Aaron Rodgers jokingly blamed for ‘retreating into darkness’ during Hall of Fame game as broadcasters say he’s guilty of blackout

The lights went out at Tom Benson Stadium on Thursday during the Hall of Fame Game — and an Aaron Rodgers shot in the dark led to some unavoidable gags.

Rodgers went on a four-day darkness retreat in February as he weighed his NFL future – with retirement an option for the quarterback at the time.

And when a power outage occurred during the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio between the Jets and Browns, NBC’s Mike Tirico and Cris Collinsworth couldn’t resist making light of the situation.

“We have to blame Aaron,” Collinsworth joked.

“We are on a retreat in the dark,” Tirico added.

The image of Rodgers sitting on the sidelines in the dark quickly spread across social media, where the jokes continued.

“You have only taken over the darkness. Aaron Rodgers was born into it,” fantasy football site FantasyPros wrote.

The blackout occurred late in the third quarter with the Jets holding on to a 16-14 lead.

It was not immediately known what caused the lights at Tom Benson Stadium to go out at approximately 10:20 p.m.

Some lights were still on, but it was too dark to continue playing.

Rodgers experienced that in a much more extreme way during the winter, when he entered a 300-square-foot semi-underground cabin without any technology.

With only a queen bed, a yoga mat and a bathroom, Rodgers was expected to meditate and think about the next step in his career.

And the 39-year-old admitted that he found his four-day darkness retreat “sometimes difficult,” as he spent four days at Sky Cave Retreats in Ashland, Oregon.

The rooms at the retreat come with a queen-size bed, bathtub, stove and spout for fresh water

Rodgers had no technology in the room, where he expected to meditate and self-reflect

“I really had to sit down with that and get to the root of what those are and go back to childhood or college or early days of NFL and process those moments,” Rodgers said on the Aubrey Marcus podcast.

“After going through that for five, six hours, I found a really nice softness and comfort with what I was dealing with that day and this is what retirement would look like and what would best nourish my soul. … Nice conclusion to that, but also a lot of difficult reflections about that uncertainty and fear about what happens when you turn off the light on your career.’

With essentially two options on the table for his career – as his time in Green Bay seemed almost over after his 18th season – he claimed that neither retirement nor a fresh start with a new team frightened him after the retreat.

“There used to be one scary option (retirement) and one was unknown,” Rodgers said.

“The stranger went back and played and what does that mean. Is that Green Bay or is that somewhere else? And if it’s somewhere else, what’s it like to be somewhere else? Now it feels like there are two very nice options.’

Now Rodgers loves life with the Jets, and maybe he has the darkness to thank.