Rodgers's production over the several seasons leading up to the Packers trading up to draft Love was remarkably similar to Alex Smith's production and play over the several seasons leading up to the Chiefs trading up to draft Mahomes. Between 2015 and 2019, Rodgers posted an EPA/play of 0.157, ranking 13th in the NFL over the time, with a few absolute stinkers of a season thrown in there. In 2019 specifically, he came in at 0.144, still ranked 13th. Smith's tenure in Kansas City before Mahomes was drafted wasn't quite as good, with an 18th-ranked 0.113 EPA/play, but largely similar.He was also trending downward and definitely seemed to be in decline when the team chose to draft Love. Obviously, he had an incredible bounce back this season, but I think that drafting a QB at that point was totally defensible.
If I'm the Packers, I call his bluff. If he wants to retire, then retire. Because I don't think he has any real interest in retiring.
The Chiefs traded a third and an extra first rounder to move up to get Mahomes. The Packers exchanged a fourth rounder to grab Love. The following season, Alex Smith was one of the best QBs in the NFL; the following season, Rodgers was one of the best QBs in the NFL, and won MVP (while playing behind the league's best offensive line, as he has for most of his career, and throwing to receivers with on average the most yards of separation in the NFL). This isn't to say that Jordan Love is Patrick Mahomes, because, by all available evidence, no he ain't. However, when you have a roster like the Chiefs had, and like the Packers have, it's really pretty important not to waste a year basically waiting for the draft to roll around when you want or need to replace your starting QB for whatever reason.
Case and point: the 2020 New England Patriots. Their roster wasn't as good, of course, but having, say, Lamar Jackson ready to go would've been nice. And unless Mac Jones is able to be a contention-caliber QB as a rookie this year, which I don't think is impossible but not something I'd be happy to depend upon if my life or job were on the line, 2021 will be another transition year in the post-Brady era.
The situations are actually quite similar, and yet certain people act like the Packers FO made some horrendous decision when they decided to draft Love to both develop as an eventual replacement and to hedge against further immediate decline, as if they should've just been able to see the future and realize that Rodgers would dramatically improve his own play (in particular by not taking nearly as many sacks as he has throughout his career) and make the rookie-contract timeline for Love be not quite as easy to work with. And they also act like the Packers roster, which in particular had pretty much the league's best WR, CB, and LT (literally the three most important positions besides QB), and a bunch of quality players elsewhere, is some barren wasteland. It's ridiculous. It's really not the FO's fault that A-A-Ron repeatedly went three-and-out in the second half of the NFCCG.