Green Bay Packers provide emotional roller-coaster with win over Cowboys

The past few days have been quite the whirlwind of ups and downs for Green Bay Packers fans.

Six weeks ago, on Monday Night Football at Lambeau Field, a game I attended, Aaron Rodgers went down with a fractured collarbone and it was panic time in Green Bay.

The next few games were hell for a fan base that’s used to winning every year. Scott Tolzien, Seneca Wallace and Matt Flynn couldn’t add up to half of one Aaron Rodgers, and the season surely seemed doomed.

But the nice thing about the NFC North division is that the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, two chronic failures, play in it. Luckily for Green Bay, the Lions and Bears kept losing and kept a dim yet flickering glimmer of hope that the Packers still had a shot, even without Rodgers under center.

Then came the devastating news last week that Rodgers, although pain-free at practice two straight days, wasn’t medically cleared to compete in a game. Flynn, whose arm seems dead at times, was going to lead the Packers into Dallas, a place Green Bay hadn’t won since 1989.

Needing a win to salvage any chance to win the division, the Negative Nancy that I am gave Green Bay about a 0.00001 chance at victory. The Cowboys needed the win just as much or more than the Packers.

And sure enough, on Sunday afternoon, the Packers played about the worst half of football imaginable.

Nobody tackled. Burlington native Tony Romo had his way and carved up Green Bay’s secondary. Demarco Murray ran through the heart of the Green Bay front-7, which was acting like a sieve.

It was ugly and brutal, and the 26-3 Cowboys lead at halftime prompted a tweet from me that said something along the lines of “season over.”

Since I expected the game to be over, much like the entire Packers nation, I didn’t expect much. I contemplated missing the playoffs and the sadness that would entail. I thought we would play better in the second half, but it was over. Rodgers would be shut down, and next season would be the year. It just wasn’t our year. Injuries, bad breaks, everything has gone wrong.

But at the start of the third quarter, something gave me a little hope. On the first play, Eddie Lacy bolted off left tackle for 60 yards.

“He can run that fast?,” I thought.

Jordy Nelson’s touchdown catch made it 26-10, and I was still very quiet in my chair and didn’t want to jinx anything. So when the defense stepped up and we scored two more times to make it 26-24, I got more excited but still didn’t want to jinx anything. I figured my hater tweet was enough reverse psychology for one day. I stayed off the Internet and stayed away from my phone.

I wasn’t caught up to live TV with my DVR, and I didn’t want anyone to give away what happened. I really didn’t want to, but I finally gave in and took my beagle outside when I knew Dallas was going to score to make it 36-24. I was like, “you know what, we can still score, stop them and score again to win it.”

That’s exactly what Flynn did. He threw a scoring pass to James Jones, and Sam Shields followed it with a huge interception. Lacy did the rest, banging his way over the pile for the game-winning score.

I still thought the Cowboys were going to go down and kick the game-winner, but Romo’s bone-headedness continued with another interception, this one being the dagger.

I was ecstatic, and my wife joined in the celebration. I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was the greatest comeback I had ever seen.

The next night, Monday, it was an added bonus when Justin Tucker’s 61-yard field goal squeaked over the goal post, giving the Ravens an 18-16 victory at Detroit.

Now, all the Pack has to do is win its final two games, and the division crown returns to Green Bay.

Moreover, Rodgers has a good shot at returning this week.

Even with Flynn, Green Bay can beat Pittsburgh Sunday.

But A-Rodg must return to win at Chicago Dec. 29.

At least we now know you can never count these Packers out, and who knows what can happen in the playoffs.

A friend of mine called me a terrible fan and really trashed me on Twitter and Facebook for my negative attitude at halftime.

It was that genius reverse psychology that kept my sanity Sunday, and I will keep expecting these guys to hiccup, because backup quarterbacks don’t do what Flynn did Sunday.

Call me a Negative Nancy, I know you want to, but that attitude will make each victory much, much sweeter.