Of all the records Aaron Rodgers has earned in his decorated career, one in particular sticks to his craw: 1-3 in NFC championship games, as Rodgers says, because the Green Bay Packers have yet to host a conference title game. The last time Green Bay gained field advantage throughout the school series, which was also the last time we saw Rodgers play as well, the Packers 15-1 fell into the divisional round in one of the main imperfections of Rodgers ‘ resume. In a Rodgers season back, where straightening the pies and revising the recipes underpin a historic season, a 35-16 win and a No. 1 seed provide a regular-season coda fit for the 2020 team, even channeling a bit of 2019 with a nasty win.
While the Packers already exist in the middle of the quarter, they are all seen as their playing men, the group described this offseason while Brian Gutekunst was a receiver in the draft and instead relied on internal development. Davante Adams set a new Packers record for receptions, Allen Lazard drew two critical passes for first downs, and Aaron Jones took ground and air touches to extend the Packers ” lead to 12 with less than four minutes left in the game.
RIP to a narrative.
Rodgers went 11/11 for 170 yards with 3 touchdowns before Marquez Valdes-Scantling dropped a touchdown that extended the lead to two points in the third quarter and forced Mitch Trubisky to beat that Packers defense. Even with the drop and the resulting three-and-out, Rodgers set a new team touchdown record, breaking his precise mark of 45 (also in 2011) and putting himself in a firm position to win his three MVP trophy.
From washed to MVP front-runner. Enemies hate to see it.
After a bizarre start, featuring a Packers challenge disputing that Cordarrelle Patterson should have been at that on the opening kickoff, the Bears opened with the kind of urgency A have-to-have-IT team was bringing to a rivalry game in Week 17. Green Bay played nickel against heavy fronts, much like in the first game, daring the Bears to run. That’s exactly what new player Bill Lazor did, calling nine yards on a 12.60-yard play to open the scoring with a two-yard touchdown lead.
Rodgers and the Packers, entering the game leading the league with 66 points on opening drives, had one answer: a 12-yard scoring play, capable of a touchdown to Bobby Tonyan. In fact, Green Bay scored on its first three drives and its last two in a dominant offensive performance.
A fumble from Tavon Austin pocketed the Packers to put the hammer in the first half, but the Packers defense held on to a but on the field. It was a theme all night, as Mike Pettine’s defense held the Bears to 16 points after scoring 30+ in five straight games.
Two revisions in two, a four-out and an Adrian Amos interception allowed David Montgomery to reach 69 yards on 22 carries. Mitchell Trubisky hit the only big game at Darnell Mooney, but otherwise found no success on the field as the Packers left the Bears trying to win dinking and dunking their way on long drives.
And for good measure, even with the game out of reach, Jaire Alexander kept Jimmy Graham out of the end zone with a safe tackle in what will have been only a cosmetic score at the end of time. This team includes many of the same players as last year, but they are remarkably different.
With the win, the Packers turned the top seed in the NFC, another 13-3 campaign for Matt LaFleur for the supposedly worst 13-3 team ever, a destination at the Regency. Instead, they came back better than they have been in a long time, are legitimate Super Bowl presenters, and have a chance to wrap up one of the best seasons for this franchise in the Rodgers era.
It goes to another scenario.
The No. 1 seed counts for Matt LaFleur and his team. They didn’t recover from saying it when other equipment might have leaked, falling back on clichés like “we just want to go 1-0.Green Bay knew the Bears were coming out swinging, but the Packers stuck to their game plan in attack and defense, letting their talent win.