What a day it was yesterday! The Green Bay Packers inched closer to their 13th NFL Championship by beating their longtime rival Chicago Bears in Chicago. To win the Halas Trophy in the city it came from will be one of my greatest Packers’ moments to be sure. To leave the Bears in total disarray teetering on the brink of returning to mediocrity, well that was just icing on the cake.
The Packers did made it a lot harder than it had to be, which has been the story of the season so that was only fitting. When the Bears are good it is because of their defense and the Bears’ defense certainly has the Packers’ offense figured out. It is just like the 90’s when the Packers struggled mightily with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In both cases the Packers won most of the games but it was always ugly either way.
The Packers won this one with their defense like they have this entire run with the possible exception of Atlanta, even though the Packers did hold Matt Ryan the Falcons’ offense to just 14 points. In fact the Packers have given up 7, 3, 16, 14, and 14 on defense in their five-game winning streak. If they do that in Dallas they will win the game as I expect the Packers’ offense should be able to put up 20 on the Steelers.
After living through 29 years of futility, to think this will be the third Super Bowl in the last 14 years for the Packers is hard to believe. I knew Thompson was providing the players, I just didn’t think Mike McCarthy could practice what he preaches in the ability of his team to handle success. In the the last five week he has done a masterful job of doing just that, keeping the Packers confident and focused on one game at a time. The players to man I bet, believe they can win in Dallas and that is a reflection of the coach.
I was ready to give McCarthy the boot now I hope nobody comes along and offers him a GM/head coach job, I would hate to lose him. What an amazing turnaround this season has been and what fun it is going to be basking in the glory of beating the Bears for two weeks!
By the way, go easy on any Bears’ fans you might have around you. You want to spread things out after all we won’t play them again for nine months. Don’t waste all your good ones now, sprinkle them in over the next few months, don’t ever let them get it completely out of their head. They would do the same to us.
Go Pack!