The Green Bay Packers are the only NFL team that didn’t lose a home game during the recently completed regular season. Now they’re counting on their frenzied fans and the frigid climes of a Wisconsin winter to help them get to the Super Bowl for the first time in 11 years.
“I’m really looking forward to having a full crowd, that good old Green Bay weather,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said after the Packers secured the top seed in the NFC for the second straight year. “It’s been an advantage for us for a long time. I think it’s an advantage having 78,000, instead of 7,800 like we did last year.”
Actually, only 7,772 fans were at last year’s conference championship game, when COVID-19 restrictions limited attendance and Tom Brady quarterbacked the visiting Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a 31-26 win at Lambeau Field. Brady and the Bucs went on to beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl, the franchise’s first title since 2003 and Brady’s record seventh championship to go with the half dozen he won with the AFC’s New England Patriots.
This time, the Packers can have full capacity – 81,441 – at their games beginning with the divisional round. They have the conference’s lone bye.
The Bucs are seeded second, followed by the Dallas Cowboys – led by rookie sensation Micah Parsons and Trevon Diggs on defense and a talent-laden offense guided by a finally healthy Dak Prescott – and the Los Angeles Rams. The wild cards are the Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles.