It has been an up-and-down first few weeks for Aaron Rodgers, but Sunday’s great performance against the Detroit Lions has him back on the upswing. The Green Bay Packers’ quarterback threw for 205 yards and four touchdowns in week three, posting a passer rating of 129.3 and firmly establishing him and the Packers’ offense back among the NFL’s elite.
Rodgers’ great game was noticed by many observers, including those in charge of weekly awards - he is one of three players nominated for the FedEx Air player of the week award. However, another group whom Rodgers impressed is the sportsbooks in Las Vegas.
One week ago, Rodgers had only the third-best odds to win the NFL MVP award for 2016. After his slow start, Rodgers’ odds sat at 9:1 and he was behind favorite Ben Roethlisberger (7:2) and Cam Newton (4:1) in the third spot. As of today, however, Rodgers’ odds have been cut in half, as he is now at 9:2 to win; Roethlisberger and Newton both saw their odds lengthen to 6:1.
Rodgers, of course, has won the MVP award twice, following the 2011 and 2014 seasons. Those two years featured his career-high season marks in touchdown percentage - he threw a score on 9.0% of his passes in 2011 and 7.3% in 2014. After three games, Rodgers’ rate of 7 scores on 94 attempts is good for 7.4%, eclipsing that of 2014 (albeit in a much smaller sample size).
Meanwhile, the Packers did not see a significant change in their overall odds for success this season; they remain at 8:1 to win the Super Bowl and 4:1 to win the NFC Championship. Interestingly, however, their odds to win the NFC North got a little worse, going from 5:8 (-160) up to 2:3 (-150). This coincided with the Vikings’ win over the Panthers, which moved them from 8:5 (+160) down to 5:4 (+125).
All odds are provided by Bovada.