New York Jets superstar quarterback reaches career milestone

New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers had to go all the way to London to join one of the NFL's most exclusive clubs.

During Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings, he became the ninth quarterback in league history to reach 60,000 career passing yards, a club occupied by three members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and five others being considered, if they are qualified.

The record was likely a consolation for Rodgers, who wasn't at his best against the Vikings. He finished the game 29 of 54 for 244 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions, the last of which effectively ended the Jets' comeback as they lost 23–17.

He had 59,904 yards entering the contest. He began early to accumulate the 96 yards needed to reach the milestone.

He had 95 of those yards during a frustrating first half in which he threw two interceptions, one of which was a pick-six returned by Minnesota's Andrew Van Ginkel.

Rodgers went into the locker room trailing by one yard, but with his first touchdown pass of the game, a 14-yarder to Allen Lazard.

After the Vikings' first drive of the second half, the Jets got the ball back and Rodgers surpassed the milestone with a 7-yard pass to tight end Tyler Conklin that led to a three-and-out.

Tom Brady leads the list of eight passers with at least 60,000 career passing yards. He finished his long career with 89,214 yards.

He is followed by Drew Brees, who is the only other quarterback with 80,000 or more passing yards with 80,358.

Neither is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame yet because they haven't been retired long enough to be eligible.

Two quarterbacks finished their careers with at least 70,000 yards passing. Peyton Manning had 71,940 and Brett Favre – Rodgers' predecessor in Green Bay – had 71,838. Both are in the Hall of Fame.

The remaining quarterbacks in the club are Ben Roethlisberger (64,088), Phillip Rivers (63,440), Matt Ryan (62,792) and Dan Marino (61,361).

Roethlisberger, Rivers and Ryan are not yet eligible for Hall of Fame induction. Marino, who became the first quarterback to pass for 60,000 yards in his career, is in the Hall of Fame.

Rodgers was the Packers' first-round pick (No. 24 overall) in the 2005 NFL Draft out of Cal. He entered that draft but ultimately became Favre's understudy before assuming the role of full-time starter in 2008 when the Packers ironically traded Favre to the Jets.

With Green Bay, he led the Packers to the Super Bowl XLV title, where he was also named MVP. The four-time NFL MVP was selected to the Pro Bowl ten times and to the All-Pro team four times. He was named to the Hall of Fame's All-2010s team and won the Bert Bell Award in 2011.