GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings are a lot
alike.
Both have prolific passing games and suspect secondaries to put on display
Sunday at Lambeau Field, when the NFC North rivals face each other for the
first time in the postseason.
What separates these two evenly matched teams?
"A field goal," Packers coach Mike Sherman deadpanned. "Both games. A
last-second field goal."
That, and momentum.
The Packers (10-6) enter the playoffs as the NFC's hottest playoff team,
having won nine of 11. They also beat the Vikings twice by 34-31.
Minnesota (8-8) backslides into the playoffs having lost seven of 10.
The Vikings insist everybody's 0-0 now and the regular season doesn't
matter.
The Packers believe their emotional punch will make a difference come
kickoff.
That's why Sherman played most of his starters for much of the time Sunday
in the Packers' 31-14 win at Chicago even though the game meant nothing for
playoff positioning.
"My biggest fear was to leave here laying an egg," he said.
That would have meant more practice time this week focusing on the negative
rather than the positive.
"You don't want to come out here and stink it up and then try to come back
next week and act like you're all good," tight end Bubba Franks said.
That's what the Vikings have to do this week after losing at Washington
21-18 on Sunday.
The Packers don't enter the playoffs on quite the roll they did a year ago,
when they won four straight. But Sherman feels just as good about their chances
for success this year.
"I feel good about this team. I feel very good about the fact we beat the
Bears yesterday," Sherman said. "If we had lost that game you know everybody
worries about the physical part of the game and having the players ready
physically, but I think the psychological part, the psyche of the players, is
equally important and when you lose a game.
"It affects you. They read about how they lost the ballgame, they hear
about how they lost the ballgame. Then you have to go win again."
The players liked Sherman's approach to the regular-season finale.
"Any regular-season game, regardless of your situation, to me is
important," quarterback Brett Favre said. "I look at Denver last year when
they played us. They had just beat Indy the week before and sat most of their
guys and didn't play all that well. I don't think they gave it much effort and
then they went back the next week and got crushed by Indianapolis (in the
playoffs).
"I just think that the morale is better. I don't see any plusses in not
playing the game to win."
Right tackle Mark Tauscher said there wasn't a choice.
"I don't think we're in a position where we can rest on our laurels," he
said. "Our laurels weren't that strong."
Favre might have thrown for 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns again, but the
defense allowed 33 scoring passes and managed just eight interceptions, both
team futility records.
And the Packers needed any feel-good moments they could muster. They can no
longer point to a home playoff game as a guarantee, thanks to Atlanta's upset
at Lambeau Field behind Michael Vick two years ago.
The Packers, whose 6-2 road record was their best since 1972, are just 4-4
at home this season with all four losses to non-playoff teams -- the Bears,
Giants, Titans and Jaguars.
"No question being at home is a big advantage," Tauscher said. "But you
need to take advantage of that advantage, and up to this point we have not done
that."