'Help Us Aaron Rodgers, You're Our Only Hope': Can Jets QB Dethrone Chiefs' Dynasty?
Can anyone stop the Kansas City Chiefs now? Or are they just a dynasty with no hope for any other franchise across the NFL?
That's the question fans, analysts, and 31 other organizations will be asking themselves for the next few months after Patrick Mahomes and company won their third title in five years with a 25-22 overtime victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
It hasn't mattered who has gotten in the way of the now three-time Super Bowl MVP and two-time NFL MVP, Mahomes has shown that the class of starting quarterbacks in the league now begins with his name firmly supplanted at the top.
Can anyone stop them?
There just might be one. And the quarterback in charge can draw comparisons to another old wizard of his trade.
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In George Lucas' 1977 Sci-Fi epic "Star Wars" fans are delighted to see a young Carrie Fisher playing a captured Princess Leia trying to pass along plans to defeat a seemingly invincible enemy in Darth Vader and the Empire. Leia sends a message to an old Jedi Obi-Wan-Kenobi to...well, everyone knows the story by now.
The fact is that Leia's plea for help from an aging Jedi could very well be similar to what the NFL could be doing.
And it's the New York Jets that are going to need to answer the call in 2024.
On paper, you wouldn't expect Gang Green to be able to handle a dynastic juggernaut like the Chiefs. After all, star quarterbacks like Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, and Lamar Jackson have all lost playoff games to Mahomes and the KC run.
But the Jets have an ace up their sleeve that, when healthy, might just be the one thing Mahomes and company could struggle with.
A dominant defense with an all-time great quarterback.
People will question four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers' health after tearing his Achilles four plays into his Jets opener last September, but the quarterback has been as motivated as ever to get back with the team and play at a high level in 2024. Pairing Rodgers with a defense that finished in the top 10 for a second straight year could be the one thing that could stop Kansas City's run.
Of course, there will be detractors to this kind of comment. Detractors point to New York's horrific offensive production in 2023 due to poor quarterback play, a bad offensive line, and little to no skilled players outside of Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall.
That's the beauty of free agency, though. The Jets should have enough cap space to greatly improve the offense without having to sacrifice their dynamic defense. They also have the draft and the 10th overall pick - plenty of ammo to improve their already talented roster.
New York has missed the playoffs the last 13 years, but the last two haven't been a case of them not being talented enough. They were good enough to catch the eye of a future Hall-of-Famer in Rodgers despite finishing 7-10. Injuries, and poor quarterback play, were the causes of their demise.
That was simply the case when the Jets played a hard-fought 23-20 loss to the Chiefs in October. Former second-overall pick Zach Wilson dominated a strong unit in Kansas City while the Jets' defense picked off Mahomes twice with a third one being called back for a holding call late in the game.
If the Jets can hang tough with Wilson as the starting quarterback, then they certainly can contend when Rodgers is their starter.
So that's where we are at now as we head into the 2024 offseason. Several All-Pro level quarterbacks have tried to take their best shot at the three-time champs now. All of them have seemingly failed.
Perhaps the best chance to unseat the back-to-back champs from being the first team to three-peat since the Vince Lombardi Packers might just be a message to the lone old-gunslinger from a bygone age.
In that regard, Leia's paraphrased plea might be the perfect request needed for the Jets to reach a goal they haven't met since the 1960s.
Help us, Aaron Rodgers. You're our only hope...for the entire NFL.
