With a 37-10 blowout of the Vikings on Sunday night, the Packers clinched home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs. This is the third time Green Bay has nabbed the No. 1 seed with Aaron Rodgers at the helm. How’d the previous two occasions go? Not spectacularly …
- 2011 playoffs: The 15-1, defending champion Packers were blown out of their home stadium by the Giants, 37-20, in Green Bay’s playoff opener.
- 2020 playoffs: After beating the Rams in the Divisional Round, the Packers lost to the Buccaneers at Lambeau Field, with Matt LaFleur infamously opting for a field goal late, instead of giving Rodgers a chance to tie the game on fourth-and-goal.
So, yeah, dwell on that history if you’d like. Rodgers and Co. haven’t always been invincible at Lambeau in the postseason.
But they’ve been pretty darn good in the friendly confines this season: 8-0 with a 13.9-point average margin of victory. And Mr. Rodgers? Yeah, he’s essentially sewn up a second straight MVP. In fact, I think he’s playing the best football of his first-ballot Hall of Fame career. Since the Week 1 debacle in New Orleans, Rodgers has thrown 35 touchdown passes against two picks. He’s completely locked in. His connection with Davante Adams is uncanny and unstoppable — the receiver has 634 yards and eight touchdowns in his last six games.
Furthermore, the surrounding cast is stout. Green Bay has a legit two-headed monster at running back in Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon. The defense, which ranks eighth in points allowed, could be getting some reinforcements back from injury for the playoffs. And regardless of last year’s controversial NFC title game decision, LaFleur is clearly a terrific coach, having logged 13 regular-season wins in each of his first three years on the job. He never gets the credit he deserves.
The NFC playoffs go through Green Bay, and these Packers are poised to deliver on that home-field advantage.