Q: How do you stay grounded with all of the success you’ve had and people putting you on a pedestal?
Rodgers: “I think you’ve got to surround yourself with the right kind of people. I grew up in a family that was very supportive. That helps, I lean on them. You have to have a lot of people in your life who will tell you no, or enough people. There’s so many yes people in your life and people trying to get something from you or give something to you or be a part of what you’re doing. You have to have those people who can kind of set you straight from time to time when you’re veering off track a little bit so you need a good balance of a good support system with your family and enough friends who can kind of keep you in line.”
Q: Do your personal convictions play into it too?
Rodgers: “Oh yeah, without a doubt, my faith is a very important role in that. It has been for a long time. That’s part of it, I think that kind of lays the foundation, obviously the Bible being a blueprint for how I want to live my life. That’s a pretty good thing to follow. But I think you have to have a balance of that and people in your life who can kind of keep you on the right track.”
Q: Is there any way to prepare for the trappings of stardom?
Rodgers: “I think you can kind of prepare for some of it but there’s so many things that, opportunities and also temptations and then people trying to take advantage of you that you maybe didn’t see. I think when you see it as a young kid you see for me, Michael Jordan and Joe Montana and Steve Young and Jerry Rice and those people I idolized as a kid. You see them on the field. You don’t realize that, although the money and the fame are things that kind of take care of some other things and ease some burdens, open some doors, they also bring a lot of responsibility and a lot of extra worries that you don’t see when you’re a young kid dreaming about being those guys.”
Q: You have at times been brutally honest, like for example after the Pro Bowl you were highly critical of the quality of the game and called it out for what it was. Do you have to pick your spots when you are critical?
Rodgers: “I try and be as honest as I can be, that’s kind of my goal. Now at times you really have to be smart about what you’re saying because in this world with Twitter and Facebook and camera phones and stuff, everything gets up right away. I mean, I can say something in a press conference and already have a bunch of responses on my Twitter about something that was said. So you just have to be smart about what you’re saying. At the same point, I’ve always felt like at times the truth is very important. I’m not whimsical about the things I’m saying. It’s thought out. After the Pro Bowl experience, the things that happened at the hotel, during the week and then in the game, I just thought was so disappointing. Not only myself, the coaching staff that we brought, but to the fans. I mean, I’m sitting there, I bought six tickets as well so I have six people in the stands watching me in the game and I felt I was embarrassed for them so I just felt like it was the right time to say something like that.”
Q: What are you most proud of as you look back on your MVP season?
Rodgers: “The consistency, to really have a stretch there where I wasn’t making a lot of mistakes is just how I want to play. And the wins are obviously the most important thing. To win 14 games as a starter is pretty incredible, the team winning 15, but the consistency. And it took I think four years to really figure out what the Monday through Saturday looked like. And I think that’s why I went into the game Sunday just expecting to play well and I have high expectations, good preparation and a lot of confidence. I think that’s kind of what played out last year.”
Q: You could walk away from the game fulfilled with an MVP season, Super Bowl MVP and championship. Is the hunger still as strong as ever?
Rodgers: “I’d say it’s stronger now and I don’t say that to be cliché-ish. It’s just that when you win a Super Bowl, and I talked to other guys who feel the same way, when you win a Super Bowl, the next year you’re on such a high. You feel like you’re going to go every year, and you’re going to have that experience, and I think when you’re in it you can’t recognize how special that week is, and the previous week as well, when you’re setting up tickets and getting excited about the people who are going to be there watching you, and you’re learning about the events that are going to happen down there. It’s such a special week. Then last year losing in the first round of the playoffs, there’s just that empty feeling of regret that you’re not going to experience that same kind of high the Super Bowl was so I’d say personally that’s what I want. Like you said, I have accomplished a lot individually and now it’s all about winning some more championships.”
Q: You’ve talked in the past about having a long memory and using that as a motivator. Now there aren’t many doubters left to prove wrong. Do you still use that to light a fire?
Rodgers: “I think it’s a little bit less of that now and more of remembering where I came from and remembering the path I took to get here, which the doubters were a part of that. But just remembering the journey and where I came from as a high school player in northern California going to junior college, being a backup at Cal, and remembering the hard work that it took to get to where I am now. That’s kind of more of a motivator than the doubters because I realize as hard as it was to get to this point, it’s going to be just as hard to stay and maintain at this point.”
