The wildest wild-card weekend kicks off tomorrow with six(!) games being played over Saturday and Sunday.
The quarterback with the most pressure on him entering the playoffs, however, will spend the weekend the same way we will – watching the games TV.
I’m talking, of course, about Aaron Rodgers, who led the Green Bay Packers to a 13-3 record and a first-round bye in the NFC.
While that bye has to be really nice – especially since only the top seeds in each conference got one this year – it doesn’t take away from the fact that Rodgers has to lead the Packers to at least the Super Bowl this year or yet another season will be a disappoint for the team that calls Lambeau Field home. It would also mean another season for one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the position will be wasted.
Why all the pressure? Well, the Packers have gone 13-3 the past two years in a row and have double-digit win seasons five other times since 2011. In 2010, Rodgers won the first and only Super Bowl title of his career. It’s also the only Super Bowl that he’s played in and that just isn’t enough for a QB who has long been compared to Tom Brady but has had nowhere near the success of the GOAT.
Since that Super Bowl win, the Packers have lost two playoff games at Lambeau and have lost in three NFC Championship Games, including last year when they were blown out by the 49ers.
Rodgers’ legacy will always be that of being a great quarterback, but he needs more Super Bowl titles to go to the next level. And this year seems like as good a year as any to get that done.
What would make this year really fun would be if the Bucs beat Washington this weekend and the Rams lose to Seattle. That would mean Tom Brady and the Bucs would head to Green Bay to face Rodgers and the Packers in a playoff showdown that we’ve all wanted to see for years.
Brady has pressure on him, too. But he’s really playing with house money at this point in his career. He also has the Bucs playing their best football at the right time of the season.
Rodgers, meanwhile, needs to cash in on some more postseason success because time is starting to run out for the 37-year-old QB.
He’ll just have to wait until next week to get started.
Quick hits: Popovich slams Trump, Hawley, Cruz… Collinworth humbled by Jeopardy… Let Stefanski coach!… And more.
– Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ripped Donald Trump and explained why Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are even worse.
– Cris Collinsworth was sad that he was an answer on Jeopardy and nobody got it right.
– Henry McKenna says that the NFL should change the rules and let Cleveland’s Kevin Stefanski coach from home Sunday night.
– Steven Ruiz and Charles McDonald break down the position battles that will be the difference in this weekend’s NFL playoff games.