Well, I would certainly say I'm completely against the snoopes take on things as I feel somehow this year we finally got things in order to get back to the SB.
Now, to be fair I do see where some concern is warranted. I'll be honest and say yes, I did want the Saints to win yesterday. I'm sure many other people did too and probably felt we'd matchup better against them considering our offense did have more success against their defense than the Bucs.
And I'll even say considering we're now going to be playing in the 4th of the last 7 NFCCGs, simply getting there is no longer acceptable. If we don't win this one ... I'm all for sending Pettine and Mennenga packing. The big wall has gotta get knocked down at some point before Rodgers retires.
BUT
I do think our chances of winning this nfccg are still better than what they were in the last 3 for a few reasons.
1. Our game back in October turned ugly because of those two interceptions Rodgers threw. I doubt he's going to make those kinds of bad decisions again in this one.
2. I could end up jinxing this and lord I hope not, but it does feel like our defense including the run defense has been playing better as of late than we were back then. If we can get Brady off the spot and not allow Fournette or Jones to do any real damage out there, I think we win.
3. While we haven't been able to exact retribution in our last 3 rematch nfccg's, we didn't get to play any of those here at Lambeau Field. Now I get it ... the whole debate about how effective Lambeau Field is during the playoffs or what not. Make no mistake ... having home field alone cold weather or no does not make us the better team. We still gotta outplan and outplay these guys.
But over the last 20 years, the home team in the nfccg has won 65% of the time. That's significant enough for me to say it definitely can matter.
I certainly do consider what could have been had we played SEA, ATL, and SF at home. Beating ATL and SF even at home in those years would have been tough sells for sure considering our injury depleted secondary trying to cover all the Falcons' weapons out there, and our upstart LaFleur team and run defense problems likely not disappearing vs SF even if we did get them here. But there is just no doubt in my mind we would have beaten SEA back in 2014 if they had had to come here.
TB may not be 2014 SEA, but I definitely have a much better feeling about the game as I would have if we had been able to drag the Seahawks butts over here. Yeah, if we had to go back to Tampa again, I'd hate our chances. But up here with an extra day to be ready and no travel needed, I think we're going to be ready for them.
