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We don’t know yet if Aaron Rodgers will finally shuffle loose the NFL coil, but I, for one, hope he does.
Not because his best years are behind him, though they are, but because he’s become a negative force in our culture. A black hole of smug, faux-intellectualism, who simultaneously makes everything about him while also playing the victim when convenient.
He is very much the kind of man for the moment we find ourselves in.
Rodgers’s reputation started souring several years ago when he became one of the public faces of anti-vax and anti-science sentiments during the COVID-19 pandemic, all while he was also in a cold war with the Green Bay Packers over his future. His appearances on The Pat McAfee Show are now the stuff of legend. So are his appearances on many conspiracy theory podcasts.
He’s also crafted a relationship with the media that can best be described as a pre-pubescent boy flirting with a girl by punching her in the arm and then shaming her publicly when she asks if he likes her.
The four-time NFL MVP quarterback and Super Bowl champion’s media rivalry pièce de résistance might just be the mystery surrounding his marriage, which somehow lasted an entire NFL season.
During a December 2024 appearance on The Pat McAfee Show, Rodgers casually mentioned he was dating a woman named Brittani (he specifically spelled it out) but offered no further details. Then, this past June, the 41-year-old was seen sporting a ring on his left ring finger at Steelers practice, telling reporters that he’d gotten married “a couple months ago.”
Beyond that, Rodgers not only refused to provide further details but also scolded the media and public for wanting to know more. “It’s a sick society, isn’t it?” he pondered during a McAfee appearance. “My private life is staying private. The entitlement to information about my private life is so f*cking ridiculous and embarrassing.”
Loose lips sink ships, and Rodgers also let it slip in August that his sister-in-law’s name is Mia as part of an anecdote about why he decided to join the Steelers.
Speculation ran so rampant that rumors ran wild that she was actually an artificial intelligence chatbot. What it says about Aaron Rodgers that this was a believable outcome to so many people, we will leave to you to decide.
Still, whether no one was able to figure it out or because his ornery warnings were respected, the mystery of Rodgers’ wife remained.
Until this week. Sort of.
On Tuesday, Madeline Hill and Charlotte Wilder of The Sports Gossip Show announced they had almost certainly figured out the identity of Rodgers’ wife. Capitalizing on the breadcrumbs the quarterback left along the way, they pieced together who is who and are fairly confident about it, though they have no plans to announce the specifics (unless Brittani decides she’d like to reach out and come on the podcast).
Beyond that, Hill and Wilder said they also don’t want to publicly announce their findings because, in doing so, they would be giving the cantankerous Rodgers exactly what they think he’s been wanting this whole time.
“I will say that it seems to me that Aaron Rodgers would like nothing more than for us to dox his wife and her sisters so that he can say, ‘Look, the media is awful and inappropriate and out to get me,’ even though I would argue he has given the public just enough information to be able to find them,” said Wilder. “He’s baiting media. He’s giving breadcrumbs that are going to make people curious and then preparing to use that as ammo to get mad at them if they find out where the trail of the breadcrumbs ends up.
“We think he’s just waiting for someone to put the pieces together so he can get mad at them. So we’re not going to give him the satisfaction of telling you what the pieces are, except that we’re pretty sure she’s real.”
We at Awful Announcing have been documenting Aaron Rodgers’ media appearances and comments for many years now, and everything they said checks out. Rodgers has created an endless ragebait loop for himself: he discusses topics publicly or shares intimate details, then scolds the media (and the general public) for caring so much. It’s an unwinnable game to play with such a public figure, especially one who goes out of their way to give people things to talk about.
While the name of his Netflix documentary is “Enigma,” Rodgers is anything but. He’s a troll working under the guise of “a concerned citizen.” He acts as if he’s leading a grand societal experiment to uncover the darkness at the heart of media when he’s really just an egomaniac desperate for attention and control.
Again, he is very much the kind of man for the moment we find ourselves in.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.