While Aaron Rodgers likely won’t celebrate the personal achievement when the dust settles Sunday night, he officially took another franchise record from his Green Bay Packers predecessor with his second touchdown pass of the NFC Championship game.
With 8:21 left to play and the Packers’ season on life support, Rodgers connected with rookie tight end Jace Sternberger for a fourth-quarter touchdown that marked the 40th postseason scoring throw of his career, putting him ahead of Packers Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre for the No. 1 spot on the all-time franchise record list. He also threw a touchdown pass to running back Aaron Jones to get the Packers on the board in the third quarter against the San Francisco 49ers.
Rodgers’ second touchdown also made it seven straight postseason games with multiple touchdown passes, tossing a pair of them in the Packers’ divisional-round victory over the Seahawks. He also tossed nine over three games during Green Bay’s last trip to the playoffs after the 2016 season.
Unfortunately, the opportunity has faded for the Packers after falling behind 27-0 in the first half and failing to show enough life after halftime to complete a comeback. Rodgers’ interception into the hands of cornerback Richard Sherman with under two minutes to play sealed the loss at 37-20.
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A Closer Look at Brett Favre’s Numbers
During his storied career with the Packers, Favre started in 22 playoff games for the Packers and tossed 39 touchdown passes, five of which came in his final two postseason appearances during the 2007 playoffs. He also threw a combined five touchdown passes in his two Super Bowl appearances for the Packers, winning the title in 1997 before losing in 1998.
Rodgers still has a few more touchdown passes to go to match Favre’s career tally as he added another five during his two postseason games with the Minnesota Vikings, but he also surpassed his predecessor’s milestone in three fewer games for the Packers.
Coming into Sunday’s NFC Championship game, Rodgers also held postseason advantages of Favre in passing yards per game (261.2 to 243.9), completion percentage (63.3 to 60.8) and interceptions (30 to 10) that don’t figure to change before the current postseason comes to an end.
More Packers Postseason Records in Danger
Favre’s touchdown record wasn’t the only one in danger coming into Sunday’s conference championship against the 49ers.
Veteran cornerback Tramon Williams, who is likely playing his swan song for the Packers at 36 years old, needs just one interception to tie Sam Shield’s record of five in the postseason. He picked off three of those fives along the way to the Packers’ last Super Bowl title in 2011, while he has tallied two interceptions during the current regular season.
Davante Adams also took sole ownership over a Packers record on Sunday night when he surpassed 100 yards, becoming the first in franchise history to have four 100-yard receiving games. Adams caught eight passes for 160 yards last week against Seattle to tie Greg Jennings, Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman for the record, but his eight catches for 122 yards (with 5:31 left to play in the fourth quarter) pushed him over the edge.
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