Aaron Rodgers: Enigma

I went into this thinking I'd check out the 1st episode, but after that I was hooked. I had to binge it all.

This documentary starts out slow for about the first 15 minutes, but then really starts to get interesting. You get to see what happened behind so many of the biggest media headlines of the past 20 years. From Rodgers' roots playing high school football, to what happened with he replaced Favre, to Jordan Love replacing Rodgers, to his ayahuasca trips, to his darkness retreat, to Rodgers getting traded, to his accelerated Achilles rehab regimen.

It also goes into Rodgers' mindset of how he reached greatness while interviewing several of his former coaches & teammates including Mike McCarthy, David Bakhtiari, Marshawn Lynch, & Matt Lafleur

Even the most locked in, hardcore NFL fans haven't heard this stuff. It was interesting to see how it all played out from the inside.

The documentary takes on an interesting format too, starting out slowly progressing & digressing through 2 entirely different timelines, both culminating at the beginning of the 2024 NFL season. This is a must watch for any NFL fan who wants the inside baseball on how it all played out.

I'll be watching this one again.

9/10.

As a long time fan of Tom Brady I have disliked A. R. for the last 10 years or so. I couldn't comprehend the admiration for a guy who just won 1 Super bowl, and the perception by pundits that he was better than Brady, who won 7. Today that discussion holds no more, but I recognize I couldn't fathom the guy, his decisions and stands on several hot topics. He came across as arrogant, aloof, I-know-all kind of person, and after watching the mini series he agrees to that perception, calling it "the observer", and comparing it to his "ego". The interesting consequence of my watching the documentary is that I realize than I am closer to him as a man than I am to Brady, so there must have been a Jungian bias in my judgment. Now I see AR as a complete man, someone that has much more value than meets the eye, someone that has made a conscient effort to go through a lot of pain and criticism to achieve a better understanding of himself, and therefore improve as a human being. The documentary finds the right balance between the player and the man, and does it in a very accurate way. Highly recommendable (except if you don't like the NFL)

7.3 stars.

I was intrigued by this documentary. I wanted to see inside the mind of Aaron Rodgers, and I think this is probably what he believes. This is a look inside the mind of Aaron Rodgers from the perspective of Aaron Rodgers.

What do you expect? He is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. If he had three championship rings, half the people out there would say that he is the GOAT. But since he was unable to secure those special accolades that only a Super Bowl can provide, except the one time, he is immediately tossed aside, and put into the pile of other great quarterbacks, but not the best of the best, top five quarterbacks.

Arguably he is in the top five. Look at how many quarterbacks won MVP four times. All you need to do is look. Peyton Manning has five, AR is second with four. But if you count quarterback rating as the number one indicator, Aaron Rodgers by far is the best QB of all time. And yet, if you look at all the top 10 QB all time lists, he's not even in the top five. You can't ignore the stats. This guy is in the top 2 or 3 of all time, most definitely top 5.

Most likely his downfall is that when it came to the extreme pressure, he didn't quite have what Tom Brady and Joe Montana have. But if you look at his overall stats, he far surpasses them both. So where do you draw the line?

Ok, so he's arrogant. Most of them are, but because of the 2020 debacle, his image is tarnished forever? Credit where credit is due. They are almost all arrogant, it goes with the territory. You would be too, especially if you had difficulty sorting out real friends from fake ones. That sort of life makes a person arrogant. They have to work on getting past that difficulty. What we see as arrogance is merely a facade of an extremely talented person putting a protective bubble around himself.

Enigma is not the most objective documentary you will ever find (if you want more of that, read Ian O'Connor's "Out of the Darkness" tome). To a certain extent, it trades Aaron Rodgers' involvement for a little bit of narrative-shaping. But I was still enthralled by Enigma because it allows Rodgers to tell his story in his own words-not clickbait headlines-and he always gives a thoughtful accounting (whether you ascribe to the exact same beliefs being somewhat immaterial).

For a very basic overview, Enigma focuses on the "present" of Rodgers rehabbing from his 2023 Achilles tear as a member of the New York Jets. While seeing him navigate one of the quickest rehab processes for that injury in NFL history, doc directors Gotham Chopra & Liam Hughes flash back to relevant Rodgers' life moments-high school, college, NFL draft, Brett Favre relationship, Packers dominant QB ascendence-to allow him to tell his story. Supplementing Rodgers' own thoughts are interview snippets from the likes of Mike McCarthy, David Bakhtiari, Matt LaFleur, Davante Adams, Nathaniel Hackett, Brett Favre, Matt Flynn, and many others who have/had personal or professional relationships with Aaron.

If you only know Rodgers as "the guy who does psychedelics and sits in darkness", the first thing that will immediately "pop" in this doc is how physically talented at football Rodgers is and how much adversity he battled to get to where he is from a dominance perspective. He was smaller-than-average, he wasn't recruited by a major college, he had the most embarrassing draft day in NFL history, Favre basically shunned him, and he himself was shown the Green Bay exit a little before his time. But through all that, Rodgers developed an intense confidence/focus that allowed him to become one of the best NFL quarterbacks of all-time.

Of course, the more sensitive topics are discussed here as well: family foibles, darkness retreats, ayahuasca use, vaccine stances, and political involvements. Like anywhere else in life, I can't promise you'll like-or even respect, in some cases-Aaron's stance or inclusion within these topics. But at very least you will be hearing it "straight from the horse's mouth", and there is a lot of value to that. Regardless of what you think about Rodgers' life choices, his thought processes on those issues have clearly been given much thought and help him work through life issues as a quasi-celebrity. In a way that many athletes simply cannot, Rodgers brings a thoughtfulness, curiosity, and open-mindedness to his personal journeys.

I completely understand how and why Enigma could be a little "triggering" in the current age of extreme political/societal sensitivity. You likely won't agree with everything Rodgers has to say here. But hearing those thoughts straight from the source rather than twisted/utilized by clickbait sites or sports "talking heads" is refreshing and may soften the image of Rodgers you currently harbor in your mind. At very least, Enigma represents a chance for him to tell "his side of the story" in relatively unfiltered fashion.

I loved the flow of this documentary on 4 time NFL MVP and Super Bowl-winning NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers. We've seen a lot on how pro athletes, particularly NFL players, often struggle with injuries and life after their bodies or minds can no longer perform at the required level.

I like how Aaron is handling this inevitability. I also like how the documentary exposes the way the media and strangers will vilify you based on half-truths. The message is, "if you feel the need to judge, first look that person in the eye and spend time with them, because your opinion might be full of shit." I've experienced the same. Sometimes others have an agenda like selling clickbait, other times people want to simplify by dividing others into some artificial and binary good or bad.

In any case, it does nothing to help anyone move forward and navigate a fulfilling life. The spiritual component of this series is really cool and NEEDED!