The Packers have been among the NFL’s elite for quite some time now. You’ll have to travel back to 2008 to find a year that they didn’t make the playoffs. But in the six years following their magical 2010 Super Bowl run that concluded with a 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay has continuously fallen just short of returning to the big game. Aaron Rodgers isn’t getting any younger, and the time is now if this Packers team wants to win a second ring under Rodgers’s reign.
Green Bay Packers Window of Opportunity is Starting to Close
After the momentous victory in Super Bowl XLV, Green Bay had the look of the NFL’s next great dynasty. An up-and-coming quarterback named Aaron Rodgers had just vanquished the ghost of Brett Favre with a Super Bowl title of his own. The team was filled with young players on both offense and defense. Among those players were receivers such as Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson, defensive backs such as Nick Collins and Tramon Williams, and defensive linemen/linebackers such as B.J. Raji and Clay Matthews.
The following season was a great one for the defending champions as the Packers steamrolled to a 15-1 record and the NFC’s top seed. However, a postseason star named Eli Manning led his New York Giants into Lambeau Field and shocked the football world with a 37-20 upset victory over Green Bay, a game that I still believe haunts players who were on that 2011 Packers team and the franchise itself. Green Bay would return to the postseason the following year with an 11-5 record, only to fall to Colin Kaepernick‘s 181 rushing yards in a 45-31 loss to the 49ers in the Divisional round.
In 2013, the Packers rebounded from an Aaron Rodgers injury to win the division for the third straight year, only to fall again to the 49ers, only this time at home and in -20 degree temperatures. Green Bay came back strong in 2014 with a 12-4 record and the NFC’s number two seed, only to see their season end in heartbreak after blowing a 19-7 lead late in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game against the Seattle Seahawks. Green Bay would come up short again in the two following years, once in the Divisional Round to Arizona and once in the NFC Championship to a historically good Atlanta Falcons team.
The Packers Have A Chance To Catch That Elusive Second Ring This Season
Despite all of their failures in the past six postseasons, Green Bay still has a great chance at winning a second ring in the Aaron Rodgers era this season. Many offensive starters from last year will return and the defense will start the year healthy. The defensive backfield will add a couple of new faces in Davon House and Kevin King as well. Aaron Rodgers will once again be an MVP candidate and the addition of Martellus Bennett and Lance Kendricks will give the Packers offense a major boost. However, Green Bay has had promising off-seasons in the past, only to come up short in the postseason. A strong start to the season with victories over the Seahawks and Falcons is important as it will give the Packers an edge in the race for home-field advantage, something the Packers haven’t gotten since the 2011 season.
The Packers have the pieces in place, they now must finish the job. Aaron Rodgers, the backbone of this team for so many years, isn’t getting any younger at age 33. The time will soon come when the Packers must begin a search for his replacement. But the Packers still have time left, and they must take advantage of it if they don’t want the Aaron Rodgers era to suffer the same fate as the Brett Favre era: one ring with multiple postseason failures.
