Green Bay Packers: Top 10 teams since 1992: No. 2 -2010 Packers

Closing in on the final two spots of my top ten Green Bay Packers teams since 1992, in second place I have the 2010 Packers.

The 2010 Green Bay Packers entered their season coming off a bitter disappointment from the previous year’s finish. They battled Arizona to a 45-45 draw through regulation, before having their season end abruptly on a fumble that was returned for a touchdown.

They entered the 2010 season with Super Bowl aspirations and the national pundits seemed to agree with the hype as the Green Bay Packers were a trendy Super Bowl pick that year.

However, their season began inconsistently which was an accurate representation of what we would see from this team for a large portion of the season.

Ultimately as the regular season came to a close, the Packers felt good about themselves. They didn’t lose a game by double digits and they were in every single game. A play here or there was the difference between winning and losing. They had a good offense, but this team was different. They had a great defense led by Clay Matthews, Charles Woodson, and Nick Collins.

They would sneak into the playoffs as a six seed after winning their last two games at home against the New York Giants and Chicago Bears.

They had to take the road warrior mantra against the top seeds in the NFC. They beat the Eagles in Philadelphia with a last-second Tramon Williams interception. They went to Atlanta and blew the doors off of the Falcons. Then they went to Chicago and survived a late comeback from the Bears before taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.

Once they were there, there was little doubt that they were bringing the Vince Lombardi Trophy back home. Big plays on offense, a defense that was opportunistic, and a late stop had the Packers celebrating at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.

31-25, the Green Bay Packers were Super Bowl champions.

Key players

Aaron Rodgers: Rodgers season was relatively up and down. He didn’t have the gaudiest numbers by the end of the year and he also had some struggles with concussions. When it was time, however, Rodgers silenced his critics that said he was not worthy of taking over for Brett Favre.

Rodgers was efficient in Philadelphia. Dominant in Atlanta and early against Chicago. He was the MVP of the Super Bowl throwing for 304 yards and three touchdowns. That could have been much more had the receivers not had a case of the dropsies throughout the game.

Rodgers cemented himself as an all-time great in the history of the Green Bay Packers. He always had the talent but now, he had the hardware to back things up in the eyes of the national media.

Charles Woodson: Woodson’s impact can be summed up as simple as his quote after the NFC Championship Game in Chicago. “Let’s be one mind, one heartbeat, with one purpose, one goal for one more game. One. Let’s get it.” He was the unquestioned leader of the team and the rest of the Green Bay Packers team was driven to get Woodson his championship and they delivered with him watching on the sideline.

One of the memorable images from that Super Bowl was Woodson carrying the Lombardi Trophy around the stadium with his other arm in a sling. He had given everything to get this championship, and now he had it.

Clay Matthews: Matthews was the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year that season. He was a monster from the first game of the season all the way until the end. He had three sacks in each of the first two games and he was the best player on a defense that had several stars.

Matthews gave the Packers an elite edge rusher, something they had not had since the days of Reggie White. It was an excellent follow-up from his rookie season in which he recorded 10 sacks. He would finish the season with 13.5 sacks and assert himself as one of the faces of this defense.

Nick Collins: Collins had one of the big plays in the Super Bowl. After the Packers scored late in the first quarter to make it 7-0 against Pittsburgh it was Collins’ turn to join in on the fun. Ben Roethlisberger was hit as he threw, leaving a flutter ball on the left sideline. Collins easily intercepted it and showed off his return skills as he would score a touchdown and get peppered with flags as he went to his knees in celebration.

Collins was far from a one-game wonder. He was one of the best safeties in all of football that season and he finished the year with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries. He was a turnover machine that was sound in coverage. It remains a shame his career ended far too soon.

Howard Green: Green was a midseason pickup that received little fanfare and rightfully so. He was a run-stuffing defensive tackle and that’s one of the most replaceable positions on the roster. Green makes this list, however, because of the aforementioned interception by Collins. Green was the one who made the hit on Roethlisberger’s arm. Without that, Collins does not get a chance to intercept the ball.

Jarrett Bush: Jarrett Bush was a whooping boy for years in Green Bay. He was solid on special teams, but never good enough in coverage. He makes this list because of his redemption on Super Bowl Sunday. With injuries ravaging the secondary, Bush intercepted a pass that led to a Rodgers touchdown to Greg Jennings to give the team a 21-3 lead. For a minute at least, Bush silenced his critics.

Greg Jennings: Two touchdowns in the Super Bowl and the biggest reception of the game on 3rd and 10 while backed up inside their own 30. Jennings was a big play machine for the Green Bay Packers. Once Finley went down, the Packers changed their offense and built it around Jennings. He responded with 1,265 yards and became a bigger weapon than he had been in his career.

