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The Green Bay Packers won their fourth Super Bowl after going through a rather difficult regular season that saw them make the playoffs on the last day of the season with a 10-3 win against the Bears.
Some of the difficult games they had on that 2010 schedule were the Eagles in Week 1, the Bears in Weeks 3 and 17, the Vikings in Week 7 and 11, the Jets in Week 8, the Falcons in Week 12 and the Patriots in Week 15.
The Packers were 5-3 against those teams, and played well in some of those games. For example, they shut out the Jets on the road 9-0 without scoring a touchdown, and demolished the Vikings on the road in their second meeting after barely winning the first time around.
In some of those other games, the Packers played well for stretches, but couldn't close the deal. Against the Falcons, Rodgers threw an amazing strike to Jordy Nelson with over a minute left to go to tie the game. However, a penalty on the kickoff return gave the Falcons great field position, and they went on to win it with a field goal.
The first Bears game was awful for the Packers, who committed 18 penalties. They still had the lead going into the fourth quarter, but they couldn't hold on and they ended up losing on a Robbie Gould field goal with three seconds left.
This season, the Packers will face the challenge of repeating as Super Bowl champions. Here's a look at this year's schedule and the important games the Packers will have to win to make another run at the Lombardi Trophy.
The Packers first game of the 2011 season will be on Thursday night, September 8, against the Super Bowl XLIV champion New Orleans Saints. The Saints will be looking to rebound after getting knocked out by the Seattle Seahawks in the wild-card round last year.
This will be a great matchup to start off the NFL season. Aaron Rodgers vs. Drew Brees.
Both quarterbacks have had 4,000 yard seasons, with Brees throwing for 4,620 yards in 2010 and Rodgers having done it in 2008 and 2009. He almost hit the mark in 2010, as well.
The running game matchup will be interesting, as well. The Packers will have Ryan Grant back, which will help bolster their running game, along with James Starks. Starks was the leading rusher in the post-season with 315 yards.
For the Saints, they will have Reggie Bush back at full strength, along with rookie Mark Ingram from Alabama. Ingram will be a player the Packers' defense will have to watch out for, as he is quick and explosive. He rushed for 875 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2010.
On defense, there will be some good matchups as well. Tracy Porter for the Saints is a capable cornerback, who had the interception in Super Bowl XLIV that sealed the win for his team. If he gets back his 2009 form, he will be a player to watch.
Tramon Williams is also a capable corner who can make big plays when called upon. Evidence of this were the first two playoff games, when Williams had crucial interceptions. One ended the Eagles game and the other broke the game against the Falcons wide open and led to a huge Packers victory. Sam Shields and Nick Collins are also capable of making big plays when needed.
The Packers will definitely want to get a win in this first game of the season, because a win in the first game gets the season off to a good start, and keeps the players feeling confident.
Payback.
That will be the word on the Bears' minds when the Packers come to Chicago. They will want to win for their fans, especially considering their playoff run ended at the hands of the Packers at Soldier Field.
There is a question over whether Jay Cutler or Caleb Hanie will be the starting quarterback next season due to Hanie almost leading the Bears back against the Packers in the NFC title game. However, I think Cutler will still be the starter come the start of the season due to his experience.
The Packers will definitely be ready to take on the Bears again. Their defense is what helped them win the conference championship, with big plays such as BJ Raji's interception of Caleb Hanie to put the Pack up 21-7 in the fourth quarter.
Also, there were the interceptions by Sam Shields, with the last one clinching a trip to the Super Bowl for the Packers.
The Packers will have a lot of confidence in knowing they were able to win on the road in Chicago in the playoffs. They hopefully will have learned that 18 penalties will not help win a game, as they learned in Week 3 of the 2010 season.
With Ryan Grant back on the field, the Packers will finally have a running game that can break open a close game, which often happens when these two teams play. Plus, its a rivalry game, and the Packers will be very determined to keep the bragging rights on their side.
