Stacking successes is what Packers’ head coach Mike McCarthy always preaches. Sunday’s win over the Seahawks that put the Packers in the playoffs has to be considered one of the greater successes he has stacked. I know the Packers haven’t accomplished anything yet, but at least now they have a chance.After losing a heartbreaker to the Steelers a week before the Packers jumped on Seattle early even though the Packers appeared to be playing like dung. It was the easiest 14-0 lead a team could possibly get. The Packers dominated from start to finish just as they should have and continued their excellent play of the second half of the season. A win in Arizona would put them 7-1 since the debacle in Tampa Bay.

The possibility of playing the Cardinals two weeks in a row adds a ton of intrigue to this matchup of two teams that have nothing to play for. The Cardinals may have the No. 2 seed in the NFC to play for but that would take a Festivus Miracle to occur. Either way Arizona won’t know until game time or later if they have a chance at a bye, which ought to be a nice distraction for them. Do we play hard or do we rest?I still think the Cardinals are the lessor of the three evils – the Eagles and Cowboys being the other two possibilities. I just don’t like our chances in Philly or Dallas. Neither the Cardinals, Cowboys or Eagles would stand a chance in Lambeau, but it didn’t work out that way. I also still think that game in Pittsburgh could end up helping the Packers just as much as the loss in Tampa Bay did. That was a great fourth-quarter comeback against an excellent team that just came up three seconds short.

As far as me personally, yes, getting to the playoffs this soon post-Favre means a ton. Aaron Rodgers gets better every week and getting a playoff game or two under his belt is huge. The Packers are meticulously building a winner that is not a one-year-and-done outfit like so many teams these days try to do by spending big bucks. The Packers took their lumps last year and rebounded to make the playoffs this year. I don’t expect the Packers to win the Super Bowl, in fact it will be hard for them to go on the road and win playoff game no matter where they go, but this is a great experience regardless.

I’m not saying the Packers can’t make a move in the playoffs, but it certainly would be unexpected. But the case can be made that the only team hotter than the Packers right now is the San Diego Chargers, who have won 10 in a row. In the NFC the Packers are the hottest team having won six of seven. I have no idea what to expect this week. All I know is they can’t take us out of the playoffs.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and like the Packers it is time to get back to business. The Packers face a must-win game tomorrow at Lambeau Field that really should be a laugher. Of course we all know what happened last time we thought that. I think the Packers will be ready to play after getting an extra day off for Christmas, something I’m sure the players appreciated and would love to repay the favor to coach Mike McCarthy with a victory.

Unless there is a major upset in New York or Washington the Packers will go to the last week of year with their playoff hopes undetermined, other than two wins and in of course. Tomorrow and Monday night will determine more about how hard Arizona tries against the Packers in week 17. Tomorrow I will be Panthers and Redskins fans. Not much hope there.

As far as the Seahawks are concerned, weather conditions will be fine tomorrow so I can see the Packers employing a similar game plan as they did in Pittsburgh, throw early and often. The thinking is this time they jump on top and grind it out on the ground in the second half. Ryan Grant has had some success against the Seattle in the past, let’s hope it continues tomorrow.

The Packers are fairly healthy for this late in season, the only major injury was Al Harris, which certainly did come into play last week. While the Packers should be able to hide Harris’ loss again this week, doing so in Arizona perhaps twice in a row is another matter.

It’s the last home game of the season and a win would put the Packers 6-2 at home. The Pack will get to ten, but will it be enough?

With their stunning loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers yesterday combined with explosive performances by the Cowboys and Giants the Packers all of a sudden are faced with winning their last two games to make the playoffs. The Giants whipped the lowly Redskins and the Cowboys get the same opportunity to do so next week. The Giants then have the 6-8 Panthers in New York and the fading fast Vikings in Minnesota the final week of the year.

Our best hope is beating the Seahawks next week and hoping the Eagles can win the NFC East by beating the Cowboys in Dallas the final week of the season. All of a sudden the Cardinals are in the hunt for the No. 2 seed in the NFC so they will likely play their starters against the Packers to close out the season, and we all know what a good passing team can do to the Packers.

