Has Packers QB Aaron Rodgers passed Peyton Manning in MVP race? [Poll]

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers have gotten past a shaky start to string together four straight wins for a half-game lead over the Detroit Lions at the top of the NFC North standings.

If he hadn’t already, Rodgers established himself as a contender for MVP honors with a stellar showing on national television Sunday night, throwing for 285 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions for a 130.6 passer rating in a 44-31 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

As Chris Wesseling of NFL.com pointed out, Rodgers did so without the services of Randall Cobb, James Jones and Jermichael Finely, who had combined to catch 54% of his passes this season.

On the other hand, there are several quarterbacks putting up better numbers than Rodgers -- he’s seventh in passing yards (2,191), fifth in completion percentage (67.1), tied for sixth in touchdown passes (15) and fourth in passer rating (1,080).

Denver quarterback Peyton Manning is crushing everyone in all those categories except completion percentage, in which he’s second to San Diego’s Philip Rivers. Manning has nearly twice as many touchdown passes (29) as Rodgers.

(Incidentally, though, the Broncos quarterback threw almost as many interceptions Sunday -- three -- as Rodgers has all year -- four, including none in the last two games.)

And, of course, there are other positions to look at besides quarterback. Kansas City running back Jamaal Charles and receivers Calvin Johnson of Detroit and A.J. Green of Cincinnati are all having standout seasons for contending teams as well.

With NFL teams either at or nearing midseason, who do you think should be considered the league’s MVP at this point?

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