Packers Prime Sundays at NOON

Every Sunday at 12pm 97.3 THE GAME replays some of the “prime” games from Packers history. This week we feature the “The Half Mary”.

The 2016 Green Bay Packers season was unlike any other. For a team whose bellwether was consistency, this campaign was hardly that. After ten weeks and four straight losses (the last two blowout defeats) the Packers were just 4-6. 

Maybe it was a sense of not giving up on a season with six games left to play; maybe it was a sense that he was about to play his best stretch of football ever, but when veteran quarterback Aaron Rodgers met with reporters for his weekly media availability, he was unwavering in his belief that his team still controlled their own destiny. 

"I feel like we can run the table, I really do," Rodgers said. "The offense is starting to click a little bit more; we've just got to put together a game where we're more consistent from the first snap to the last. We've been, I think, getting closer to that." 

The Packers wouldn’t lose again in the regular season, winning their final six regular season games, finishing at 10-6, winning the NFC North in the process. 

After beating New York in the wild card round of the playoffs, the Packers were peaking at the right time. 

Still, with a trip to the NFC Championship on the line the Packers went into Dallas as decided underdogs. But Rodgers had navigated these waters before, and even in this same stadium six years earlier in Super Bowl XLV. 

Rodgers guided Green Bay to a 28-13 late third quarter lead. But Dallas struck back quickly, tying the game with a pair of unanswered touchdowns and a successful two-point conversion. After trading field goals of 50-plus yards, Green Bay’s last gasp came with just seconds to play on third and 20 from their own 32. Rodgers, the Hail Mary specialist found tight end Jared Cook tight roping the sidelines 36 yards downfield in what became known as the “Half Mary.” 

Mason Crosby’s 51-yard field goal attempt curled in from the right, and the Packers were headed to the NFC Championship Game. 


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