Is Aaron Rodgers the best quarterback left in the playoffs?

The one position on a football team that is considered to be the face of the franchise and can determine how far you go in the playoffs in the NFL is at quarterback. Even though the quarterback position is an extremely vital part of the football team in this league, there only a few QBs in the NFL that are considered elite.

Usually teams in the NFL can’t go far in the playoffs without a lockdown defense, but the same could be said for the offense and a talented quarterback.

Coming into the NFL Conference championships, there are just four quarterbacks left that are just one win away from making it to the Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas this February.

Here is a breakdown of the four remaining QBs and my opinion on which one is the best of the rest:

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Mark Sanchez, New York Jets

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The New York Jets have been a football team that lives and dies with their defense. Every single season they seem to have one of the best lockdown defense is in the league, but struggle on offense which ultimately becomes their Achilles’ heel come playoff time.

The last two seasons though, the Jets have finally been able to play well on the offensive side of the football as they have a quarterback that could be the next Joe Namath under center.

Fresh out of one of the best college football programs in the nation, Mark Sanchez took it was considered a good quarterback but not a great quarterback compared to others like Matt Ryan and Matthew Stafford.

Despite lot of people doubting this kid’s ability to playing on the NFL level, Sanchez has only gotten better with every passing game as he is quickly becoming undisputed leader of the New York Jets.

With two consecutive appearances in the AFC Championship game, Mark Sanchez has started to get recognized as one of the better quarterbacks in this league, but only a Super Bowl ring would put him in elite company.

Jay Cutler, Chicago Bears

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Much like the New York Jets, the Chicago Bears have been known for their play on the defensive side of the football. With players like Brian Urlacher and the newly acquired Julius Peppers, the defense gets a lot of credit for the Bears’ success, but this season it has been the play of Chicago’s offense that has started to turn heads around the league.

Before last season, Chicago Bears made a bold move by finally bringing in a Pro Bowl caliber quarterback in Jay Cutler from the Denver Broncos. Even though Cutler’s first season under center for the Bears was an absolute nightmare, this year he has improved his game and cut down his interceptions considerably.

Earlier in the season, the Bears offensive line struggled to protect Cutler and that was considered to being the Bears’ biggest weakness this season, but despite their problems on the offense in line, Chicago has been able to make it all away to the NFC Championship game against the arch rival Green Bay Packers.

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Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers

The Pittsburgh Steelers are one of the few teams in the league that always seemed to be playoff bound every single season no matter what changes they make during the off-season. Last year was a bit of a bump in the road for the Steelers as they failed to defend their Super Bowl title by not even making the playoffs, but being banged up the entire year with some key injuries on both sides of the football was just too much for this team to overcome.

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This season Mike Tomlin’s squad have been able to turn things around as they got back to elite status in the NFL and have been able to get back into the AFC Championship game where they will face off against the New York Jets.

Of all four quarterbacks on this list, Ben Roethlisberger is by far the most successful and the only one with a Super Bowl ring. Not only has Big Ben won a Super Bowl, but he has two to his credit already and he is still considered to be a young player with a lot of years left in him.

Big Ben may be the most successful and could be playing on the best team at of all four left in the playoffs right now, but I still believe the edge goes to Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers.

Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers came into this NFL regular season with high hopes of winning the NFC North division title and make it all away to the Super Bowl, but injuries to key players have really set this team back as they struggled to stay in playoff contention all year long.

Fortunately, despite losing players like running back Ryan Grant and tight end Jermichael Finley, the Green Bay Packers have made it all the way to the NFC Championship game against the division rival Chicago Bears.

The main reason for the Packers success this season and throughout the playoffs so far has been extremely impressive play of perennial Pro Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Despite getting a lot of grief for being the quarterback to take over for Packers legend Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers has been able to live up to expectations so far and in some people’s opinions have surpassed expectations.

Heading into the NFC Championship game, I believe that Aaron Rodgers is by far the best quarterback left in the playoffs as he is the only one of the four that can hurt a defense with both his legs and his arm. Big Ben has been known to scramble, but not like Rodgers as the Packers’ QB can be virtually unstoppable at times under center.