It has been more than a year since Aaron Rodgers left the Green Bay Packers and signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but the bitter feeling still lingers. Rodgers’ former mentor, Matt LaFleur, putting Jordan Love above Rodgers is what rubbed the former Green Bay quarterback the wrong way, and he called LaFleur out. 

“He’s probably still mad I changed too many of his plays,” Rodgers said, laughing on Wilde and Tausch on ESPN Wisconsin. “Big statement when you had a guy win back-to-back MVPs. Guess I wasn’t doing too much at the LOS [line of scrimmage]. Matt is a clown, man. He says some things from time to time that are funny, and then he [goes] ‘oh, maybe I shouldn’t have said that!’ He’s backing up his quarterback. I’m sure J-Love is real good at the line of scrimmage, but c’mon man.”

The tension escalated after LaFleur praised Love’s pre-snap adjustments, comparing him favorably to Rodgers.

“He’s got to be the best I’ve been around in terms of protections and adjustments,” LaFleur said of Love on NFL Network on August 10. “Rarely does he get out-schemed. It’s pretty remarkable. That was all foreign to him coming into the league. Having the opportunity to sit back and learn from Aaron [Rodgers], watch him do it at the level he did it was invaluable for him.”

Obviously, this did not sit well with Rodgers, who holds four NFL MVP honors, that too under LaFleur. Rodgers also holds a Super Bowl ring and Super Bowl MVP award. It can be assumed that LaFleur made his comment because of Rodgers’ affinity for Mike McCarthy’s offense. LaFleur’s scheme differs from McCarthy’s West Coast offense, which Rodgers has called “the most beautiful offense in football.”

Unlike LaFleur, who puts Rodgers in the backseat, McCarthy has always been vocal about how good of a pre-snap quarterback Rodgers is. 

“In the early years (in Green Bay), we were definitely more pre-snap motion and shifting,” said McCarthy back in 2020. “But as your offense changes, you have to evolve. And really a lot of the credit goes to Aaron because of his ability to recognize defenses and have an understanding at the line of scrimmage. (That) is something as an offense and a staff that we felt we wanted to tap into.” 

Rodgers posted the lowest single-season passer rating of his Packers career (as a starter) in 2022, i.e., 91.1, even after they went back to Rodgers’ comfort zone, relying heavily on shotgun. That 2022 decline may have prompted LaFleur to highlight Love’s strength.

On the other hand, Love ranked 2nd in EPA per dropback in 2025, putting him in a strong position for the 2026 season.

With Love thriving and LaFleur’s praise still fresh, Rodgers enters 2026 with dual motivation: to win a Super Bowl in his last run and show LaFleur that he is a better quarterback than Love.