Aaron Rodgers was the player of the game. He ran for a touchdown and made a touchdown- and game-saving tackle.
The Green Bay Packers didn’t shine, but still overshadowed the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship. Packers 21, Bears 14 (Nick Lilja – prediction 23-13 – was close).
It was the 182nd meeting in the league’s oldest feud. This time, the stakes were bigger.
“To me,” Packers’ Head Coach Mike McCarthy said in his post-game press conference. “It was a typical Green Bay-Chicago game.”
The victory sends the Packers to the Super Bowl in Dallas on Feb. 6 to meet the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” Rodgers told the AP. “I’m at a loss for words.”
Rodgers play is summed up best by one AP writer:
Rodgers started where he left off last week against Atlanta, throwing passes of 22 and 26 yards to Jennings to open an 84-yard drive on the opening series of the game. He later hit Nelson with a 22-yarder to the Bears 2, then ran in from the 1 on a bootleg after withstanding a hard hit from safety Danieal Manning.
And just like that, the Packers were ahead in the first four minutes.
The biggest story of the night – outside of the play of Rodgers – was the play of the quarterback on the opposite sideline.
Or lack there-of.
Cutler left the game with a “knee injury” and many people are questioning his level of injury. He played only one series in the third quarter before Todd Collins replaced him. Collins was ineffective at best.
Collins was then replaced by Caleb Hanie. Hanie finished the game 13-for-20, 153 yards and a touchdown.
“It’s your job as a back up quarterback,” Hanie said. “To prepare to play.”
The only mistake Hanie made was a throw directly to Packers’ defensive linemen B.J. Raji. Raji returned the interception for a touchdown.
“We’ve been using [Raji] a lot on goal line,” McCarthy said. “I guess now we’re going to have to throw him the ball after showing that he can catch and score.”
Cutler could only watch from the sideline. He finished 6-for-14 with 80 yards and an interception. He was also sacked twice.
The Green Bay defense didn’t allow a touchdown through three quarters of play. And now have only four more quarters to play.
“It’s been a long road,” Packers defensive back Charles Woodson said. “We’ve persevered through a lot to get to this point.”
The Packers nearly missed this opportunity.
“At one point we’re 8-6,” Rodgers said. “We’ve had to win five, really, elimination games. It makes this one that much sweeter.”
But now they play for the Lombardi Trophy.
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