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Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff Writer
Aaron Rodgers’ return season will begin in prime time on September 9th as the New York Jets take on the San Francisco 49ers on ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” against the defending NFC champions. It was done.
This will be the second consecutive season that Rodgers and the Jets will play a prime-time game in Week 1. In his Jets debut on September 11th of last year, Rodgers, a four-time MVP, tore his left Achilles tendon, a season-changing disaster for the Jets. He missed the rest of the season on the fourth snap.
It’s a fascinating quarterback matchup as Rodgers faces 2022 Mr. Irrelevant Brock Purdy, who has become one of the NFL’s biggest success stories. The 49ers lost in Super Bowl III to the Kansas City Chiefs, 25-22, in overtime.
Rodgers was injured last season after being sacked by then-Buffalo Bills pass rusher Leonard Floyd. Against the 49ers, Rodgers will have to turn his attention back to Floyd, who signed with San Francisco this offseason.
The Jets are coming off a 7-10 season marred by quarterback instability.
Rodgers has a 6-3 overall record against the 49ers. This is a homecoming of sorts for Rogers, who grew up in Chico, Calif., and attended the University of California, Berkeley. In 2005, Rodgers thought he could be drafted No. 1 overall by the 49ers, but they selected Alex Smith.
The two coaching staffs have a strong bond. Jets coach Robert Saleh served as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator under Kyle Shanahan before joining the Jets in 2021. Jets defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich is a former 49ers linebacker who the 49ers expressed interest in hiring as defensive coordinator after last season.
