Getty QB Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers celebrates after a touchdown during a game against the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field on January 1, 2023 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Kayla Wolf/Getty Images)
It has been a dozen years since the Green Bay Packers captured a Super Bowl, and Aaron Rodgers sees several parallels between the team he has this season and that championship group.
The quarterback made his weekly appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday, January 3, during which he spoke to the similarities between this year’s Packers team and two others — the title winners in 2010 and an NFC Championship qualifier in 2016.
“You wanna be playing your best football late in the season, and usually we’re fighting for playoff seeds. And you wanna be healthy and playing your best ball, and we haven’t done that over the years,” Rodgers said. “You know, there’s been a lot of years we didn’t play our best ball going into the playoffs or we weren’t healthy, and we had some early exits.”
“But the last time we won a Super Bowl, we had to win and get in, and we were playing our best ball late in the season,” he continued. “So, we’ve won four in a row. [In 2016], we had to win six in a row to get in, made it to the NFC Championship. This football team is much better than that football team was.”
Packers’ Best Players Getting Healthy, Hot at Perfect Time
GettyLB De’Vondre Campbell (left) and CB Rasul Douglas (right) of the Green Bay Packers react after a play during a game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field on September 18, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
Green Bay needs to win five in a row to have any chance of duplicating the success of those previous groups. A victory at Lambeau Field against the Detroit Lions next Sunday night will clinch the Packers the No. 7 seed in the NFC.
Rodgers told McAfee and company that he was confident in this team’s ability to complete their improbable, late-season playoff run for several reasons. Primary among them is that key members of the roster are returning to health and/or to form as the postseason draws near.
Green Bay’s four-game winning streak has coincided directly with the return of All-Pro middle linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who missed the previous four games due to a knee injury. All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari also returned last weekend against the Minnesota Vikings after missing a month due to an emergency appendectomy.
Rodgers Says Packers Bonded Through Adversity This Season
GettyGreen Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers commended his team’s effort to put themselves into playoff position with one week remaining in the regular season.
More than health and the Packers best players showing up at critical moments, Rodgers credited a culture of closeness inside the locker room with the success the team has achieved over the last month.
I like the way we’re playing, I like the confidence. You have fun when you’re winning, right? But also, I will say the way that you practice during the week, the way that you prepare, the mood of the locker room has a lot to do with how you play on Sunday. I really feel a loose team that’s hanging out and joking with each other and spending time with each other naturally is gonna go out and play a little more free.
And whether that was 4-8 and everybody was like, “Eh, f*** it. What’s the worst that could happen? We’re eliminated?” Or whether it was guys coming back and playing with that pride, that competitive greatness — I’m not sure exactly what it was. But whatever recipe we’ve got going right now has been making some pretty sweet music.