12-2: First-Round Bye Beautiful

Although the Rams were the home team on Sunday, the Edward Jones Dome was packed with Packers fans.

Even on the road, the Packers can have a home field advantage.

Just because the Rams are not having a good season, that didn't make yesterday's win any less sweet to me.

St. Louis -- The Green Bay Packers as coached by Mike McCarthy have become as immune to upset defeat as a team can possibly be in the turbulent National Football League.

Whereas the Dallas Cowboys were ambushed at home by the Philadelphia Eagles late Sunday afternoon, the Packers encountered rough seas of their own at the Edward Jones Dome earlier in the day but steered their way safely through for a 33-14 victory over the St. Louis Rams.

Questions surfaced about the Packers' run defense when hard-charging Steven Jackson crashed for 143 yards behind a decrepit offensive line missing four starters.

The Packers' own ground game went nowhere against a middle-of-the-road defense without three starters due to injury.

Yet, as inefficiently as the Packers (12-2) played during stretches of the first half, they still led from start to finish. While the Rams (3-11) ultimately were dragged down by the tell-tale woes of losing teams, most notably 13 penalties for 93 yards, the Packers wouldn't play down to their level and won going away.

"We didn't play very well in spots in the first half," McCarthy said. "Our tackling on defense needed to improve, and I think it did in the second half. We put 33 points on the board. Very, very important to win today."

Little did McCarthy realize just how important it was. After the Cowboys fell, the only thing left separating Green Bay from Dallas (12-2) in the fight for the NFC's No. 1 playoff seeding is the Cowboys' tie-breaking advantage.

The victory, coupled with Seattle's upset loss in Carolina, clinched a first-round bye for the Packers. The Packers will be able to sit out the first round of the playoffs for the first time since 1997.

"The Green Bay Packers are one of the most storied franchises in all of sports," linebacker Brady Poppinga said. "To do something that hasn't happened in a long time makes you realize how special it is and how unique it is. You have to ride it out as long as you can."

..."Guys are jacked up to be part of a winning team," Poppinga said. "Wherever you're asked to do something, guys do it. That's why we're a good team. We have team-oriented guys."

...On a day when Favre surpassed Dan Marino's career passing record, the Packers gained ground in the standings. Now they'll play Sunday in Chicago, where a victory would give them a 7-1 record on the road, best by a Green Bay team since the 1941 squad went 5-0.

The Bears have beaten the Packers once. It's a very good bet they'll have to play very well to do it again.

"We're a good football team, a focused football team," said McCarthy. "We've kept our eye on the target."

And that target, a berth in the Super Bowl, has never been closer in the last decade than it is now.

What a day!

Favre broke yet another NFL record and the Packers secured a first-round bye in the playoffs.

And it's fitting that the Eagles defeated the Cowboys and the Seahawks succumbed to the Panthers.

Thank you, Andy Reid. Good work.

Thank you, Mike Holmgren.

At the beginning of the season, who thought the Packers would have a 12-2 record?

Who thought that the Packers could be a real contender for Super Bowl XLII?

There's an unreal quality to this season. It's unreal that it's real.

Do you believe in miracles?
12-2!

Packers 33
Rams 14