Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has sent a pretty firm message to the rest of the NFC North ahead of the 2022 NFL season. 

After 207 days, the NFL returns tonight and will see the Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams host the team that many believe to be the favourites for this season, the Buffalo Bills. 

But whilst they kick off tonight, the rest of the league will have to wait until this weekend (Monday night if you’re the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos), and that means that we have to wait a couple more days until we see the reigning, defending NFL MVP take the stage. 

Aaron Rodgers is arguably the one man who can consider himself close to challenging Tom Brady as the title of ‘G.O.A.T’ in the NFL in recent years, cementing the Green Bay Packers as a perennial challenger for the Super Bowl, although only managing to win that title the once, back in 2010.

This year will arguably be no different for the Cheeseheads. Having come off back-to-back seasons of Rodgers winning MVP, the first player to do so since Peyton Manning did it in 2008 and 2009, and securing the #1 seed in the NFC, it would take a significant drop in play from them and Rodgers for them to not be among the contenders come the end of the regular season, even if they have lost key wide receiver Davante Adams.

The Packers start their season off this Sunday on the road against their NFC North rivals the Minnesota Vikings in a contest that could go some way to deciding the division winner. But even if the Packers do stumble out of the gate, Rodgers seems pretty confident that his team will still be kings of the North when all is said and done.

What has he said? 

Speaking to reporters ahead of the clash, Rodgers was talking about how the fans of the other teams in the division believe that this could be the year that he and the Packers might take a step back and let someone else win the division, but that he was pretty confident in his belief that it wouldn’t be the case:

For clarity, since Rodgers became the starter in 2008, the Packers have won 8 NFC North titles, with the Vikings on 4 and the Chicago Bears on 2, so Rodgers has a point, although it’s not as dominant as he might portray, it’s not as if they’ve won 10 with the others on 1 apiece.

But it goes to show the level of confidence that Rodgers has in him and his team to deliver this season. Now we just wait and see if he’ll be able to back it up.