GREEN BAY, Wis. — It could have been my imagination, manipulated as it was during a peculiar week, but the out-of-the-tunnel cheers for Aaron Rodgers sure seemed a little louder Saturday night.

It’s a good bet Rodgers didn’t notice a funhouse no longer dividable. And that’s the thing about the guy. Nothing ever seems to invade his consciousness. If the whole Brett Favre weirdness that engulfed his external world didn’t shake his Buddha-like resolve in a 2008 in which he took ownership of the position with elite-level numbers, he’s probably good to go for his career in the between-the-earholes characteristic that separates the good quarterbacks from the special ones.
Accustomed as they were to No. 4’s mental resolve all those years, the Lambeau faithful recognize and acknowledge such a quality when they see it. As for Rodgers’ physical skills, the talent that already has him on more than a few NFL personnel evaluators’ A-list, there was plenty to recognize once more.
It’s bordering on the absurd, the notion that the Packers could be blessed with that kind of uninterrupted quarterbacking well into a third decade, but Rodgers is again giving reason to consider the possibilities.
He was so sharp in the preseason walkover against the Buffalo Bills that his performance cut deeper still into the Favre sideshow, so deeply, in fact, that only the terminally nostalgic care anymore. In the here and now, the Packers still have their guy.
On a night when the mistake-forcing defense continued to make revival-tent noise, Rodgers’ presence was commanding in the quarter-plus he played. The only pass he didn’t complete of nine thrown was dropped. The way Rodgers made them pay for their turnovers, the Buffalonians were of the mind of shuffling on back well before halftime.
From the Buffalo 5-yard line, Rodgers looked right, then left, then drilled a scoring pass to Greg Jennings. Later, he found his newest best friend, precocious tight end Jermichael Finley, for 18 and 21 yards, and then an old one, Donald Driver, for 21 more. And then, zap, Rodgers split a defender and an end-zone marker to reacquaint himself with Driver.
“You see his consistency,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said, “but that play to Driver was big-time. That’s the type of plays that win games.”
Suddenly, the distance from Green Bay to Minneapolis increased from 277 miles to 277,000.
Look, enough wasted energy was expended last week, and it’s pointless to take much from a couple of Friday and Saturday exhibitions. Until Oct. 5, it’s enough to say that the Vikings and the Packers have satisfied the question a lot of teams would kill to answer.
But it is worth mentioning that Rodgers’ body age is somewhere south of the 25 years on his odometer. Physically, he’s not the same person he was out of Cal four years ago. He’s stronger, leaner.
As for the mental-toughness issue that went away when he played through a bum shoulder last season, the air of determination about Rodgers is more apparent. If Matt Flynn is out, it needs to be there even more.
Whether Rodgers is encroaching on Roethlisberger or Manning territory as a young quarterback to build around, it’s meaningless to speculate until he wins. Six-and-10 wasn’t because of the quarterback, but it had an unwarranted way of reflecting on the quarterback. It will take the playoffs this year to expunge the perception.
As happy as the Packers have to be with their retooled defense and the emerging tandem at running back, their confidence remains steadfast with Rodgers.
“He’s primed for a big year,” McCarthy said.