In terms of the division, wins against the Saints, Panthers and Bears will put the Packers at 3-0 to start the year, and they'll be leading the division.
Also, the second game between these two could be important if the division race is close, as it could prove to be a deciding game in who gets the division title.
The Packers will have their hands full in this one at Qualcomm Stadium.
Philip Rivers will be looking to get his team back to the playoffs, and this is a crucial game for his team in order to do that.
Rivers had a great season individually, throwing for 4,710 yards and 30 touchdowns. According to writer Andy Benoit of the New York Times, Rivers is great in the pocket and is at his best when he has defenders coming at him.
This means that the Packers' defense will need to be ready, especially Tramon Williams, Sam Shields, Nick Collins and the linebacking corps of Clay Matthews, AJ Hawk, Nick Barnett and others. Any of those guys better get to Rivers quick, because he can release the ball quickly.
They will also have to contend with a solid running game. Running backs Mike Tolbert and Ryan Mathews combined to rush for 1,413 yards and 18 touchdowns last season.
Receivers Antonio Gates and Malcolm Floyd are dangerous, too, as they combined to catch 97 receptions for almost 1500 yards and 16 touchdowns last year.
If Rodgers can have a good game offensively, this should be an entertaining and high-scoring matchup. It could all come down to one big play to decide the winner of this game.
He has the receivers to make those plays. Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, Jordy Nelson and James Jones have stepped up at some point and made plays that turned the tide of a game.
It also has a huge bearing on the playoffs for each team, as a win for either team will keep them in the driving seat for their respective division titles.
Tampa Bay was close to making the playoffs last year at 10-6. Unfortunately for them, both the New York Giants and the Packers won their games on the final day, so they were left at home. This was despite a great victory on the road against the Saints.
Led by Josh Freeman, the young Bucs have an exciting offense. Freeman, in his second season as an NFL quarterback, surprised many by passing for 3,451 yards and 25 touchdowns. Another interesting stat is that 14 of those touchdowns were scored while coming from behind, which shows that he is capable of leading his team when they are behind.
He got a lot of help from his supporting cast in running backs LeGarrette Blount and Cadillac Williams, who combined to rush for 1,444 yards and 16 touchdowns.
His receiving corps contributed to the offense as well. Mike Williams and Kellen Winslow combined for 131 receptions, 1,694 yards and eight touchdowns.
The Packers will have a lot to deal with in this young Bucs team. Clay Matthews and company will need to get pressure on the young quarterback to make him force bad throws and interceptions.
Also, Aaron Rodgers will have to be ready to answer whatever Freeman does on his drives, which he is more than capable of doing.
With a win in this game, the Packers will take another step towards clinching a playoff berth.
The Giants know what happened last year when these two met.
Aaron Rodgers threw for 404 yards and four touchdowns as the Packers went on to rout the Giants 45-17 in a must-win game to keep the Packers' playoff hopes alive.
For the Giants, it was another loss that would ultimately prove costly as they were eliminated on the last day of the season when the Packers beat the Bears.
This season, the Giants will be looking to get back to the playoffs after not going the last two seasons.
Eli Manning will want to help his team get the win, especially since this time, the game will be at the new Meadowlands Stadium.
Manning threw for just over 4,000 yards and 31 touchdowns, but he also threw 25 interceptions. In the game versus the Packers last year, he threw four picks.
If the Packers can get sufficient pressure on Eli, they will make his day a nightmare and the Packers will find a way to rout the Giants.
Also, in terms of the division, the Packers can take another big step towards claiming a division title, something they haven't done since 2007.
This season looks to be a good one for the Packers. Can they repeat? If they win these five important games, they will be well on their way to doing just that.
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The mere mention of the Indianapolis 500 brings to mind memories of the excitement , the speed, the glory and the danger of races past.
Some people treat the Super Bowl as their oneday sporting party of the year. Others have NASCAR’s Daytona 500 or the Kentucky Derby. For my dad and me, it’s always been the Indy 500.
