The anciently wise Mammy in Gone with the Wind famously warned against Scarlett’s planned journey to Atlanta. “Savannah would be better for ya,” she insisted. “You’d just get in trouble in Atlanta!”
Mammy may have been right about Scarlett, but no place could possibly have been better for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers than Atlanta was in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.
Now we have had two playoff weekends with four games each weekend. And the story for me personally has been exactly the same both times. I have lost every game -- except the most important one! -- each weekend.
At the beginning of the playoffs, I ranked the 12 teams in order of my preference, 1-12. The Packers, of course, were #1, with no truly close second. At spot #8 is where I indicated that I felt I was shifting from teams I more or less liked to teams that I disliked. And now, lo and behold, see what I am left with!
The only team left that I like is the team that I love. Every other remaining team falls below that line -- #8 was the Jets, #11 was the Bears, and #12 was the Steelers. It is possible that the Super Bowl in Dallas will be a match-up of the Bears and Steelers which, for me, would be completely unwatchable.
All the other playoff disappointments aside, though, I am giddy this weekend from the Packers’ astonishing performance in Atlanta on Saturday night. It was a genuine masterpiece by Aaron Rodgers, who has evidently set some record for a quarterback’s first three playoff games (“he has become the first quarterback in NFL history to throw 10 touchdown passes in his first three playoff games,” according to SI.com’s Tim Layden; Daryle Lamonica, Dan Marino and Jeff George all had thrown nine).
Meanwhile, ironically, all of the quarterbacks chosen ahead of Rodgers to represent the NFC in the Pro Bowl will now be available to play that game. They’ve got no other games play. Drew Brees, Michael Vick, and Matt Ryan have all been knocked out of the playoffs -- and two of them have been knocked out by Aaron Rodgers himself (as well as Tramon Williams, who is also not going to the Pro Bowl!).
Everything about this season has been vindication.
Most recently, as indicated above, Rodgers and Williams have been vindicated in terms of their Pro Bowl snub.
Also, by beating the Falcons (who were the first opposing team to come into Lambeau and win a playoff game there) and Vick (who was the QB who did it) and the Eagles (4th and 26), the Packers exorcised some past postseason demons.
Furthermore, with his first playoff win last weekend followed by his absolutely stellar performance this weekend, Rodgers has been vindicated against the charge that he couldn’t be counted among the elite quarterbacks until he had won in the playoffs.
Moreover, by beating Brett Favre and the Vikings twice this season, Rodgers and the rest of the team put that ghost to bed.
And, with all that this team has accomplished, in spite of a third of their original starters being on IR, we would have to say that Ted Thompson has also been vindicated, for he truly has put together a deeply talented team.
The only remaining vindication to be achieved, of course, is this coming Sunday against the Bears. We shouldn’t have lost that first game in Chicago back in Week 3, and we shouldn’t have lost the Division to those overachieving yokels. And so 2:00 p.m. next Sunday is payback time.
Evidently, the mercenary Bears fans were rooting for the Packers on Saturday night -- preferring, I suppose, to host the NFC Champion-ship Game than to travel to Atlanta. Fair enough. But if I’m a Bears fan today, after watching that Packer performance on Saturday night, I’m thinking that Atlanta might be better for ya…
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