The Packers’ problems are obvious. They can’t run the ball on offense when they need to and pass protection, while better lately, is still not good enough. On defense they can stop the run effectively but can’t get home on the blitz regularly enough and outside of of their two starting cornerbacks can’t cover anybody. Yes I’m talking about Jarrett Bush and Josh Bell. Opposing tight ends have also given the Packers fits this year. How the Packers are still number two in defense after getting “debacled” in Pittsburgh is beyond me (thanks Emmitt).

I do think yesterday’s game was a great learning experience for the young Packers, whose best years are yet to come I think. They do need to get a taste of the playoffs this year though to keep that edge sharp. Aaron Rodgers is improving game by game and it would benefit him to get a playoff game or two under his belt. It’s a learning process for a QB and Rodgers is well ahead of the curve.

The Packers lost a heartbreaker, that is sure, but they did show a lot of heart in the fourth quarter and should have gained some confidence in what was a furious comeback until the final play. Not to mention they were playing the defending Super Bowl champions fighting for their lives.

Confidence is medium. I would rather the Packers just win out and be done with it, but it would also be nice to locked in next week. The Packers should be fired up for the Seahawks after such a tough loss and Lambeau will be rocking. Go Pack! Go Panthers! and Go Redskins!

3:22 PM:  Rough start for the good guys. Our old buddy Jarrett Bush is back. 7-0 Steelers. Now a penalty on the kick return. This is going to be a long day I fear.

3:27 PM: Why throw deep on third-and-one when your quarterback isn’t even sure what stadium he is in after a helmet-to-helmet shot. What a deep hole the Packers are in already.

3:31 PM: Packers stop the Steelers after one first down. Do you think they might try to run the ball a little now? Rodgers is getting killed.

3:36 PM: Holy cow! 83-yard touchdown pass to Jennings! I thought for sure he would drop it. We are tied at seven and now the Steelers know we can score on them. Come on defense now. Somebody make a play. I forgot to mention our shitty special teams. Better not allow a long kick return now.

3:46 PM: Steelers look like a team trying to break a 5-game losing streak. The Packers look like a team that wants to get back on the plane. It’s OK. We’ll be in an angry mood when Seattle comes to town next week. With Dallas winning last night 10 might not be enough.

3:59 PM: Big Play Clay makes another one! Packers ball pending review. It should go our way, but stranger things have happened.

4:03 PM:  The Packers totally got fucked there. The officiating in the NFL this year has never been worse. I don’ t even care anymore about this game. You can’t beat a fixed game. After what happened in the NBA it is hard argue the NFL games aren’t fixed too.

4:06 PM: The Packers’ offense is a joke. The worst play-calling of the year.

4:11 PM: Worst play-calling of the year!!!!!!

4:12 PM: The Packers now damn well that Crosby can’t hit from the right hash mark so what do they do on third down? Run to the right hash mark. McCarthy better not get to comfortable in his seat. This is is by the worst game of McCarthy’s career. The Packers have no chance to win this game unless Joe Philbin takes over the play calling. McCarthy is too emotional in his home town. Not thinking straight.

4:22 PM: All of a sudden Donald Driver can’t catch. WTF?

4;25 PM: The Packers are clearly a year away from being a contender. It would be nice to make the playoffs this year to get some experience, but until there is a complete makeover of the special teams from the coach to the kickers the Packers won’t be championship caliber. Lets focus on the Seahawks next week and go from there.

4:38 PM: Rodgers won’t be denied. Amazing how he can pick himself off the turf like that, deal with his receivers inability to catch, and run one in for a TD. I have 4-4 so I’m sorry, but we know the Steelers will score before halftime. No way I get that lucky.

4:45 PM: What did I tell you? Right down the field on us. No resistance at all. 21-14 Steelers.

