GREEN BAY, Wis. — One final push for the MVP. More records for Davante Adams. The chance to keep the rival Chicago Bears out of the playoffs.
Maybe they’re all somewhere on Aaron Rodgers‘ mind as the Green Bay Packers prepare for Sunday’s regular-season finale at Soldier Field (4:25 p.m. ET, FOX). All of them came up in one form or another on Wednesday.
But so did this: Rodgers’ predecessor Brett Favre used to hate it when players said they needed to crank up the intensity or preparation in advance of a game because Favre would say it should have been that way from the start.
“I’m with Brett there,” Rodgers said. “I don’t feel like you should have to crank it up at certain times; it should be cranked from the get-go.”
Still, Rodgers mentioned earlier this week during his weekly appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” that other than Lambeau Field, Soldier Field is one of his favorite places to play.
“Any time you’re playing Chicago, there’s always that little extra that’s built in the fabric of the organizations from the history of playing so many damned games against each other and the mutual feelings that both fan bases have for each other and the grinding games that we’ve had over the years,” Rodgers said Wednesday.
“I don’t think you need to add any extra motivation to this game. We both have something to play for. We’re playing for the 1-seed, they’re playing for their playoff lives, so there’s a lot at stake for both squads. We got after them a few weeks ago. They’ve been playing a lot better since then. We know what kind of game it’s going to be.”
So here’s what is at stake for the Packers as a team and individually:
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A win gets Green Bay (12-3) the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs, meaning it would have a first-round bye and host any games leading up to the Super Bowl. Rodgers has played in four NFC Championship Games, but none of them were at home.
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With Patrick Mahomes, Rodgers’ top competition for MVP, not scheduled to play in Kansas City’s meaningless finale, Rodgers will get one more chance to woo undecided voters, if that’s still even necessary.
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A host of milestones and perhaps the two biggest individual franchise records for a receiver (catches and touchdowns) are within reach for Adams.
“We obviously know what’s in front of us,” Adams said. “We control our own destiny as far as staying at that No. 1 spot. It’s a familiar opponent, so we have to make sure we’re locked in. Like I’ve stated before with them, it’s not the record they would have dreamt of having but their back is against the wall.
“It’s put up or shut up for them, so they gotta basically come in, it’s a must-win situation for them to keep their playoff hopes alive. So we just have to make sure we’re ready to go.”
Consider this when it comes to Rodgers and the Bears: He’s 20-5 against them, including a victory in the 2010 NFC Championship Game, since he became a starter in 2008. That’s the most wins by a quarterback against a single opponent in that time.
The last time the Packers and Bears played in Week 17 was 2013, when Rodgers returned from a broken collarbone for a winner-wins-the-NFC North/loser-is-eliminated game and threw a 48-yard touchdown pass with 38 seconds left for a 33-28 Green Bay win.
Rodgers threw four touchdowns in last month’s win over the Bears and has 44 for the season. He can join Peyton Manning as the only NFL quarterbacks with multiple seasons of 45 touchdown passes (Rodgers did it in 2011, the first of his two MVP seasons).
Rodgers admitted Wednesday that a third MVP would “mean a lot to me” in part because so few have done it but also because of the work it took to get back to this level.
“Just proving to myself again the level that I can play at [after] a couple years where although I felt like I played well [but] the results didn’t always line up with how I felt like how I was playing,” Rodgers said. “So it’s nice to have everything line up the way it has this year.”
Source : ESPN
