In Control of No. 1 Seed, Rodgers Sees Championship Ingredients
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Aaron Rodgers helped the Green Bay Packers win a Super Bowl in 2010. He was NFL MVP in 2014, when he propelled the team back to the NFC Championship Game. He played like an MVP down the stretch in 2016, when he carried the team to an unlikely championship game appearance. After back-to-back seasons out of the playoffs, Rodgers and Co. reached the title game last season in Year 1 under coach Matt LaFleur.
That’s four NFC Championship Games. Not one of them was played at Lambeau Field.
After Sunday’s results, the Packers are in position to earn homefield advantage throughout the conference playoffs for the first time since 2011, when they went 15-1 but were shocked in a one-and-done playoffs.
“To have the whole thing come through Green Bay is something that we’ve talked about for a long time and we’ve wanted and we’ve never had,” Rodgers said.
Enjoying the great indoors of Ford Field, Rodgers was brilliant again on Sunday, going 26-of-33 passing for 290 yards. He threw for three touchdowns and ran for another in leading the Packers past the Detroit Lions 31-24. The victory wrapped up the NFC North title.
Simultaneously, about 600 miles to the east, the Philadelphia Eagles shocked the New Orleans Saints 24-21. Just like that, Green Bay and New Orleans are 10-3. By virtue of their Week 3 victory, the Packers own the tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed, the lone first-round bye and the potential for hosting the NFC Championship Game.
“We’ve got it now. So, it’s basically about finishing the season strong, not taking any of these last games light and taking care of business,” receiver Davante Adams, wearing a “Won Not Done” T-shirt, said in looking ahead to Saturday night’s game against the Carolina Panthers (4-9). “You know, we’ve got an opponent that has a really good team. Their record will show otherwise, but I’ve got a lot of respect for this team coming into Lambeau. It’s one game at a time, but we win out, we’re putting ourselves in a pretty good position.”
Rodgers is a decade removed from his one and only Super Bowl appearance. He was minutes away from getting back in 2014, only to endure a gut-wrenching loss at Seattle. The 2016 and 2019 teams were overmatched in games at Atlanta and San Francisco, respectively.
Little was expected from this year’s team, even after going 13-3 in LaFleur’s debut season. The Minnesota Vikings and Packers were considered co-favorites. The over/under was set at nine wins following a hard-to-duplicate 8-1 record in one-score games and a draft seemingly focused more on the feature than today.
Instead, the Packers routed the Vikings in Week 1. That wound up being a critical game after COVID-19 not only wiped out the offseason and preseason but took away team-bonding opportunities.
“How can you not feel great about that moving forward? And I think that set the tone for myself and my mind-set and the guys on how good we could be. And it’s just kind of grown from there,” Rodgers said.
The 2011 and 2014 teams were dominant beyond Rodgers’ MVP greatness. The 2011 team overwhelmed opponents with one of the great offenses in NFL history and a big-play defense. The 2014 team became a well-rounded power during the second half of the season.
Those teams fell short. With a different makeup and the potential of living at icy Lambeau Field in January, maybe Rodgers will get back to the promised land.
“I feel like our best teams haven’t always won and gotten to the championship game,” he said. “It’s kind of those teams that have those qualities you can’t really measure. It’s camaraderie and chemistry and ability to deal with adversity and not starting to point fingers, that resolve, that grit. I feel like this team has a lot of those characteristics.”
In the victorious Ford Field locker room, Rodgers said he leaned back in his locker to soak in the moment. With the first-round pick used on Jordan Love, Rodgers is acutely aware that this might be his last shot.
“It was just a special moment,” he said. “And you realize, these are the times you’re going to miss when it’s all said and done. I’m just so happy for the opportunity to be a part of this squad and optimistic about what the future can hold with these guys.”
