EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- In perhaps the final game of his NFL career, New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw his 500th touchdown, delivered his best performance of the season and walked off the field with close friend Davante Adams, looking and sounding as if he's at peace with the prospect of never playing again.
"I just need some time away to think about my future in the game and my future here if they want me to be a part of the next phase or be ready to move on," Rodgers said after throwing four touchdown passes in the Jets' 32-20 victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday at MetLife Stadium. "Either way, I'm thankful for my two years here."
If this was his finale, it was a storybook ending to a horror novel.
It was a bitterly disappointing season for the Jets (5-12), with Rodgers admittedly not playing up to his standard. But for 60 minutes in the cold, the 41-year-old looked like a young Rodgers from his Green Bay Packers days, extending plays with his feet and making magic out of seemingly hopeless situations.
Rodgers threw his 500th, 501st, 502nd and 503rd career touchdowns, becoming only the fifth player in history in the 500 club. He joined Tom Brady (649), Drew Brees (571), Peyton Manning (539) and former teammate Brett Favre (508).
The scores went to Tyler Conklin (five yards), Allen Lazard (13 yards), Adams (four yards) and Breece Hall (six yards), respectively. All but the Lazard touchdown came on plays in which Rodgers was on the move, improvising off platform -- the hallmark of his game.
After catching No. 500, Conklin handed the football to Rodgers, cracking a joke in the end zone. He asked Rodgers how much the ball would fetch if he kept it for himself and sold it.
"He said, 'A lot,' and then I handed it to him," Conklin said.
Rodgers said the milestone touchdown was "kind of like an old school, red zone touchdown like we did for so long in Green Bay. When the play breaks down, just move around in the pocket and guys keep working."
Rodgers, who has struggled at times throughout the season, passed for 274 yards, completing 23 of 36 passes. He's under contract for 2025, but a return to the Jets seems unlikely. They will have a new general manager and new coach, and probably will want to start over at quarterback. The four-time MVP has maintained for weeks that he's undecided about whether he wants to play.
"I know I can still play," he said. "I know I can still do the things I need to do to be successful. It just comes down to the desire on their side and then, ultimately, my desire to play, kind of take some time mentally and physically to rest and relax."
The ending had the feel of his final game as a Packer in 2022. That night, he walked off the field at Lambeau alongside close friend Randall Cobb, who played for the Jets last season. Cobb returned to MetLife to watch Sunday's game and was with Rodgers on the field after the game, but this time the future Hall of Famer exited with Adams, another link to his Green Bay days.
"After what we went through this year ... I think we owed it to each other, him being such a great friend to me," Adams said. "I feel like that made most sense, us walking out together today."
"It was cool," Rodgers said of his walk off with Adams.
Rodgers and Adams made some history when Rodgers found him in the back of the end zone. It was their 83rd touchdown connection, moving them into third place on the all-time list of quarterback and wide receiver tandems, behind Peyton Manning/Marvin Harrison (114 touchdowns) and Steve Young/Jerry Rice (92). They moved past Dan Marino/Mark Clayton (82).
"For us to get that in this last game," Adams said, "it was meant to be."
Rodgers also moved past Matt Ryan for seventh on the all-time passing yardage list, improving his career mark to 62,952 yards.
On Saturday night, Rodgers asked to address the team. He spoke about his love for the game and how Sept. 11, 2023 changed his perspective -- the night he tore his left Achilles in the season opener. It was the start of his ill-fated run in New York, where he won only six of 18 starts.
He insisted he doesn't regret his decision to play for the Jets, who have a 14-year playoff drought -- the longest active slump in North American sports.
"I put my heart into this and I wanted it really bad, and it didn't work this year," he said. "We came up short and I played four plays last year. So, it's overall disappointing." But he called it the "best two years of his life."
Owner Woody Johnson, who fired coach Robert Saleh and general manager Joe Douglas during the season, hasn't addressed Rodgers' future. After the game, he stopped briefly outside the locker room to summarize the season.
"Everybody thought this [season] was going to be unbelievable, so from that standpoint, yeah, we didn't live up to that early opinion of virtually everybody," Johnson said. "But we ended up well because I don't care about anything else, but a win at the end was good."
Rodgers finished the season with 28 touchdown passes, third on the Jets' single-season list. There were supposed to be more games like this, but it never clicked over two seasons. Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich embraced the moment, not the season.
"One of the greatest that has ever played this game," Ulbrich said. "He put that on full display again."