5:30 PM: Pretty much what we expected today. We all had this as a loss when the schedule came out. No biggy. Regroup, beat Seattle and Arizona and let the chips fall where they may. I’m cool.

5:59 PM: The Steelers have definitely figured out the Packers’ defense. I hope it isn’t a blueprint for the Seahawks and Cardinals.

6:00 PM: Capers is being too cute tonight. It ain’t working.

6:16 PM: Bush again! He must be cut this week! Packers put up a good fight. I am actually encouraged by the second half performance. We may lose the game, but we didn’t lose momentum I don’t think.

6:19 PM: Nobody missed against us.

6:31 PM: Can the defense make the play? One time baby!

6:48 PM: Oh well. We gave it a great effort. The defense choked. Jenkins makes the sack and the game is over. 9-5 is not bad. Better get to 11-5.

When head coach Mike McCarthy was hired the first thing he said was that he was more worried about how his team would handle success than he was about not being successful in Green Bay. From the midpoint of his first year to the end of 2007 the Packers handled success fairly well. Last year, not so much. However, the Packers have now won five games in a row and in the NFL that is never an easy thing to do. But the road ahead gets a little tougher.

The Packers can clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Steelers Sunday and may even know that fact going into the game if Dallas loses Saturday night. If the Packers win Sunday they could also qualify Monday night if Washington beats the Giants. Not saying any of that is going to happen but who would have thought five weeks ago the Packers could clinch a playoff spot with two weeks to go in the season?

The Packers upset the Dallas Cowboys and never looked back. The season hung in the balance against Dallas – a loss and the Packers would have been under .500 and a playoff afterthought. The Packers were able to stun the Cowboys with a stifling defense that has carried the way to four more wins. A defense that is looking more and more like the real deal each week.

The Packers could not be facing a defending Super Champion at a worse time. The Steelers have lost five games in a row and are for all intents and purposes are out of the playoffs. The Steelers clearly overlooked the lowly Cleveland Browns in their last game and were thoroughly embarrassed. This after losing to the Raiders in Pittsburgh. The Steelers are reeling and I think the Packers will extend that losing streak, even though the Steelers will not be overlooking the 9-4 Packers.

The Packers the last two weeks have shown a new maturity not seen since at least the Sherman playoff years. What I loved about the win over the Bears was the way the Packers just kept going about their business when the tide turned against them. Against Baltimore the Packers led 17-0 at halftime and watched the Ravens jump right back to 17-14 early in the second half. The Packers led the Bears 13-0 and watched the Bears take the lead early in the second half. However, on both occasions the Packers clamped down on defense and neither team scored another point.

It was like the Ravens or Bears couldn’t do a thing on the Packers, then for two drives couldn’t be stopped, then couldn’t do a thing again. The defense adjusts and that is that. The Steelers have the best quarterback the Packers will have faced since Tony Romo but Romo doesn’t have two Super Bowl Rings like Ben Rothlisberger does. The Steelers problem is they simply can’t run the ball anymore and they have a hard time protecting the QB. Kind of plays right into the Packers’ hand, doesn’t it?

It’s only Tuesday, and confidence is neither high or low. Leaning upward. I like the McCarthy going home aspect, always worked for Holmgren, all but once anyway. Capers has ties to the Steelers too, I can’t imagine how much a victory would mean to those two. Damn! It is nice to be back in the mix. Packers-Vikings III is still a possibility.

12:07 PM:  Holy cow! A Ryan Grant sighting! 62 yards to paydirt on the first play from scrimmage for the Green Bay Packers. What a deal for the Packers.

12:24 PM:  The Packers were just robbed of a TD by the replay officials. Hope it doesn’t come back to haunt them. Jennings hurt on the play to boot.

12:33 PM:  That sucked! A touchdown there and the Bears might start thinking about packing it in. Why can’t score TDs in the redzone anymore?

12:37 PM:  No matter how bad it gets in Green Bay, at least we didn’t give up two firsts and a third and a starting quarterback for Jay Cutler. C-Wood with another pick but the offense is all of sudden struggling. Might be time to open up a little.

