I’m still in that euphoric phase where I’m a little dumbfounded that this is actually happening, so forgive my ramblings!
Heading in to this season, it was clear that the Packers had the pieces to put together a championship season, but 11 players on the IR later, it seemed less likely that the team could put together a playoff run. You’ll remember, the Packers lost to the Lions this season. It did not seem promising.
But the Packers (and Packer fans) are lucky. We have Aaron Rodgers.
And this is not even meant to heap on the lovefest for A-Rodg. But seriously, how many teams can you name that went from one franchise quarterback to another? There were no lean years. There was no let down. Thanks to Ted Thompson, the Packers went from Favre to Rodgers seemlessly (at least on the field) and never had to worry about down time.
I have my issues with Packers GM Ted Thompson, but he can never get enough credit for throwing away the plan and drafting Rodgers when he was still on the board at the 24th spot in the 2005 draft.
Plenty of NFLers weighed in on Twitter while the game was happening, but what do you all think about the situation with Jay Cutler? I don’t think anyone can decide whether or not he was truly hurt, but what about the fact that he spent the rest of the game on the sideline by himself? Isn’t it standard for the starter to throw on a headset and help out the backups?
My favorite “storyline” out of the game was the interception and touchdown by nose tackle BJ Raji. Prior to Sunday’s game Raji had taken to calling himself “The Freezer,” saying Chicago had “The Fridge” and he was “The Freezer.” In scoring the TD after the INT, Raji became the heaviest player player to score a playoff touchdown. The previous holder of that “honor”? William Perry.
The play that Defensive Coordinator Dom Capers called that put Raji in that situation is one that he hadn’t called ALL YEAR.
Raji did a little wiggle after the touchdown and also “put on the championship belt,” something Aaron Rodgers has been doing after scoring touchdowns all season.
Check out the whole play and celebration
I would have rather played the Jets than the Steelers, to be honest. Roethlisberger has been as hot as Rodgers has this post season.
Of course, Rodgers’ biggest play of yesterday’s game was a touchdown-saving tackle of Brian Urlacher, so you never know what you’re going to get.
But it doesn’t matter. We have two weeks to revel in the fact that our sixth-seeded team went on the road and beat three good teams to make it to the SUPERBOWL!
Ladies... 
I’d rather you were playing the Jets, too. :(
That aside, I think the big story with the Bears QB situation is how in the world Heine was behind Collins on the depth chart. He was clearly more confident and more effective running the offense– if he’d been the backup not only would they have not wasted the possessions Collins was in, but Cutler would have been able to come back in the game.
I had never heard that rule before about the previous quarterback not being able to come back in. Apparently it has to do with the 3rd stringer not actually being on the 53 man roster? Weird stuff.