TimesFour

November 28, 2010 – Georgia Dome – Atlanta, Georgia

Through their 4 game winning streak, the Packers had met two teams that were the very definition of dysfunction–the Minnesota Vikings & the Dallas Cowboys. The third team, the New York Jets, possibly didn’t take the Packers all that seriously and it cost them.

Such was not going to be the case against the Atlanta Falcons, an exciting young team that was playing with as much, if not more, confidence than the Packers. The Falcons featured an unflappable 3rd year quarterback in Matt Ryan, who had lost only once in the Georgia Dome. Sitting at 8-2 and all but assured of a playoff spot, the Falcons were positioning themselves for an NFC South title, the best record in the NFC and a critical first-round playoff bye.

Chauncey Davis sacks Rodgers

There was not a whiff of turmoil with Mike Smith’s team, and they took the Packers very seriously. The result was a terrific game that offered a glimpse of what might come in the post-season. It was a game that encompassed all that was going well with the Packers in recent weeks. However, it also revealed a few nagging issues that kept Green Bay from attaining the elite status it was looking for.

The Falcons grabbed a quick 3-0 lead on a Matt Bryant field goal. The Packers responded with a nice drive from their own 15 to the Atlanta 4 that ended in a Mason Crosby field goal.

Then came a turning point and the first sign that what had been going so well the previous month might be absent on this day.

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November 21, 2010 – H.H.H. Metrodome

No team needed a break more than the 2010 Green Bay Packers. It had, quite frankly, been one hell of a season & the most important part still loomed like gathering storm clouds on the horizon.

The roller-coaster began with a 2-0 start. It then degenerated with 3 losses in 4 games that had nearly everyone questioning the Packers skill, tenacity & heart. The wild ride continued with 3 straight wins, including a rout of the once proud Dallas Cowboys that had forced the mid-season firing of Wade Phillips.

Rodgers scrambles from trouble

While many teams might have wanted the recent upswing to continue uninterrupted, the Packers were one of the last teams to celebrate their bye week, and they welcomed it! Nine straight weeks of football and an unceasing array of injuries had emptied the teams tank. A week off had allowed the players to heal up & offered the opportunity for the collective team mentality to recharge for what promised to be an engaging stretch run.

The first order of business was a rematch with the Minnesota Vikings in the Metrodome, a place that, more often than not, had been a house of horrors for the Packers. So Green Bay knew they could not take anything for granted–especially against this team, this quarterback and in this venue.

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November 7th 2010 – Lambeau Field

One mark of a good team is how it handles an opponent that is desperate and on the ropes. Does it allow that team to stick around and gain confidence? Or does it further perpetuate that teams misery and never, ever give it a chance to gain hope, much less victory?

A month earlier the Packers had been the kind of team that nearly ran itself out of the playoff race before it even really had begun. They allowed the likes of the Redskins, Dolphins and Lions to remain competitive in games in which they had no business being competitive. The result? 2 overtime losses and a close win.

Zombo takes down Barber for a loss

Since that time, the Packers had learned a few lessons about how to start & finish a game. They now knew that once you had a team down, you had to be ruthless and unapologetic. Put the hammer down and move on to the next game. Facing them on a Sunday night national stage at Lambeau field was the prime example of a team spinning out of control–the Dallas Cowboys.

Tabbed as a Super Bowl contender before the season began, Wade Phillips’ team was a mess. They had lost 5 in a row. Their record is at 1-6 & had lost their starting QB, Tony Romo, to a broken collarbone. It was going so badly for the once-proud franchise that rumors were swirling that owner Jerry Jones would fire Wade Phillips if things got much worse.

Things were about to get much worse if you’re a Cowboy fan.

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October 31, 2010 – New Meadowlands Stadium

It had taken the Green Bay Packers the better part of half a season to figure out just who they were and what they needed to do to reach their goals. The process had required a lot of trial & error, a lot of uncertainty, a lot of skill and more than a little luck.

But after a gutty, tense, crucial win over the rival Minnesota Vikings the previous week, the Packers were convinced they had turned a corner. They made the plays they needed to make, they executed at the right times, they had found ways to persevere when it seemed like they might fold.

Tramon defends a pass to Cotchery

It was a good start on the road back, but it was only a start.

Now things got really interesting. Over the course of the next several weeks, they’d face the meat of their schedule–playing the AFC powerhouse New York Jets, the always dangerous Dallas Cowboys, the Vikings in the haunted house Metrodome, the surging Atlanta Falcons, the improving San Francisco 49’ers, the unpredictable Lions at Ford Field and then a Sunday Night clash in Foxboro, Massachusettes, against the always-dynamic New England Patriots.

But it started against the Jets…Yes, those lead with the chin, trash-talking, Jets with demonstrative and animated Rex Ryan as their head coach.

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October 24, 2010 – Lambeau Field

After back-to-back 3 point losses and an expanding injury list that would have been comical if it wasn’t so serious, the Packers knew they had no margin for error. They were not even halfway through the season and already they were in danger of complete & total irrelevancy when it came to the NFC playoff picture.

Striding into town was the ghost of Christmas past, one Brett Lorenzo Favre, and the memories of what he’d done to his former team the year before. During perhaps the best season of his hall of fame career, Favre ripped the Packers twice in 2009, throwing for more than 700 yards and 7 touchdowns while nearly getting the Vikings into the Super Bowl.

Matthews corrals Favre

But this was 2010 & Favre’s–and the Vikings’–fortunes had dramatically changed. Another pre-season pick to reach the Super Bowl, the Vikings were struggling even worse than the Packers at 2-3. There were questions on defense, questions about head coach Brad Childress and Favre had reverted to form, throwing too many interceptions.

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October 17th 2010

It was a week of uncertainty and anxiety for the Green Bay Packers. They had inexplicably lost a game they should have won the week before in Washington D.C. but worse, they had lost a veritable battalion of players–including Quarterback Aaron Rodgers who had suffered a concussion on the game’s last play.

Given the NFL’s newly mandated policy toward head injuries, Rodgers had to go through a stringent battery of tests to prove he was in good enough shape mentally to play the following week vs. Miami.

Rodgers sacked by Miami 5 times

There were other questions about other players as well–including play-making tight end Jermichael Finley, who a few days earlier had confidently said his knee injury suffered against Washington was “nothing major”. Now, unsettling stories were coming out of Green Bay that the injury was a lot more serious than first thought. He would certainly not play against the Dolphins and anything after that was up in the air.

As a team, the Packers were reeling. They had lost twice on last-second field goals but had played so poorly in both games that very little consolation could be taken from how close they were. Indeed, they had played almost as poorly in their 3 wins. They finally received some good news late in the week when Rodgers was cleared to play. A home game against an up & down Dolphins team seemed like terrific medicine for the Packers.

But a familiar script was about to be written.

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