rodgers or Utah QB Alex Smith.

San Francisco selected Smith.

As teams continued drafting, Rodgers stayed on the board. Ten picks passed, then 20. Finally, at No. 24, the Packers were on the clock. There appeared to be little use for a quarterback in Green Bay, seeing as Brett Favre wanted to continue playing and was the face of the franchise. But the Packers drafted Rodgers anyway -- and aren't they glad they did.

After sitting behind Favre for three seasons, Rodgers made the uncomfortable transition to starter with McCarthy having become the head coach in Green Bay. It was uncomfortable because Favre didn't want to be finished with the Packers. When general manager Ted Thompson decided it was time for a change, fans booed Rodgers during training camp sessions. Favre was beloved. Rodgers was just some 24-year-old hotshot who was at least partially responsible for an icon being banished to New York.

But all this has made Rodgers the player and person he is today. And now, as if he needed any further validation that he made the right decision to stay in football 10 years ago, he can add MVP to his growing list of accomplishments. It's not a second Super Bowl victory, but there remains plenty of time for that, too.

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