Q: As you look back at the summer of 2008 (when you replaced Favre as the Packers’ starting quarterback), you heard some of the boo birds. As you look back, did you sense there were a lot of people who didn’t believe in you and didn’t think you could be successful?
Rodgers: “Yeah, there were a bunch of people, whether they said it or not. That was a difficult time for the organization, our fans. I think the sentiment is that the Packers are doing pretty good now with that decision. People look back now, it’s funny how there’s some revisionist history involved with what happened that summer and the Packers’ decision, how it was such a good decision now. But I don’t have any ill will towards other Packer fans or anything that happened that summer. It was such a character growing opportunity I think. It’s easier to say now than back then. But much like I did maybe in ‘08 as I looked back at the 2005 draft, and how difficult that was, but it built character. I look back on that summer of 2008, as difficult as it was, it definitely built a lot of character.”
Q: When you’re finished playing, how do you want to be remembered?
Rodgers: “Well hopefully I’ll be remembered as a great teammate. That’s the most important thing to me. A professional, a guy who took his job really seriously and loved to play the game. And we’ve got one championship under our belts and hopefully we can get a couple more on there and I’ll also be remembered as a guy who was able to lead a team to a lot of wins and be a winner.”
Q: How long do you want to play?
Rodgers: “I think it’s got to be a combination of how my body feels and I’ve said it a few times over the years, when I’m not committed to being a 100 percent offseason guy, then that’s probably when I should step away from the game because these guys deserve 100 percent of my effort and time.”
Q: Are you hoping your future contract talks with the Packers will be smoother than what Drew Brees is going through with the Saints? Do you expect things to go better with the Packers?
Rodgers: “I think they’re an organization who is going to do what’s best for the organization. Obviously my representation, just like any representation, is trying to get the most money possible at times. I don’t see it being an issue. I want to be a Packer for life and I don’t see myself going anywhere else. I don’t think they would even get close to that. When the negotiation time does come I have confidence in my representation and I know we’re going to do a fair deal, it’s fair for them and for me. And hopefully I’ll feel good about it.”
Q: Did it take you a while to get over the playoff loss to the Giants? And what’s your theory on what went wrong?
Rodgers: “It’s always frustrating. But the healing process begins when you’re able to leave, for me, when I’m able to leave Green Bay and get away from it, and kind of get settled into the offseason. It’s still frustrating. It’s not fun to watch the playoffs knowing you want to be in the game instead of at home watching. But that was a case of you’re playing a really good team and you can’t turn the ball over four times. That happens. Unfortunately it happened at the wrong time for us.”
Q: As you look at this 2012 team, are you excited about the potential?
Rodgers: “I think you’ve got to be, the kind of guys we’re going to add to the mix. The free agent guys. The rookie guys. Bringing a guy like Alex Green back into the mix. There’s a lot of young guys fighting for spots. I think Mike (McCarthy) has said it before about the talent level that we have. I’ll take this angle: This will be the most difficult cuts that we’ve had in eight years of me being here. Just because the talent level at certain positions is so high. It’s going to be a very intense camp as far as the battles for positions. You look at our schedule, it’s a difficult schedule. We play the Saints, the Niners, the Giants, three of the top teams in the league, (in) either conference. Obviously our division has improved, with what Chicago has done. Detroit, the run they went on last year. Minnesota is getting older, they should be better this year. It’s always a difficult schedule. The thing I look at is when I think of the schedule, I look at when we’re playing in Chicago, it’s a late game, so that will be a tough one late in the season. So it’s going to be a tough run. What we learned last year was you’ve got to be playing the right way at the end of the season, like we were in 2010 and the Giants were last year.”
Q: What’s the hardest part of your job?
Rodgers: “Turning it off. Finding ways to escape from being on all the time. Having to be in the mindset of that preparation and that focus when I’m at the facility, being able to turn that off. That doesn’t mean just when I get home at 4:30 or whatever. That’s being able to turn it off at midnight when I’m trying to fall asleep and I can’t. That’s probably the hardest part.”
Green Bay Press-Gazette wrote: