GREEN BAY, Wis. – For all that Aaron Rodgers has achieved in his Hall of Fame career, there is one thing he never did: play an NFC championship game at Lambeau Field.
Come back next Sunday to see him take it off his list. Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers (14-3) will play for a Super Bowl spot against the New Orleans Saints or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And the Pack will do this in its own territory thanks to Saturday’s 32-18 victory over the Los Angeles Rams in Lambeau, where fans – 8,456 of them – were allowed for the first time in the entire season.
It will be Rodgers’ fifth appearance in the conference title game. His previous four all came to the road. He won his first – during the 2010 season, at Soldier Field – on his way to his lone Super Bowl. He has lost three since then, including last season at the San Francisco 49ers.
It was after last season’s defeat when Rodgers repeated a familiar chorus, saying, “We have to get one at home.”
Rodgers secured this early and often against Rams (11-7), who had the NFL’s most striking defense of the regular season (18.1 points per game). The Packers overcame this in the first half, with a 19-10 lead in the interval. They became the first team this season to score on the Rams in each of the first three attempts. It was also the fourth consecutive game that the Packers’ highest scoring attack had scored in each of the first three attempts.
Rodgers released a 1-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams, sending Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey into a heated post-game exchange with safety Nick Scott. Rodgers also ran for a touchdown in the first half, giving him a touchdown pass and a touchdown run in the same playoff game for the third time in his career. But it was his first accelerated post-season score since the 2010 NFC title game in Chicago.
That was just the beginning.
When Aaron Jones made a 60-yard run in the third quarter’s opening play to set up his own 1-yard touchdown run, it meant the Packers scored in each of the first five attempts in a game for the first time since week 3 of the 2016 season.
Saturday marked the 22nd time in the history of the NFL playoffs that the No. 1 offense and the No. 1 defense have met. The Packers’ 32 points were the fourth highest number in those matches, according to the ESPN Stats & Information poll.
Rodgers knelt at the game late with the crowd’s “MVP” shouts.
He completed 23 of 36 passes for 296 yards and two touchdown passes. His 58-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard in the fourth period was his longest goal pass in his postseason career.
Rodgers benefited from the best running performance – 189 yards – that his team has already given him in a playoff game. The previous record was 147 yards in the 2011 division playoff against the New York Giants. But that was a loss the only other time the Packers were number 1 seed under Rodgers.
That game denied him an NFC title game at home.
Ten years later, Rodgers would not be denied.