Tramon Williams: Williams was the author of the team’s biggest plays on defense through the postseason. He intercepted a pass from Michael Vick to preserve a win in Philadelphia. The next week Williams would intercept two passes, the second of which was returned for a touchdown just before halftime to give the Packers a 28-14 lead. They eventually put a stranglehold on the game in the second half, but they rode the wave from Williams’ interception. He also broke up the final pass in the Super Bowl. Williams made the Packers champions.

Sam Shields: Shields was essentially thrown into duty as an undrafted free agent in the opening week because of how fast he was. The Green Bay Packers were taking on the Philadelphia Eagles that had a lot of team speed. Jeremy Maclin and Desean Jackson essentially represented the fastest receiving corps in the league.

But it was Shields’ speed that transformed the entire defense from there. His presence on the boundary allowed Woodson to play more in the slot, where he was more dangerous as a playmaker and a blitzer. Shields rewarded the team’s faith with two interceptions in the NFC Championship Game against Chicago. His second interception sealed the game and vaulted the Packers into the Super Bowl.

Mike McCarthy: No, McCarthy was not a player, but this was his best job as a coach in the NFL. The Packers had 15 players go on injured reserve, including three starters from the offense that were on IR before the halfway point of the season. McCarthy designed his entire offense around the talents of Jermichael Finley, but due to injuries, he had to change that approach midseason.

In addition, McCarthy’s finest hour came during the 2010 season when he declared the team as “nobody’s underdog.” following a loss to New England to drop the team to 8-6, and as we all know from that point on, the Packers wouldn’t lose again.

Highlights

From McCarthy’s “We’re nobody’s underdog” quote to Charles Woodson’s “one” speech and obviously winning the Super Bowl is going to be the biggest highlight, there were just so many fun moments along the way in 2010.

The biggest regular season highlight, however, begins with getting a monkey off their back. Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings came to town on a Sunday Night Football game. The Green Bay Packers had not beaten Favre since they famously traded him in the summer of 2008.  In fact, they were embarrassed both times he played against them in the previous year.

But this time was a different story and the Packers would beat up Favre. They intercepted him three times, and held off a late rally to win 28-24. As Wayne Larrivee termed it, the most satisfying dagger the Packers could ever throw. They threw a dagger in the Vikings’ season four weeks later with a dominant 31-3 win in the Metrodome.

Moving on, it’s tough to call a loss a “highlight” but the Packers stood toe-to-toe with the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium. Nobody gave them a chance with Rodgers out for the game with a concussion, but Matt Flynn put them in position to win. At the very end, however, his inexperience showed for the first time all night. The Packers were in the red zone but were unable to get the ball in the end zone to win the game as Flynn was sacked on the final play of the game.

What followed though, is what made this season so special.

A 45-17 win over the New York Giants sparked the run in Green Bay. The Packers had some trouble in the recent past with the Giants but it was not the case on that day. The Packers blew the doors off the Giants.

The following week they came back to beat the Bears at home to punch their ticket into the playoffs.

They then went to Philadelphia where they started fast and held one late.

Green Bay blew the top seed Falcons off the field, avenging a loss from earlier that season. A personal favorite highlight was Rodgers doing “The Belt” after John Abraham mocked the celebration early in the third quarter.

There were Sam Shields’ two interceptions in Chicago and of course Willie Davis handing Mark Murphy the George Halas Trophy followed by Murphy saying they had one more trophy to win.

And yes, when the ball hit the turf in Dallas on 4th and 5. The Green Bay Packers won their first Super Bowl since 1996.

Lowlights

Losing to Detroit on the road late in the season was what many thought a nail in the Packers’ coffin as the Green Bay dropped to 8-5 with a date in New England on the horizon and their quarterback on the shelf.

Outside of that game, the Packers dropped back-to-back games in overtime to a couple of average teams early in the season in Washington and Miami as both prevailed with field goals in overtime.

There was also the loss to Chicago early in the season that was frustrating because it’s a game the Packers should have won. They were penalized 18 times and fumbled late in the game to gift the Bears a win at Soldier Field.

How did they win a championship?

The 2010 Packers were different from any of their other championship teams. They weren’t expected to win, they weren’t the favorites, but they were resilient and continued to fight even as another player hit injured reserve. Even then, they were left for dead by Christmas.

They had a great defense, which is something they have not had since that season. Their offense hit their stride as the season came to a close as their quarterback played lights out, and their defense forced turnovers at key times.

They found ways to win. That’s probably what stands out the most about them. When they needed to, they found a way to win and could do so in a variety of ways. One week their offense scored 48 points and the next week they only scored 14, but the defense would return an interception for a touchdown to help them win the game.

Ultimately, that’s what makes champions and that is why the 2010 Green Bay Packers were able to bring the Lombardi Trophy home.