After the Packers won the Super Bowl, nearly every cliché, every player profile, and every comeback story has been talked about. We’ve heard about the Packers uphill climb from injuries and midseason struggle. We’ve heard about Charles Woodson’s tear filled halftime speech explaining to his teammates how much he “wants this”. Even the whole “the Super Bowl is coming back to "Titletown” line has been beaten to death.
We’ve heard the same repeated storylines so many times that you would think there would be nothing left to talk about. But if there was nothing left to talk about, then this wouldn’t be a very good article now would it?
There is still one big interesting factor in the Packers Super Bowl victory that everyone seems to be forgetting. When I look back at the Packers 2011 Super Bowl Championship, I’m not only going to remember Aaron Rodgers, Cheese heads and the Pittsburgh Steelers. I’m going to remember one incredible regular season game, between two bitter rivals, neither one of them named the Green Bay Packers.
I’m talking about December 19th; Giants vs. Eagles, The Miracle at the Meadowlands part two.
You all know what happened. The Giants were up 21 with eight minutes left in the game. The Eagles proceeded to score 28 unanswered points, highlighted by Desean Jackson’s 65 yard punt return off a horrible Matt Doge punt with no time remaining in the game. It was an unbelievable win for the Eagles, and a devastating loss for the Giants.
But it also affected another team, and this is what everybody tends to forget. The Packers and Giants both finished with 10-6 records at the end of the season, with the Packers getting in with the head to head tiebreaker. Had the Giants not performed one of the biggest choke jobs in the history of the NFL, the Packers wouldn’t have even had a chance to compete for the Lombardi Trophy.
(Pause for dramatic “ohhh I never realized that” moment)
Crazy, isn’t it? One insane eight minute stretch, in a game the Packers weren’t even involved in, changed their entire season. (On a side note, as a die-hard Giants fan, you don’t understand how hard this article is to write). The Giants played eight minutes of absolutely pathetic football (still haunts my dreams), and it helped the Packers win a Super Bowl Championship.
Now I’m not saying this is the only factor in the Pack’s championship season, because there are obviously tons of others. However, you can’t deny that those eight played minutes had a ridiculously huge effect on their season.
This is one of the many reasons I love sports, and one of the main reasons why I love football so much. Every little play matters. Every game, every drive, every play, and even every punt (are you kidding me Matt Dodge?!) matters. The slightest movement or slightest hesitation can make all the difference, not only in a game, but in an entire season.
This feeling, the feeling that at any moment, you could witness something amazing, is why I love sports.
If John Dodge boots that ball out of bounds, or if the Bears decided to go for the win in their final regular season game, the Packers might not have made the playoffs. If the Giants got one more first down in the fourth quarter, the Packers never would have had a chance to win a title. If the Eagles roll over and give up in that same fourth quarter, well, you get the picture.
Looking back on it, that one quarter had such a gigantic effect on the NFL landscape. Aaron Rodgers became a star, Charles Woodson got his first title, and the Packers became the NFL’s “next big thing”. In a way, the Giants and Eagles caused all of this. Had that game ended differently, who knows what would have happened? New heroes would be born, a new champion would be crowned, and new storylines would be made.
But it did happen. We’ll never know the answer to that “what if” question, and this is what makes professional sports so amazing. There’s no reset button.
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