Wow, you would think the Packers were playing the Bears this week judging by the ruthless comments to this blog. What is up with that? This is just a football game. Yes I want the Packers to win but this is nuts. Calm down folks.
Now for the task at hand. The Green Bay Packers are hosting a divisional playoff game for the first time since the 1997 season and the last two players from that year – Brett Favre and Rob Davis- are trying to emphasize how hard it is to get to this point much less move on. On paper the Packers have a great chance to win this game and move on to the the fourth NFC Championship Game of Favre’s career and a chance at his third Super Bowl appearance. If they are thinking ahead like me, though, they might get their butts kicked.
I just can’t see head coach Mike McCarthy letting them get away with that kind of thinking, however. He hasn’t all year even though everybody points to the Dallas loss an example of poor coaching by McCarthy. Remember Favre got hurt in that game and the plan to attack early may have failed, but had Favre played the rest of the game considering the way backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers picked apart the Cowboys, one has to think the Packers might have won that game. The Packers only lost to two teams all year and I can’t see the Seahawks, who have only beaten two teams with a winning record all year, being the third.
The only thing that is always in the back of my mind is the Holmgren factor. Packers’ fans know how good of a coach Holmgren is and even though he has a losing record against the Packers as Seahawks’ coach, I remember how he fired up the Packers to play against his former team in San Francisco. While Seattle is not exactly a great football team, and I mean that with all due respect, Holmgren would admit it as well, they do have a chance to beat the Packers tomorrow. They have to being thinking like the Packers, win Saturday, a New York win Sunday and the NFC Championship is at home. What a huge game in Lambeau this is going to be.
I think tit will be a slugfest. I know I said earlier in the week the Packers would roll, and on paper, they should, but over the course of the week the intangibles have me worried. So many of the national pundits are picking the Seahawks as their upset of the weekend and based on the Packers losing two of their last three playoff games at home it is hard to argue with that. The Holmgren factor, the Packers’ playoff inexperience, and the perception that Favre starts chucking it up for grabs if the Packers get behind. There is really no reason to think Favre will do that based on his play in the regular season, but you can’t erase the Sherman years from your memory that easily. If only.
I will stick with my pick of a Packers win, but my numbers are Packers 27, Seahawks 20. The defense comes up big in the end.