Aaron Rodgers left with little time to fix sketchy playoff record with Packers on the slide

The Green Bay Packers are on a slide and Aaron Rodgers seems unable to halt it. The Packers have a 4-8 record this season and Rodgers is dealing with thumb and rib injuries. In the last game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he went off injured and Jordan Love came in. Love played well enough to suggest he should get more of a look in.

The Packers' current record makes it increasingly unlikely that they will make it to the playoffs this season. The Minnesota Vikings are 9-2 and for the Packers to win the NFC North, they would have to win all their games and hope the Vikings lose all of theirs. This looks extremely unlikely.

From a Wild Card perspective, they are behind the Detroit Lions in their division. All the teams from the NFC East have a better record, as do the Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons. That's a lot of dominoes to fall in place for the Green Bay Packers to make it to the postseason. Simply put, the Packers being there at the business end of the season looks unlikely.

That has profound implications for Aaron Rodgers. There has already been chatter about replacing him with Jordan Love this season given their near-hopeless situation of making the playoffs. If he keeps playing through injuries, there is a chance he might further aggravate them.

Rodgers has thrown nine interceptions this season, his highest since 2010 with five games still left to go. He has just 21 touchdowns this season. His play has dropped considerably and he looks far removed from the player who won back-to-back MVPs in the last two seasons.

With his production declining this year, there is no guarantee he will be back next year, especially if Jordan Love replaces him. If that happens, Aaron Rodgers will lose his chance to rectify one glaring weakness in his career: his playoff record. In the last two seasons, despite winning the MVP, he failed in home postseason games and could not make it to the Super Bowl.

Except for the year he won the Super Bowl, Aaron Rodgers has never made it back to the big game in his career. He has fallen short 10 times in the playoffs. His interception rate has been much higher in the postseason, despite having a quarterback rating of 100.1 in all those games. Rodgers has 13 interceptions in just 22 playoff games. This is an itch he would like to scratch.

Given the Packers' struggles this season and Aaron Rodgers' own declining output, he might not get any more chances to put it right. He will turn 39 years old this year and (for any quarterback not named Tom Brady) that is well past the prime age. It just does not look likely that he will be able to turn this around.

Will Jordan Love spell the end of Aaron Rodgers at Green Bay?

Eighteen seasons ago, the Green Bay Packers drafted Aaron Rodgers as the backup to Brett Favre. He sat behind the Hall-of-Famer for three seasons before getting his chance to shine when Favre went out injured. He never looked back since then, establishing himself as the franchise quarterback for the Packers.

Now, life seems to have come full circle for him, with Rodgers going out injured and Jordan Love replacing him in the game against the Philadelphia Eagles. Love completed six out of his nine passing attempts, with one touchdown pass and no interceptions. That gave him a passer rating of 146.8.

The Packers might yet fix their disappointment with failing in the playoffs in recent seasons. But whether Jordan Love is the man leading them instead of Aaron Rodgers has now become the big question.

Keep an eye on the build-up to Week 13's matchup with the Chicago Bears, for there may be some interesting developments.