ShareThisDonald Driver, part of that seemingly endless supply of Green Bay Packer receivers, says his team is hot entering the Super Bowl.
Driver is wrong. The Packers are not a hot team. The Packers are a great team.
That doesn't mean Green Bay will win Sunday. The Steelers are a great team, too, so it's anybody's ballgame.
But this Super plot is not regal Steelers vs. upstart Packers. This is a Super Bowl for the ages.
Only two Super Bowl champions have hit the big game with a regular season record as bad as 10-6.
But Green Bay is no normal 10-6 team.
Stat of Super Bowl week: these Packers have faced no deficit greater than seven points this season. And they've been behind by seven in only three games (Dolphins, Falcons twice).
That's a sign of dominance. Only three NFL teams ever have gone a full season facing no deficit greater than seven points: the '42 Redskins, the '48 Bears, the '62 Lions.
The two epic teams of modern NFL history? The '72 Dolphins (17-0) and the '07 Patriots (18-1)? Both twice faced deficits of greater than seven points.
So how did the Packers land at 10-6? Injuries and bad luck.
Green Bay lost twice in overtime. The Packers lost twice without injured quarterback Aaron Rodgers, including a 31-27 loss at New England when the Patriots were the hottest team in football.
The Packers were decimated by injury; 31 Packers missed a total of 180 games this season.
"We have so much talent on this team," said Packer linebacker A.J. Hawk. "This year is a testament to that. People are talking about all of the injuries we have, and it is true. But we know the depth that we have."
The other 10-6 Super Bowl champs were of different ilk. The 2007 Giants were hot; they were not a great team but caught fire in the playoffs. The 1988 49ers were not a great team -- they suffered two blowout losses -- but that might have been the league's greatest year ever for parity. Three teams went 12-4, one went 11-5 and seven went 10-6. Somebody had to win.
If you want the closest thing to the 2010 Packers, look no further than the 2005 Steelers.
That Pittsburgh team went 11-5 and were the AFC's fifth seed. They lost twice in overtime. The Steelers won three playoff road games, beating the AFC's top three seeds en route.
This Green Bay team went 10-6 and was the NFC's sixth seed. Lost twice in overtime. The Packers won three playoff road games, beating the NFC's top three seeds en route.
Two primary differences: those Steelers suffered a blowout loss, and in the Super Bowl those Steelers played the Seahawks, who didn't scare much of anyone. These Packers face a foe just as good as they are.
"They are a great team," said Green Bay linebacker Clay Matthews. "They've been doing it for years now, and we're just on the precipice of being good and potentially great. It's going to be a great game."
I think Matthews has it wrong, too. The Packers are not on the precipice of anything. They already are there.
(Contact Berry Tramel at btramel@opubco.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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