Christian Ponder Should Feel No Pressure Saturday. Cause It’s All On Aaron Rodgers

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This is what Rodgers is up against: A legacy of recent home playoff futility that is actually rather frightening. Besides last year’s collapse, you’ve got the NFC title game Tom Coughlin Red Face Bowl loss. Go back a couple more years and you’ve got the first round fail against the Vikings and Randy Moss. And a couple years before that, the fail against Michael Vick and the Falcons.
Yes I realize those last three losses were not on Rodgers. But they do loom large in the minds of Packer fans. Packer fans might deny this but they’re lying. They feel the sting from those home playoff failures. It has built up over the years. Right now it is making them a little nervous. It used to be “The Packers never lose in the playoffs at Lambeau.” Now it’s “The Packers often lose in the playoffs at Lambeau.” The fans would like to see this reversed.
The pressure to reverse this trend and get the Packers back to home dominance is on Rodgers. He’s the QB. He’s the legend-in-the-making. Even if the loss isn’t his fault, it will be on his legacy. And fans realize what the deal is with this team. The defense is once again not that good. They couldn’t stop Adrian Peterson to save their lives. And they gave up big third down conversions to Christian Ponder and the Vikes’ less-than-vaunted passing game. It’s on Rodgers’ head to make this bad feeling go away.

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Christian Ponder Should Feel No Pressure Saturday. Cause It's All On Aaron Rodgers. - The Viking Age - A Minnesota Vikings Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

" Yes I realize those last three losses were not on Rodgers. But they do loom large in the minds of Packer fans. "

That would be great if the fans were playing. Doubt the players could care less about what happened before most of them were on the team.

Truth is, the Vikings have little or no chance to win if you look at history.
Packers have only lost 2 out of their last 28 home games during the regular season and the Vikings are something like 0-6 outdoors with a dreadful away game record.

But there is another truth emerging. Vikings and their fans, realize they were dominant last time in Lamblow, and if not for 2 crucial interceptions, would have walked away a winner.
That would have also made the Vikings the NFCN champs.

This Vikings team has a different vibe than previous Vikings teams. If healthy they may be well suited to play in cold conditions.

With a fundementally physical game, they can win providing they limit turnovers.

This game is an opportunity to once again take control of the NFCN and send the Packers to a crushing one and done defeat for the second consecutive year.

The time is now.

SKOL VIKINGS !

I think all the talk about pressure on Rodgers is a little silly. There is NO CHANCE that he is not going to be the starter in Green Bay for the next 5 + years.

He already has one Super Bowl ring. He already has an MVP award. He has a ridiculous amount of statistics that show him going toward being one of the all time greats. He replaced a legend. There is little pressure on him.

Sure, he has never won a playoff game in Lambeau (he has only played one). But the loss to the Giants in the 2007 playoffs, the loss to the Vikings in the 2004 playoffs and the loss to the Falcons in the 2003 playoffs do not fall anywhere near Rodgers feet.

As the top dog on a team you obviously feel the pressure, but to act like there is any real pressure on Rodgers here as if it will even slightly effect his legacy is a bit of lunacy. His legacy is already secure and he has a bunch of years left to continue past this.

There is a ton of pressure on Ponder ... not necessarily to WIN the game ... but to not be the reason the Vikings lose the game. He is already feeling the "bust" label ... and can go a long ways toward keeping that wrapped around his throat or removing it this weekend.

Now, all that said ... the Packers are definitely going to be feeling some pressure as an organization because they know that this is the fourth-straight year that they are near the top of the conference and if they cannot capitalize then that window just keeps getting smaller and smaller.