Pack In Business

Anyone who failed to see this coming hasn’t been watching Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers.

After the Packers gagged up a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter, Rodgers responded with another play for his highlight reel of late-game heroics. His 60-yard strike to Jordy Nelson set up Mason Crosby’s game-winning field goal as time expired, and the 30-27 win gave a big boost to the Packers’ playoff chances.

With Detroit losing, the Packers are now just one game behind the Lions in the NFC North race. They meet in the regular-season finale in what is looking more and more like a winner-take-all game.

Not bad for a team that almost everyone outside the Green Bay locker room had written off a month ago.

“We’ve just got to worry about ourselves,” Rodgers said. “We let them get back in with a couple of really poor drives on offense. But when we had to have a play, we made it.

“It’s good to get the win, and everything’s right in front of us now.”

And the Lions should be looking over their shoulders.

Back when Green Bay was 4-6, things looked so dismal some folks were actually clamoring for Mike McCarthy’s job. The offense was completely out of sorts, and Rodgers barely resembled the two-time NFL MVP. The defense was getting pushed all over the field, and turnovers were little more than a rumor.

With Detroit pulling further and further away, the season looked lost. Which only meant that it was right where Rodgers and the Packers wanted it.

There is something about December that brings out the best in Rodgers and the Packers, and it’s not Wisconsin’s best holiday cheer. The Packers are now 32-13 in December in McCarthy’s 11 seasons. Rodgers began the game with an NFL-best QB rating of 102.8 in December games, and is third with 64 passing touchdowns.

If the Packers aren’t leading the division at this time of year, they’re building momentum that often translates into a deep run in the playoffs. No one knows that better than the Bears.

In 2010, the Packers had to beat the NFC North champs to make the playoffs. Three weeks later, they beat the Bears in the NFC title game and then won the Super Bowl.

“The guys in here are very resilient. They understand the moment,” said Packers linebacker Julius Peppers, who has a unique appreciation for the December surge after watching it from Chicago from 2010-13.

“We were at a point where we couldn’t lose any more games, and I think everybody understood that,” Peppers added. “It started to click. The energy and intensity went up a little bit – not that it wasn’t already up, but obviously when your back is against a wall, it goes up a little more.”

With Rodgers limited by a strained right calf, Ty Montgomery and the defense picked up the slack. Montgomery gouged the Bears for 162 yards, the bulk of Green Bay’s 226 yards on the ground, and the defense forced Matt Barkley into turnovers (three interceptions, one fumble) on four consecutive possessions.

The Packers scored 17 points off turnovers at the start of the second half, giving them a 27-10 lead going into the final 15 minutes.

But Green Bay’s defense eased up, and the Bears scored two quick touchdowns. It would have been three if not for Micah Hyde batting Barkley’s third-down pass to Cameron Meredith away at the goal line.

“We’ve got to find a way not to relax, not to take our foot off the gas,” said Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, who had two of the three picks off Barkley. “We’ve got to find a way to finish ball games. We won the ball game, first and foremost, but I understand what you’re saying and understand what you’re seeing.”

After Hyde’s breakup play, Bears coach John Fox elected to kick the tying field goal. While it’s hard to argue with guaranteed points, it left far too much time for Rodgers to do what he does best.

The Packers “kind of fiddled around” with the first couple of downs and found themselves facing third-and-11. They hadn’t converted a third down since the first quarter, but Rodgers bought himself some time and then saw Nelson sprinting down the left sideline.

“I just tried to put enough air on it for him to run underneath it,” Rodgers said. “That’s what he does, he makes those kind of catches.”

And this is what Rodgers and the Packers do. When the game and the season is on the line, they find ways to make plays.

That ominous sound the Lions — and everyone else in the NFL, for that matter — heard Sunday was Rodgers and the Packers, coming up from behind.