As Packers spiraled, Aaron Rodgers believed. Now they can punch playoff ticket

By Martin Rogers
Published

Aaron Rodgers went through the same kind of thought process as the rest of the football world this week, with concern for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin being at the forefront of his mind.

Witnessing Monday's terrifying events on television, Rodgers immediately reached out to his friend, Bills quarterback Josh Allen, to share some fraternal backing amid a fraught night in which the sport came together in support for Hamlin.

"You're watching the coverage because you're worried about him, and you want some good news, and you're hoping to hear some good news, and I reached out to Josh right away," Rodgers told the Pat McAfee Show.

"I didn't expect a response. He actually texted me back from the locker room … and I just felt for him, watching his face and just putting myself in their shoes — watching somebody you love on the ground."

Now, with the final week of the NFL regular season fast approaching, players around the sport are already in the process of preparing for a pivotal collection of games while keeping Hamlin's welfare firmly in their thoughts.

Few have as much at stake as Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, who find themselves in a position that seemed unthinkable just a few weeks ago. Thanks to four straight wins and a friendly combination of results elsewhere, Green Bay knows victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday night will guarantee a postseason place.

Rodgers said the Hamlin situation had been a major locker-room topic but insisted his team would be ready to play this weekend and try to complete a remarkable revival from a dismal 4-8 hole to start the year.

If the Seattle Seahawks lose to the Los Angeles Rams earlier in the day, the Sunday night matchup between the Packers and their NFC North rival will be a straightforward battle for the remaining postseason position. If Seattle has won its game, the Packers' scenario would not change, but Detroit would have been eliminated.

"There are always new guys who have got to feel what that pressure feels like of a true win-and-in, lose-and-go-home scenario," Rodgers told reporters. "We've had a couple of these over the years against the Lions. It helps some of us old guys who have experience with it, and then it just depends how guys can handle the anxiety and the pressure leading up to it."

Rodgers never lost belief, even when it appeared he had every reason to do so. Some of the defeats during a midseason 1-7 stretch were notably bad, especially home losses to the New York Jets and Tennessee Titans. Going down 15-9 in Detroit was no fun either, a result that sparked off the Lions' own surge under head coach Dan Campbell.

But Rodgers looked at his squad's closing schedule and believed each of the last five games were winnable, even for a struggling team that was finding it difficult to jell and was being widely written off.

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Emmanuel Acho and Joy Taylor discuss whether the Green Bay Packers are better than their 8-8 record. Acho says they are, and have shown it by beating contenders like the Cowboys, Vikings and Dolphins earlier in the season.

Every QB has his own approach. Tom Brady's fanatical dedication to preserving his youth has kept him going as age 46 approaches. Russell Wilson used to get 10 hours a week of massage.

Perhaps no situation and QB were better suited to each other, however, than Rodgers and the gloomy spot the Packers found themselves in. The 39-year-old, who reads voraciously, extols self-help wisdom at every turn and who believes in the power of speaking things into existence, might be about to do just that.

"I do believe in the power of manifestation and I do believe in momentum and I believe very strongly in the force of the mind," Rodgers said, after last Sunday's win over the Minnesota Vikings. "And when you start to believe something strongly, some miraculous things can happen."

A lot has happened since then and the buildup to this weekend's games, frankly, feels like no other in memory.

There is a job to do however, and Rodgers is ready to do it. If he does it well, then another job — the postseason — starts right after. The Packers now find themselves in a position that no one (besides maybe one man) truly believed was possible.

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Martin Rogers is a columnist for FOX Sports and the author of the FOX Sports Insider newsletter. Follow him on Twitter @MRogersFOX and subscribe to the daily newsletter.