The Green Bay Packers entered the playoffs as one of the hottest teams in football. After playing two straight games of win-or-go-home football, the upcoming game against Philadelphia seemed more like a third playoff game. Having just dominated the Giants and squeezed past Chicago in a close game, both at home in Lambeau Field, the Packers hit the road for the playoffs.
Wild Card Round: Green Bay at Philadelphia
The Packers had already survived in Philly once this season, thanks in large part to a great defensive performance against Kevin Kolb. This time around, however, Michael Vick would quarterback the Eagles for the entirety of the game.
David Akers, who missed a field goal for the Eagles in the first quarter, connected on a 29 yard field goal late in the 2nd quarter, making the halftime score 14-3 in favor of Green Bay.
The Eagles forced an Aaron Rodgers fumble in the third quarter, and Michael Vick was able to find Jason Avant on a 24 yard touchdown pass to make the score 14-10 Philadelphia.
On the ensuing drive the Packers drove down the field and worked their way to the red zone. Rodgers found Brandon Jackson on a well executed screen pass. Jackson followed his blockers on his way to a 16 yard score. The Packers now led 21-10 with just over a quarter left to play.
Late in the third quarter with the Eagles driving, the Packer defense stiffened and forced a stop. David Akers missed his second field goal of the day and the Packer lead remained 11 points.
The Eagles were finally able to put a touchdown on the board late in the fourth quarter on a 1 yard run from Vick. The Eagles went for two, and appeared to get the conversion on a pass to tight end Brent Celek.
However, Celek stepped out of bounds and returned to the field of play before he caught the ball. By rule, when a player re-establishes possession in bounds he cannot be the first player to touch the ball. A 5-yard penalty was assessed, and the Eagles failed to convert a second try, making the score 21-16.
The Philadelphia defense was able to force Green Bay to punt on the ensuing drive. The Eagles got the ball back with 1:45 remaining in the game.
Vick completed passes to DeSean Jackson and Riley Cooper before taking a shot at the end zone. Vick didn't throw a great pass, and Tramon Williams came away with an interception in the endzone with 33 seconds remaining on the clock, sealing the victory.
"I feel like I got greedy and took a shot at the end zone," Vick said about his last pass. "I didn't throw the ball I wanted and got picked. It's not the way I wanted to go out, but I went down swinging. I have to learn from it."
The Packer defense was key in the victory over the Eagles. Green Bay held Vick to just 32 rushing yards and sacked him 3 times.
"We fought hard today," said Aaron Rodgers. "Big interception by Tramon who's had a great season for us. The defense played great. They've been carrying us a lot this season. We had three touchdowns tonight, it was enough to win."
The packers moved on to face the Atlanta Falcons, the #1 seed in the NFC.
Divisional Round: Green Bay at Atlanta
The Packers entered Atlanta for the second time in the season. The first outing had been unsuccessful, as the Packers had lost by 3 in the final seconds of the game. The Pack were determined to achieve a different outcome this time around.
The Falcons drew first blood, using a heavy dose of running back Michael Turner to drive down the field, with Turner eventually scoring on a 12 yard run.
The Packers fought back, tying the score at 14-all on a 1 yard touchdown run by John Kuhn.
On the ensuing drive, Atlanta drove into Green Bay's red zone. Charles Woodson sacked Matt Ryan for a 7-yard loss. On the following play Ryan lobbed a fade to Michael Jenkins. Jenkins slipped, and Tramon Williams came away with an interception.
Green Bay drove 80 yards and scored on a 20 yard touchdown pass from Rodgers to James Jones. Atlanta received the ball with under a minute left in the half, down 21-14.
With 10 seconds left in the half Atlanta had driven the ball into range for a long field goal. Falcon's head coach Mike Smith instead called for an out pass to Roddy White, trying to gain a few more yards to shorten the field goal attempt. Tramon Williams read the play perfectly, picked off Ryan's pass and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown as time expired.
"I recognized the formation," Williams said. "I knew they were trying to get into position for a field goal."
"Not a very good decision on my part," Ryan said. "I just needed to throw the ball away."
The Packers went into halftime up 28-14.
On the first drive of the second half Green Bay all but sealed the victory with an 80 yard drive capped off by a 7 yard touchdown run from Aaron Rodgers, making the score 35-14. One possession later Rodgers found John Kuhn for a 7 yard touchdown pass, putting the Pack up 42-14.
In the 4th quarter Matt Ryan found Roddy White for a touchdown, but it was too little too late. Mason Crosby tacked on two field goals for Green Bay, and the Packers coasted to a 48-21 victory over the top seeded Falcons.
"This probably was my best performance -- the stage we were on, the importance of this game," Rodgers said. "It was one of those nights, I felt like I was in the zone."
Greg Jennings caught 8 passes for 101 yards, and Jordy Nelson, Donald Driver, and James Jones amassed over 70 reception yards each. The Packer offense was so efficient that Tim Masthay didn't punt once.
On defense the Packers put on a show. The high-powered Falcon offense managed only 194 total yards. Clay Matthews sacked Matt Ryan twice; the Packers got to him 5 times. The Packers also forced 4 turnovers.
The big win over the Falcons set up an epic showdown against the Chicago Bears for the right to play in the Super Bowl.
NFC Conference Championship Game: Green Bay at Chicago
The classic NFC North rivalry between the Packers and Bears was set to take place for the third time this season. However, this time around it was for a Super Bowl bid.
Both defenses came up with interceptions but neither offense was able to score again before halftime.
On the Packers first drive of the second half, Rodgers was intercepted by Brian Urlacher in the red zone. Rodgers made a touchdown-saving tackle that proved to be one of the most important plays in the game.
"I don't get paid to tackle, but that was probably one of my better plays of the game," Rodgers said.
On the following drive, Todd Collins replaced Jay Cutler as the Bears quarterback, a move that has led to much scrutiny of Cutler. Collins was unable to turn the turnover into points, and the Bears punted.
Two drives later Collins was replaced by Caleb Hanie. Hanie Led the Bears to their first score of the game.
Several drives later the Bears were pinned deep in their own territory. Hanie made a poor throw on a checkdown to Chester Taylor and B.J. Raji intercepted the pass and rumbled 18 yards for a touchdown.
Hanie would lead the Bears to another touchdown, bringing the Bears to within 7 points. Chicago got the ball back with 2:53 left in the game. The packer defense went into an 8-man coverage, forcing the young Hanie to throw into heavy coverage. On 4th and 5 from the Green Bay 29, Hanie was picked off by Sam Shields after attempting to throw into double coverage.
An Aaron Rodgers kneel down sealed the victory, and the Packers were headed to the Super Bowl.
Punter Tim Masthay, after going unused in the Atlanta game, was the unsung hero of the Packer - Bear game. On 8 punts Masthay averaged 41.8 yards. He placed the ball inside the 20 five times, and the Packer cover team held Devin Hester to just 16 punt return yards.
The Packers overcame an injury riddled season, two win-or-go-home games to end the regular season and three road games in the playoffs to earn their way to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1997.
Packers 2010:
Part 1: The Regular Season
Part 3: The Super Bowl
Part 4: A Look to the Off-Season
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