Packers: 3 games Aaron Rodgers will have to win with his arm
By John Buhler
Aaron Rodgers will have to play at an MVP level for the Green Bay Packers to win these games.
The Green Bay Packers should be one of the better teams in the NFC again, mostly because they have the two-time reigning NFL MVP at quarterback in Aaron Rodgers.
Green Bay has won the NFC North each year since Matt LaFleur took over for Mike McCarthy as head coach. While the Packers have had great success during the regular season, they have been unable to win the NFC for well over a decade now. They have not been to a Super Bowl since 2010. With Rodgers in the twilight of his prime, he must continue to play at an elite level for them.
Here are three games that the Packers will only win if Rodgers carries the entire team on his back.
Green Bay Packers: 3 games Aaron Rodgers will have to win with his arm
3. Week 15: vs. Los Angeles Rams (Monday, Dec. 19)
Even though this game comes the week following the Packers’ annual bye, they get the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams at home on Monday Night Football in Week 15. Weather may be a factor in this holiday season primetime affair, but keep in mind how many games Matthew Stafford has played on the Frozen Tundra during his lengthy run with the Detroit Lions.
Stafford not only has the arm talent to cut through the wind commonplace in a mid-December Midwestern night, but he has a plethora of weapons and an incredible offensive line to keep him upright. In short, the Rams will never be out of this game because of the players surrounding Stafford, as well as his propensity of orchestrating one fourth-quarter comeback after another.
Even if the weather is bad, Rodgers must be ready to go down guns a-blazing in this one. He will have the home crowd on his side, as well as the elements. Though the latter may help the lesser team in this case, which is Green Bay, Rodgers cannot play like he did in his latest snowstorm primetime game: The disaster that was the 2021 NFC Championship vs. the San Francisco 49ers.
Being at home in bad weather helps Green Bay a ton, but Rodgers still has to bring his A game.