page_title: Aaron Rodgers
section_title: 2009
hierarchical_section_title: Aaron Rodgers / Professional career / 2009
caption_attribution_description: Seattle vs. Green Bay • December 27, 2009 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
context_page_description: Aaron Charles Rodgers is an American football quarterback for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League. Rodgers played college football at California, where he set several career passing records, including lowest single-season and career interception rates. He was selected in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft by the Packers.
  After backing up Brett Favre for the first three years of his NFL career, Rodgers became the Packers' starting quarterback in 2008. In 2010, he led them to a victory in Super Bowl XLV over the Pittsburgh Steelers, earning the Super Bowl MVP. He was named Associated Press Athlete of the Year in 2011, and was voted league MVP by the Associated Press for the 2011 and 2014 NFL seasons.
  Rodgers has led the NFL four times in touchdown-to-interception ratio; and four times in lowest passing interception percentage, twice in passer rating, touchdown passing percentage; and once in touchdown passes and yards per attempt.
  Rodgers is the NFL's all-time regular season career passer rating leader and is one of two quarterbacks to have a regular season career passer rating of over 100, the other being Russell Wilson.
context_section_description: For the opening game of the 2009 season, Rodgers recorded his first win in a comeback situation. The Packers were trailing at the beginning of the fourth quarter when Rodgers completed a fifty-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Greg Jennings with about a minute remaining in the game to contribute to the 21–15 victory over the Chicago Bears.
  Rodgers was named NFC Offensive Player of the Month for October 2009, when he passed for 988 yards, completed 74.5 percent of his passes, and recorded a passer rating over 110 for all three games played during the month.
  After a 4–4 start to the season and a 38–28 loss to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team began to heat up. Rodgers led the Packers to five straight wins, in which he threw for a total of 1,324 yards, nine touchdowns, and two interceptions. Rodgers and the Packers won two of their last three games, finishing the second half of the season with a 7–1 record and an overall 11–5 record; good enough to secure a wild card playoff berth and clinch the fifth seed in the playoffs.
  The Packers set a new franchise record by scoring 461 total points (third in the league), breaking the previous record held by the 1996 Super Bowl team (456). Rodgers became the first quarterback in NFL history ever to throw for 4,000 yards in both of his first two years as a starter. He finished the season fourth in passing yards (4,434), touchdown passes (30), passer rating (103.2), and yards per attempt (8.2) as well as eighth in completion percentage (64.7%), while also coming second among quarterbacks in rushing yards (316). His passing yardage made him second all-time in Packers history, behind only Lynn Dickey's all-time single-season record. His passer rating of 103.2 was also third-highest in team history at the time, behind only Bart Starr's 105.0 rating in 1966 and 104.3 rating in 1968 (minimum 150 attempts).
  In the Wild Card Round, the Packers played the Arizona Cardinals, the same team they had previously beaten the week before, 33–7. Rodgers and Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner put on a show that later ranked second on NFL Network's Top 10 Quarterback Duels. Rodgers' first pass was intercepted by Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. Rodgers settled down after that miscue, however, and finished the game completing 28 of 42 passes for 423 yards, with four touchdown passes all in a second-half comeback. His 423 passing yards are the most by any quarterback in his first playoff game as well as his four touchdown passes and five total touchdowns. Kurt Warner shredded the Packers' second-ranked defense, completing 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards, five touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 154.1. Despite Rodgers' offensive efforts, the Packers lost the game when he fumbled on a controversial play in overtime. The ball was returned by Karlos Dansby for the winning touchdown in the 51–45 Cardinals victory. It was the highest scoring playoff game in NFL history.
  Due to his regular-season performance, Rodgers earned a trip to his first Pro Bowl as the NFC's third quarterback, behind Drew Brees and Brett Favre. However, after Favre dropped out due to injury and Brees was replaced due to his participation in Super Bowl XLIV, Rodgers became the NFC's starter. He finished the day with 15 of 19 passing, 197 yards and two touchdowns.
caption: Rodgers in 2009, before a snap
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