The Green Bay Packers, the first team to repeat as Super Bowl winners back in the 1960s, are showing signs they have the talent and the depth to go all the way again this season.
The reigning Super Bowl champions are 4-0 after week four of the season with Mike McCarthy’s team showcasing its impressive offense in a 49-23 crushing of the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers threw for a career-high 408 yards, tossing four touchdown passes, and as if that was not enough, rushed for two more scores.
Photo: Reuters
Rodgers, last season’s Super Bowl most valuable player, has already amassed 1,325 passing yards this season, the most any Packers quarterback has managed in the opening four games of a season.
His display on Sunday left Denver’s experienced coach John Fox applauding his class and that of a Green Bay team that show no signs of easing off after last year’s success.
“He is playing as well as any quarterback that I have seen and this is my 23rd season,” Fox told reporters.
Photo: Reuters
What makes the Packers offense so deadly is the expansive range of weapons available to Rodgers.
On Sunday, Greg Jennings had 103 yards receiving and a touchdown, Jordy Nelson added 91 yards on five receptions, Randall Cobb caught two passes for 75 yards. James Jones, James Starks, Jermichael Finley, Donald Driver and John Kuhn also had receptions.
Few things please Packers fans more than being reminded of their success in the 1960s under Hall-of-Fame coach Vince Lombardi and indeed you have to go back to the start of that decade to find the last time Green Bay had a run that betters the current one.
Including playoffs, the Packers have now won 10 consecutive games, which is the longest streak since a 12-game run in 1961-1962.
This season’s 148 points is the most-ever by the franchise for an opening four games.
While it is a cliche in the NFL that it is almost impossible to go back-to-back in such a closely competitive league, the record shows it is not that rare. In fact, there has been at least one repeat winner in each decade since the Super Bowl began with consecutive wins for the Packers in the 1966 and 1967 seasons.
“I’m sure people will notice,” nose tackle B.J. Raji said. “It is hard to overlook an undefeated returning Super Bowl champion.”
Taiwan’s Lee Hao-yu on Friday went 0-for-3 in his MLB debut for the Detroit Tigers against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, becoming the 19th Taiwan-born player to reach the big leagues. The Tigers ultimately lost 1-0 in 10 innings, ending their six-game winning streak. The 23-year-old started at third base and batted eighth for Detroit. He was promoted from Triple-A Toledo ahead of the four-game series against the Red Sox at the latter’s home stadium, replacing injured utility player Zach McKinstry. “Being right-handed, and given our schedule, I think six of the next 12 games are going to
Matheus Cunha on Saturday fired Manchester United toward the UEFA Champions League with a 1-0 win at Chelsea, while Tottenham Hotspur remain in the relegation zone after twice blowing the lead to draw with Brighton & Hove Albion. Chelsea failed to take advantage of a United defense ravaged by injury and suspension as a fourth straight league defeat for the Blues left their Champions League hopes in ruins. United have missed out on the riches of Europe’s elite competition for the past two seasons, but are closing in on a return thanks to an upturn in fortunes under interim manager
Denmark’s double Olympic badminton champion Viktor Axelsen, long a rival of Taiwan’s former world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen, yesterday announced his retirement at age 32, saying back problems meant he could no longer “compete and train at the highest level.” Axelsen, who won gold at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and again in Paris in 2024, had back surgery in April last year and said he had not overcome his physical issues. “Accepting this situation has been incredibly difficult,” he said in a statement. “But I have now reached a point where my body won’t allow me to continue.” Axelsen retires as one
Italian soccer is at its lowest ebb in nearly 40 years after a wholesale European exodus at club level followed the nation’s failure for the third successive time to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, and compounded a leadership and structural crisis. The exits suffered by Bologna and ACF Fiorentina on Thursday in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League respectively meant no Italian teams are left in European competition this season. Italy’s last remaining UEFA Champions League contenders, Atalanta BC, went out in the round of 16 last month. It is the first time since the 1986-1987 campaign that Italian clubs
RSS