Why Seahawks fans should also root for the Packers...for this weekend, that is

Saturday was a day that I wasn't expecting to pan out well. Sure, the Seahawks were in the postseason for the first time since 2007. But they had gotten in with a less than impressive 7-9 record, which was an NFL first in a non-strike year. And even I was skeptical about their chances at home against the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints. I had just left Dahlberg Arena to see the Lady Griz basketball team get their first conference win of the season in pummeling Sacramento State 78-35, and learned from my good friend Jerek Wolcott, a UM athletics photographer, that the Seahawks and Saints were tied up at 17-17 late in the first half. When I arrived home the Seahawks had then pulled ahead 24-20, after the Saints kicked a field goal to end the first half. It was a good thing I caught the second half when I arrived because late in the 4th quarter, Marshawn Lynch ripped this earth-shaking run to seal the upset and move the Seahawks to the second round of the playoffs:


With the Seahawks' improbable victory in sending the defending champions to an early postseason exit combined with the Green Bay Packers pulling off an upset of their own at NFC East champion Philadelphia the following day, their next challenge will be at Soldier Field in Chicago. For the Seahawks, it's a regular season rematch against the NFC North champion Bears, whom they defeated in Chicago 23-20 earlier in the season.

Speaking of the Packers, I have to admit, I'm not real fond of them largely with how Brett Favre was run out of town by president/GM Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy. Though they do generate a relatively large following, influenced in part because Favre was their starting quarterback for 16 seasons and breaking passing records left and right, all but assuring himself of a first-ballot induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. But with Favre no longer a Packer and likely retiring from football, Aaron Rodgers is now at the controls of the Packers offense (was named the Packers starter in 2008), and he just came off his first postseason victory against the Philadelphia Eagles. But if Seahawks fans want one more home game should they beat the Chicago Bears on Sunday, they'll have to pull for the Pack in Atlanta on Saturday, and the Falcons are not a pushover because of their #1 seeding in the NFC. Just like Seahawks/Bears from earlier in the season, Packers/Falcons is also a regular season rematch at the exact same place. In the regular season meeting on November 28 the Packers tied up the game with less than a minute left in regulaion, on a Rodgers touchdown pass to Jordy Nelson. Then the Falcons drove into field goal range and nailed a game-winning 47-yard field goal from Matt Bryant to win that meeting 20-17.

Photo Credits: AP