12:49 PM:  Another failure in the redzone. I promise it will come back to haunt us. With our bad special teams the Bears can catch up in a hurry. Watch the next kickoff return. I can see Knox going the distance and instead of 21-7 it is 13-7 and the Bears are pumped up. Not good. Got to step your game up offense.

1:03 PM: Enough with the grind it out shit, we can run the ball on them. Time to open it up. We are letting them stick around and I don’t like it.

1:07 PM: Here come the Bears. We are going to wire in this one.

1:13 PM:  Jay Cutler is picking apart the Packers secondary now that he has time to throw. The Packers are blitzing and not getting home and this is usually what happens. The defense needs to come up big here. After giving up a long third down the defense is on it’s heals. Two-minute warning to catch their breath.

1:17 PM:  Bears should win this challenge. It’s up to the offense to respond.

1:21 PM:  Oh well, same result. The Packers are in big trouble. Losing their composure. The season won’t end with a loss, but it will certainly be disappointing and leave the Packers in a precarious position. We’ll see what the coach has up his sleeve at halftime to turn this lackadaisical effort around. Last time we scored a long touchdown this early in a game we lost at Tampa Bay. Not good.

1:25 PM:  Bears sack Rodgers and we give up. This has all the makings of an upset. Now Finley fumbles away a chance at a field goal. Not looking good ladies and gentleman. Now McCarthy calls timeout with six seconds left in the half and the Bears willing to run it out. We will lose this game. Mark my word. Could not have been a worse first half for the Packers.

1:46 PM:  Rodgers is just pathetic today. This game is over. Packers were not ready to play today. The mannerisms are just like Tampa Bay. They can’t believe what is happening to them. I’ll try not to get to mad, we just really need the Eagles and Chargers to win now. Tough place to regroup in Pittsburgh next week. All of sudden this season has turned sour. The Packer have no answer for Cutler.

1:51 PM:  Charles Woodson for defensive player of the year? Not after today. Damn I hate when I’m right. Blame this one on McCarthy. For the second time this year his team was completely flat. Maybe it will be a good thing if we don’t make the playoffs. I would hate to get embarrassed again.

2:00 PM:  Rodgers couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn today. No comeback looming.

2:07 PM:  This is Jay Cutler’s coming out party. He is picking apart the number one defense in the NFL and some young bozo is making Charles Woodson look like a rookie. Bend over and take it people.

2:09 PM:  Every pass Cutler throws  is right on the money. The Packers have no answer. I hope Rodgers learns from this experience, and quickly. The Steelers are going to be in an angry mood next week and misery loves company, so they would like nothing more than to end our season just as theirs has already ended. Looks like 8-8 now folks.

2:25 PM:  Revolting turn of events for the Bears and the Packers now lead 21-14. Do the Packers have the killer instinct? Can they win when Rodgers has a bad day? We are about to find out.

2:39 PM:  The two worst play calls of the year lead to a drop by Jackson and a missed field goal by Crosby. No killer instinct yet.

3:01 PM:  This game is over. Unbelievable. How the Packers won this game is going to take weeks to determine. It can’t be solved overnight. CSI, NCIS, Bones, House and Monk have all been called in. They didn’t show much killer instinct on offense, but the defense pulled it out in the end. The Packers swept the Bears. How sweet it is!

