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Once in a seven-plus-year occurrence: Aaron Rodgers throws a pick-six

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- At this rate, Aaron Rodgers should throw his next pick-six at some point during the 2025 season.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback threw just the second interception that was returned for a touchdown in his career on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

It came 2,877 days since Rodgers’ first and previously only pick-six of his career when Bengals cornerback William Jackson undercut an out route for Jordy Nelson and returned it 75 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

He joined former Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety Tanard Jackson as the only two players to return a Rodgers interception for a touchdown.

"What was the last name of the guy that picked it?" Rodgers asked after the game.

"I stop throwing to Jacksons. Everybody else is fine. It’s just two pick-sixes to Jacksons."

Rodgers had thrown 4,502 passes between his two pick-sixes. It was a span of seven years, 10 months and 16 days between those plays.

“Pick-sixes usually happen when you miss inside on an out ball, or [throw] behind a guy on a zone coverage where a guy’s looking right at you,” Rodgers said earlier last month in an interview with ESPN. “I don’t feel like I’ve thrown that many really terrible picks, and a lot of times pick-sixes, you couldn’t see a guy or you miss badly with a throw. I just haven’t had many of those.”

Entering this season, a total of 80 quarterbacks have thrown at least two regular-season interceptions returned for touchdowns since Rodgers became a starter in 2008, while Rodgers had just one. The most during that span was Philip Rivers with 19 followed by Drew Brees (18), Eli Manning (15), Peyton Manning (15), Carson Palmer (15) and Jay Cutler (15).