For us, it’s like Christmas morning for a 5-year-old. From Jim Nabors’ pre-race performance of “Back Home Again in Indiana” (something he’s done most years since 1972) to the winner chugging milk in victory lane (a staple since the 1930s), it’s easy to see why it is considered the world’s largest single-day sporting event.
Monday will mark 100 years to the day since the inaugural running of the Indianapolis 500. American Ray Harroun won that race, driving a Marmon chassis and engine with an average speed just under 75 mph over the nearly seven-hour race. For his achievement, Harroun was awarded about $14,000.
In comparison, Scotland’s Dario Franchitti, driving a Dallara chassis with a Honda engine, averaged just less than 162 mph over three hours to win last year’s race. He received more than $2.7 million.
Over the last century, 67 men from 11 countries have won the acclaimed race, while Americans A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears have each won it a record four times. Speaking of Foyt, this year marks the 50th anniversary of Super Tex’s first Indy 500 title. Thanks in part to that milestone, Foyt will drive the pace car before today’s race.
The 33 drivers racing today will try to avoid embarrassment, like in 1982 when frontrow starter Kevin Cogan lost control on the approach to the green flag and took out race-day favorites A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
They will try to avoid heartbreak, like in 1992 when Michael Andretti led 160 laps only to have his fuel pump fail on lap 189.
The safety aspects of Indy-Car racing in 2011 will most certainly help them avoid disaster, like in 1964 when drivers Dave MacDonald and Eddie Sachs were killed in a fiery accident on Lap 2. Racing is still a dangerous sport, however, and anything can happen.
This year’s lineup has drivers from 13 countries, including five rookies, five former Indy 500 winners and five for- mer IndyCar or Champ Car Series champions. They all would like to add their names to the prestigious list of winners that includes such names as Unser, Meyer, Shaw, Clark, Rutherford, Johncock, Fittipaldi, Luyendyk and Villeneuve.
In memory of my friend and former colleague, the late John McPoland, let’s do something he did nearly every Indy 500 race day and see who in the field is most likely to get his or her likeness added to the Borg-Warner Trophy. As John always did, we’ll weed out the losers first.
Throw rookies out
Eight drivers have won the race on their first attempts. This year’s rookie crop of Americans J.R. Hildebrand and Charlie Kimball, England’s Jay Howard and Pippa Mann, and Canada’s James Hinchcliffe will not be added to that list.
England’s Alex Lloyd finished fourth last year, but that will be difficult for him to duplicate with a starting position of 31st.
Belgian Bertrand Baguette will be lucky to finish in the top 20, even with a starting spot of 14th.
Japan’s Takuma Sato, an ex-Formula One driver, doesn’t quite have the oval technique down. He’ll have a hard time keeping it off the wall.
Three Brazilians have won the race in the past, but it won’t happen this year.
Of the four Brazilians, Helio Castroneves may be the favorite, but we’ll get to him in a moment.
Tony Kanaan has led 214 laps since his Indy debut in 2002, and any IndyCar fan would concede that the speedway owes him a victory. Unfortunately, in what is his first season with KV Racing, Kanaan will have to wait at least another year.
As for the other two, Vitor Meira has five top-10 finishes in eight starts, so look for him to run strong. Ana Beatriz, the slowest qualifier, won’t see the end of the race.
Venezuela’s E.J. Viso is the favorite to bring out the first caution. To borrow McPoland’s adage, Viso couldn’t drive a nail into a snow bank.
The oldest driver at 48, Idaho native Davey Hamilton, will look to better last year’s finish when a first-lap incident relegated him to the 33rd and final finishing position.
The tallest driver, 6-foot, 3-inch Englishman Justin Wilson, would like to improve on his seventh-place finish of a year ago, assuming he doesn’t park it in the wall as he’s done twice previously.
Switzerland’s Simona De Silvestro, who already has crashed this month and suffered second-degree burns on her hands, is poised for a good finish, even though her specialty is road and street courses.