The Green Bay Packers find themselves in the thick of the playoff race and with that brings opportunity, and pressure. A win today in Chicago over the Bears would likely leave the Packers with a stranglehold on a wild card playoff berth and maybe even a game closer to the division title. A loss and everything is up for grabs all over again.The Packers main competition for the wild card – the Eagles, Giants and Cowboys have tough games. Actually the Giants and Eagles face off in New York. The Cowboys face the red-hot Chargers in Dallas. A win by the Eagles and loss by the Cowboys, coupled with a Packers win over the Bears would leave the Packers the fifth seed in the NFC. If the 9-3 Bengals can beat the Vikings, the Packers would only be a game out in the division with three to play. Anything can happen down the stretch as the noose tightens.I think this is going to be an extremely tough game for the Packers and they may need another late drive to pull it off. Confidence is not high, but I’ll say Packers 21, Bears 20.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. You may say Monday’s 27-14 victory was ugly, I call it breathtaking. The Packers moved to 8-4 and right in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot. The Packers play at Chicago this week in what will be the Bears’ Super Bowl. The Bears aren’t going anywhere so they would love nothing more than to knock the Packers out. The Packers would love nothing more than to stick one of the final stakes in Bears’ head coach Lovie Smith.

The Packers had to overcome their own mistakes and the mistakes of the officiating crew and they accomplished both. Aaron Rodgers threw two interceptions and Donald Driver lost a fumble that briefly turned the game in the Ravens’ favor. However, when the Ravens closed the Packers’ 17 point lead to three, the Packers offense answered with a TD and the Packers defense intercepted the Ravens twice in the fourth quarter to put the game on ice. The Packers are learning how to close games finally and that should bode well as we start the final quarter of the season.

The offensive line is getting better now that Mark Tauscher is settling in at his old right tackle position and it appeared Chad Clifton made it through the game OK. If those two guys stay healthy the rest of the way the Packers offense should continue to improve even at this late stage of the season. The Packers also should have gotten a good feel for what the weather will be like in three of those final four games. Only a trip to Arizona the final week will be in warm weather. At Chicago and at Pittsburgh and home against Seattle will be games similar to Monday night when it was about 20 degrees at kickoff.

Lets focus on Chicago first. The Bears are not a very good team but they are a division rival who always plays good against the Packers since Lovie took over. Last week they barely got by the lowly Rams on their own turf breaking a three game losing streak. Lovie will have them ready to play this week that is for sure. In the first meeting between the two teams the Bears probably should have won, but a late touchdown pass to Greg Jennings saved the day for the Packers.

The Packers defense did rise to the occasion against Baltimore and can’t afford a letdown against Chicago. Many are already picking the Bears in an upset. Five in a row would sure be nice heading into Pittsburgh, which lost to the lowly Raiders in Pittsburgh Sunday. The fact that is the Bears makes me believe the Packers won’t overlook a lesser opponent. Certainly one game isn’t a reason to push the panic button, but one has to wonder if the Vikings are primed for their usual late season swoon, especially with a QB who has a three-year track record of poor play in December. Not saying the the Packers can still win the division, but a Packers win over the Bears and a Vikings loss to the Bengals would make things interesting. I’m not saying, I’m just saying…it could get interesting.

Wow! I think you can call the Green Bay Packers’ defense the real thing. I also think we are seeing the continuing maturation of Aaron Rodgers who just keeps getting better and better with each game. Being at the game tonight and from my damn near field level seats next to the Packers’ tunnel I see the faces of the players and the mannerisms up close and Rodgers amazed me today.

Rodgers was calm, cool and collected at all times, you couldn’t tell if the play was a 40-yard gain or a 15-yard penalty against the offense. I’d like to say it was a coming out party but Rodgers has been lights out since he took over the starting job. The numbers he is putting up are Peyton Manning-like and he is now starting to get that same respect level in the locker room. This is Aaron Rodgers’ team and tonight he proved beyond a doubt he is one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL

Does anybody want to question Dom Capers anymore? Twelve games into his tenure in Green Bay and the Packers have the best defense in the NFL. Oh, and ah, they are still getting better. A.J. Hawk has found his system and rookies Clay Matthews and B.J. Raji are playing well beyond their years. All of a sudden the Packers’ defense is complementing the explosive offense and the Packers appear to be playoff bound.

A trip to Chicago next week presents another must win game because the Bears are, well, they Bears are who we thought they were – they suck. A loss in Chicago would be akin to a loss to Tampa Bay. It would be a season killer.

I’ll have more to say as I sober up, but damn, what a great day to be a Packers’ fan!