GREEN BAY, Russia. – For everything Aaron Rodgers has accomplished in his career at the Hall of Fame, there is one thing he has never done: play an NFC championship game at Lambeau Field.
Come back next Sunday to see how he gets off his list. Rodgers and the top-ranked Green Bay Packers (14-3) will play in the Super Bowl spot against the New Orleans Saints or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
And the Pack will do it for their own turf thanks to Saturday’s 32-18 win over the Los Angeles Rams at Lambeau, where fans (8,456 of them) were able to enter for the first time all season.
It will be Rodgers’ fifth appearance in the conference title game. His previous four went out on the road. He won his first, during the 2010 season, at Soldier Field, en route to his lone Super Bowl. He has lost three, including last season’s San Francisco 49ers.
It was after last season’s defeat that Rodgers repeated a familiar saying, “We have to get one of these at home.”
Rodgers made sure of that and often against the Rams (11-7), who had the NFL’s top scoring defense in the regular season (18.1 points per game). The Packers improved it in the first half, with a 19-10 lead at the break. They became the first team this season to score for the Rams on each of their first three albums. It was also the fourth straight game the Packers have scored the most goalscoring offense in each of their first three albums.
Rodgers threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams, sending Rams corner Jalen Ramsey to a 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 in the same playoff game for the third time in his career. But it was his first quick score in the postseason since the 2010 NFC game in Chicago.
That was just the beginning.
When Aaron Jones kicked off a 60-yard run in the opening play of the third quarter to set up his own 1-yard touchdown run, it meant the Packers scored in each of their first five units in a game for the first time. since week 3 of the 2016 season.
Saturday marked the 22nd time in NFL playoff history that the No. 1 goal-scoring offensive and No. 1 goal-scoring defense faced off. The Packers’ 32 points were the fourth-most in those clashes, according to research by ‘ESPN Stats & Information.
Rodgers rounded out the match late to the “MVP” chants of the crowd.
He completed 23 of 36 passes from 296 yards and two touchdown passes. His 58-yard touchdown pass to Allen Lazard in the fourth quarter was the most scoring pass of his postseason career.
Rodgers benefited from the best rushing performance (189 yards) his team has ever given him in a playoff game. The previous high was 147 yards in the 2011 divisional playoffs against the New York Giants. But that meant a loss the only other time the Packers were Rodgers ’No. 1 pick.
That game denied him a NFC title game at home.
Ten years later, Rodgers would not be denied.