Aaron Rodgers may finally get his wish: an NFC Championship Game at Lambeau Field.
All the Green Bay Packers have to do is win one more match and it becomes reality.
Rodgers made it into Sunday’s regular season finale thanks in part to a perfect first half en route to a 35-16 win over the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field.
It earned the Packers (13-3) the number 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. With that comes a first-round bye – the only one in the conference thanks to the expanded playoff field – and home games between now and the Super Bowl. While the other six NFC playoff teams play next weekend, the Packers will be free until the division round on January 16 or 17.
Rodgers played in four NFC Championship Games, winning just one – 10 years ago at Soldier Field. After losing the NFC title game to the 49ers last year, the Packers’ third straight loss in the conference’s title game after the 2014 championship game in Seattle and the 2016 game in Atlanta, Rodgers spoke eagerly that he wanted one at Lambeau.
“I’ve said this before: we need to get one of these home,” said Rodgers after the 37-20 defeat to the 49ers last January. “It’s a different ball game. It’s different playing in 20 degrees weather and snow. Cold and wind is a different kind of game than playing here.”
The week 16 game against the Titans showed that. The Packers blew Tennessee 40-14 on a snow-covered field, and they excelled on a 32-degree afternoon in Chicago on Sunday.
The Packers last had the No. 1 seed after their 15-1 regular season in 2011, but lost to the Giants 37-20 in an NFC division playoff game at Lambeau Field.
The Packers played 21 times in the first half, scoring 21 points. Rodgers completed his first 11 passes, including 10-for-10 for 155 yards and three touchdowns, including a 72-year-old against Marquez Valdes-Scantling in the second quarter. It should have been his first 12 and four touchdowns, but Valdes-Scantling dropped a 53-yard touchdown on the opening run of the third quarter.
After a slow start to the second half, the Packers sealed things when Aaron Jones scored on a 4-yard touchdown run with 3:47 left. On that same ride, Davante Adams broke Sterling Sharpe’s franchise record for one-season receptions (112). On the next stage, he also tied Sharpe’s one-season franchise record for touchdowns at 18th. That was also tied for third in a season in NFL history. Only Randy Moss (23 in 2007) and Jerry Rice (22 in 1987) caught more. And Adams missed two full games – and half of another – due to an early season hamstring injury.
The touchdown against Adams was Rodgers’ fourth of the game, earning him a best career and franchise record of 48 touchdown passes for the season (and just five interceptions), finishing his case for a third MVP.
The Chicago win came just three days after the Packers lost All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari to a season-ending knee injury. Billy Turner moved up from the right to replace Bakhtiari and Rick Wagner came on the right. Rodgers was fired only once.
Plus, the Packers feel better about their defense, which was run over by the 49ers in the championship game last season.