He didn't struggle in 2006 (when he started the regular season as a rook for 12 games). His numbers are comparable to all those other guys in that year, and that was when he led us to near victories over KC and the Bears (very good teams at the time, and the bears were unbeaten) that were lost by gamewinning miss....errrr gamelosing kicks by Rackers. It is revisionist history to say that he struggled because the kicker missed end of game kicks against teams when Matt drove the squad down to put us in position to win or tie games.
In 12 starts he was 4-8 (give him the bears/KC games, and it's 6-6). 74 passer rating. 11 TDs to 12 INT. Only 57% completion, but all in all you tell me a rookie QB goes .500, has a 74 rating, even td/int ratio and I'll show you tons of others that started the same way, including the mannings and such. It's a solid start to a career. He only played 5 games the following year (going 3-2 in those) before being injured for the year. After that, he was bench guy.
So you have a guy, who arguably should be 9-8 as a legit starter, with a 70ish rating, roughly 1:1 TD/INT ratio but has shown poise (and bad footwork) in driving his team to gamewinning kicks against strong teams that went on to the Superbowl, as basically a rookie. Then he sits behind a HoF QB who catches FIRE with great WRs clicking, a new coach that opens it up and plays to the HoFers strength, team goes to a SB, HoF plays well again and then retires.
And now, guy who had what for ANY team would be a promising start to his career, is washed up and should be benched?????
Again, if you talk about injuries, I'm all freaking ears because that shoulder/collarbone is worrisome. But talent? What he has "shown us so far?" Take that argument to the trash can because the only thing he's shown us so far is that he has a lot of potential, and has performed in line with the way a solid QB can develop from...he didn't suck when he played. He didn't light it up, but neither do most QBs coming into the NFL. It takes time. Matt's had it. Now it's up to him to show us that he's GOT it. We don't know now...but we SHOULD know that he doesn't suck, and IMO people are FAR too concerned about how Matt will perform. Yes, there will still be some learning curve, but he's shown a good foundation to date.