We’re back!!!
13 years had just been too long.
It wasn’t exactly a cakewalk, but the Green Bay Packers are back on the NFL’s ultimate stage against the Pittsburgh Steelers, arguably the two most decorated franchises in pro football with perhaps the two most loyal fan bases.
It should be a fun two weeks in the Dallas area leading up to the game.
Yes, there was definitely ‘Nervous Time’ in Chicago late Sunday afternoon, and I was fearing an even worse meltdown than my wildest nightmares.
Was I about to witness Caleb Hanie becoming the mother of one-hit wonders, the NFL’s version of Bucky Dent taking Mike Torres just over the top of the Green Monster??
But despite a second half that featured Aaron Rodgers doing his best Brett Favre impression on third and goal (only difference being Aaron manned up and tackled Urlacher) among other things, Green Bay prevailed in the third and final chapter of the league’s oldest rivalry, which did not score much on artistic impression.
Actually, there never should had been a doubt. Earlier in the day the Blackhawks were shut out at home (well, except for a dumb penalty shot) and Northwestern came the closest one can in college basketball to being completely shut down, with a visiting Wisconsin Badgers player becoming the first in school history to record a triple-double. Chicagoans should have noticed the trend starting right there.
But back to Packers/Bears; this contest had many of the similarities of the September 27th Monday night debacle, where the Packers also had similar chances to put the Bears out of their misery – not to mention numerous other occasions this year where the Pack fell flat trying to hold on to fourth quarter leads.
Rodgers likes to do his ‘Championship Belt’ routine, and the Pack indeed had the opposition all over the ropes at a venue that had some famous boxing events (way back when), but Rodgers himself could not deliver the knockout punch.
To use a pro wrestling analogy, the Bears were the guy who kept on kicking out when the ref was at 2 1/2, or the wrestler being double-teamed, desperately trying to get to the corner where his fresh tag-team partner was (Hester?? Hanie??).
Or maybe Lovie Smith was just waiting for the right moment when he could distract the referee while Julius Peppers would KO Rodgers with a bag of quarters, or the amount of the fine he is going to get from the commish this week.
But fortunately, despite gaining hundreds of new Twitter followers by the minute, Hanie fell just short in his bid to become Clint Longley X 1000 and earning a late write-in entry to make the Madden 12 cover.
Thank goodness for B.J. Raji and the rest of the Green Bay defense in the fourth quarter, even though BJR came dangerously close to pulling a Leon Lett.
And a few words about Jay Cutler, who successfully ended Steve Bartman’s 7+ year reign as the most vilified figure in Chicago sports and had his jersey torched in the Soldier Field parking lot afterwards (Rick Monday nowhere in sight to save the day). Did Cutler become Roberto Duran for a new generation by saying he couldn’t go on early in the second half – as he was called out by writers and fellow NFL players on Twitter, and also by Randy Cross on Westwood One’s radio call of the game??
Myself I need to know the ENTIRE story first. The report late Sunday night was that Cutler had a possible torn MCL. But also remember that Cutler has the health issue of being a Type I diabetic. I also remember back in the day when baseball’s J.R. Richard was being called out for being inactive for what at the time was thought to be merely a sore arm – until he suffered a career-ending stroke during a throwing session.
As a certain Pro Football Talk writer found out this week, maybe it is wise not to immediately jump to conclusions.
Maurice Jones-Drew noted that he played on one leg for a good portion of the season and others cited Philip Rivers playing the AFC Championship game with a torn ACL three years ago. What has to be set straight on the Rivers situation however was that he DID leave a playoff game the previous week in Indianapolis, backup Billy Volek ended up leading the Chargers to that win. Rivers did play with a knee brace the next week in New England.
But I will agree Cutler falls a bit short in the leadership category, as important as any attribute when it comes to being under center, and where the likes of Rogers/Peyton Manning/Roethlisberger/Brady excel. The Denver Broncos may have gone in the toilet and Josh McDaniels may have lost his job as a result of Cutler’s act, but in the long run that franchise may be end up all the better for it (Say what you want about Tim Tebow but he does have the leadership qualities). As far as Chicago is concerned, Cutler remains a talent and the team will rightly still be committed to him, but there needs to be a bit of an attitude change with Jay.
But Sunday marked an important benchmark with this current generation in Green Bay, to GM Ted Thompson (who made the decision to choose Rodgers over ‘You Know Who’ 30 months ago) to Mike McCarthy (who will now be facing his hometown team in Dallas) to the elder statesmen of the team such as Donald Driver and Charles Woodson (who did make it once to the Bowl as a Raider).
Thompson was ripped everywhere for not getting a running back once Ryan Grant went down in Week 1, and many wrote off the team as the likes of Nick Barnett and Jermichael Finley went down early on. The team would be even more scary with those two, but injuries are reality in the NFL, and even as 15 players wound up in IR – this team stayed the course while Clay Matthews continued to perform at an All-World level and others such as linebacker Desmond Bishop and cornerback Tramon Williams stepped up in a big way. For identifying such talent on a consistent basis, Ted Thompson should at this point finally be vindicated.
Not that it was easy. A late-season loss to what turned out to be a surging Detroit Lions team put the 2010 season on the brink. I look at a possible turning point being the Week 15 loss in New England, when backup QB Matt Flynn got some valuable seat time as Aaron Rodgers got well and the team had a legit chance to win that night.
Then came the current five-game stretch that amounted to the playoffs actually starting in Week 16. First came a win in what amounted to an elimination game v. the Giants (first-round game) followed by beating the Bears with Lovie Smith playing his regulars as he (wisely) wanted to do his best to keep the Pack out of the post-season – that was the second round win.
Following that was going to Philadelphia and taking down perhaps the most dangerous team on the NFC side in what amounted to the Regional Semi-Final. Then came last week’s eye-opening rampage in Atlanta (Regional Final) and finally the win in Chicago (Final Four Semi-Final).
Michigan State hoops coach Tom Izzo would be proud, this team kept surviving and advancing.
So now the final hurdle is the matchup against the Steelers, a franchise gunning for it’s third Lombardi Trophy in six years and seventh overall, and just participated in it’s 15th AFC Championship game. Look at Pittsburgh’s legacy of the last 40 years and you will not see many rebuilding years.
I look for a fantastic game between two teams who are in many ways mirror images of each other.
Pitchers and catchers can hold off on reporting for a while yet, this Super Bowl build-up is going to be fun!!!