Tracy’s likely last time
Canadian Paul Tracy is still adamant that he was the true winner in 2002, but officials ruled that a caution on the last lap came out before Tracy passed declared winner Castroneves. Tracy will do better than many expect, but his probable swan song at Indy won’t be the tune he wants to hear.
South African Tomas Scheckter, son of 1979 Formula 1 champion Jody, has led the most laps in two previous races at Indy, but he is signed on only for this race, and his team doesn’t have the experience to pull off an upset.
Neither Arizona native Buddy Rice (winner in 2004) nor England’s Dan Wheldon (winner in 2005) will see victory lane for a second time. Both Rice and Wheldon surprised many in qualifying, but they are also signed on only for this race, and then it’s back to the salt mines for both of them.
Americans Townsend Bell and Ed Carpenter have shown flashes of brilliance at Indy over the years and also surprised many with their strong qualifying runs this year.
Bell has one top-5 finish in five starts, but it will take a lot of luck for him to better that. A good finish could help quiet the critics who say Carpenter gets a ride at Indy simply because he is the stepson of Indy Racing League founder Tony George. If Carpenter can hold it together, he has a chance for a decent finish but certainly not a win.
Canadian Alex Tagliani, this year’s polesitter, is part of the feel-good story of the month. Tagliani is driving for Sam Schmidt, a former Indy-Car driver who was rendered a quadriplegic after a testing crash at Walt Disney World Speedway in 2000. Tagliani had the misfortune in 2001 to be involved in a horrendous accident during a CART race with Alex Zanardi, which caused Zanardi’s legs to be amputated. Tagliani’s pole-winning performance marked him as one of the dark horses in this year’s race.
Spaniard Oriol Servia was another surprise during qualifying and will start third. Servia is driving for Newman/Haas Racing, the team started by the late Paul Newman and Carl Haas. The team has had much success at Indy, though no wins to show for it. Servia hopes to change that, but it will be a tall order.
Only three of Andretti Autosport’s five cars actually made the race with Americans Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick and John Andretti.
Marco has three top-3 finishes in the last five years and has the best chance to pull off an upset. Patrick, a native of Roscoe, Ill., may be a factor in what many believe will be her last Indianapolis 500 as a full time IndyCar driver before she moves to NASCAR for 2012. With five top-10 finishes in six starts, she stands to get a solid finish. John Andretti, in the team’s third car for Indy only, has not finished in the top 15 in his last four attempts.
American Ryan Hunter-Reay, who got bumped from the field by his teammate Marco Andretti, got a lastminute reprieve when his team owner, Michael Andretti, was able to buy him a ride through A.J. Foyt’s team. That means Brazilian Bruno Junqueira, who originally qualified a car for Foyt’s team, is out of a ride for the race. Hunter-Reay will have to start at the back of the pack and will have his work cut out for him.
You’d be crazy not to pick a driver from either Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing to win. After all, car owner Roger Penske, 74, has won the race 15 times since his maiden victory in 1972 with American Mark Donohue. Between the Penske and Ganassi teams, they’ve won seven of the last 10 Indy 500s.
Penske’s Castroneves has three wins and has finished out of the top 10 only once since 2001. Castroneves will again be a factor, but his season hasn’t gone the way he’s wanted, and today will be no different. His Australian teammates, Will Power and Ryan Briscoe, will run well but won’t get the finish they want.
Chip Ganassi Racing has its two Team Target entries of New Zealand’s Scott Dixon, the 2008 winner, and Franchitti, defending race and IndyCar Series champion. Ganassi is also running the aforementioned rookie Kimball and second-generation American star Graham Rahal. While Rahal would love to duplicate his father’s trip to victory lane 25 years ago, it won’t happen today.
Dixon and Franchitti have the best chance to win, but Franchitti has the momentum and confidence to win his second consecutive Indianapolis 500 and his third overall.
Look for him to be kissing the bricks as well as his wife, actress Ashley Judd, after the race.
Dave vonFalkenstein is a webmaster/entertainment clerk for the Gazette, and an auto racing fan.
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