Aaron Rodgers had unexpected reaction to lone Super Bowl win with Packers

While Aaron Rodgers is undeniably an all-time great who will eventually become a first-ballot Hall of Famer, he nevertheless guided the Green Bay Packers to only a single Super Bowl championship during his tenure with the organization that ran from the 2005 NFL Draft through the 2022 season. 

In the "Aaron Rodgers: Enigma" Netflix documentary that debuted on Tuesday, he shared the interesting reaction he had to leading the Packers to their Super Bowl XLV victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in February 2011. 

"It was a special night, but kind of weird what happened afterwards. There wasn’t a great party," Rodgers said, per Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post. "You’re kind of exhausted, you’re sitting on the bus. It’s one in the morning. You just accomplished the greatest thing ever. You’re like, 'D--- that was cool, now what?' Now I’ve accomplished the only thing that I really, really wanted to do in my life. Now, what? I was like, 'Did I aim at the wrong thing or did I spend too much time thinking about stuff that ultimately doesn’t give you true happiness?'" 

At the time, it felt like a matter of when and not if Rodgers and the Packers would again play on Super Bowl Sunday. However, it now seems he'll only appear at another Super Bowl as a spectator or an honored guest. 

From January 2015 through January 2021, Rodgers and the Packers went 0-4 in NFC Championship Game appearances. It's unclear if the four-time regular-season MVP, who turned 41 years old in December, will look to continue playing next season.

"Dealing with success is one of the greatest teachers in life because it can knock you on your a-- a bunch, make you question a lot of things, make you try and figure out who you are. I was definitely looking for other ways to kind of fill up that hole inside," Rodgers added. "It’s something I wrestled with for many, many years. I had this feeling like, 'OK, is this going to be the only thing I ever accomplish in life? Can I love myself if this is all I’ve ever done?'"

Over the past few years, Rodgers had tried to "fill up that hole inside" with his much-publicized use of ayahuasca, a plant-based psychedelic tea, and also via "darkness retreats" such as one he completed before he orchestrated his trade from the Packers to the Jets in the spring of 2023. 

If nothing else, it seems like Rodgers doesn't agree with Tom Brady about relating life stresses to a lack of Super Bowl rings.