Were the Packers "Lucky" to win the Super Bowl?

I just got done re-watching all the playoff games and Super Bowl. It was a magical run, and I loved every second of it, knowing the outcome was golden.

But there were some things that I kind of had forgotten, overlooked, that really had they gone the other way (and they easily could have), we'd not have become champs.

Anyone remember:

David Akers missing 2 kicks against us? That guy rarely misses a kick, and usually is clutch. He was the Pro Bowl kicker this season, and he calmly killed us in the 4th & 26 game.

Had he choked in 2004, that 4th & 26 nightmare wouldn't have happened. This time, he did choke. That made the difference because had he made them, they would have beaten us. David Akers Hints That His Career With the Philadelphia Eagles May Be Over | Yardbarker.com

Michael Vick missing a wide open receiver on the last pass he forced to Riley Cooper, that Tramon picked off to seal the game. Had Akers just missed one of those 2 earlier kicks, they wouldn't have needed the TD there, just a GW FG to beat us by one.

In the Falcons game which we killed them, it wasn't a blowout from start to finish. We trailed. Twice. With 48 seconds to go til halftime, it was 14-14, and the Falcons had just missed going up 21-14 as Matt Ryan was late to throw the ball to Michael Jenkins in the end zone. He had Tramon beaten and the safety was off to the left, nowhere to help. The throw was late or else it's a TD for them. Instead, it was late, Jenkins slipped on the paint of the logo, and Tramon picked it off.

We scored to go up 21-14, and then the Falcons marched to inside our 30 yard line and had an easy FG coming, but Ryan forced another one that Tramon picked off again, and went the distance for a 28-14 lead. Also in that game, there were about 4 big plays where the Falcons had a free guy at Rodgers, and he magically slipped away from the sack and made a big play. Two times was John Abraham. That was brilliant by Rodgers, but also a bit lucky and it usually isn't like that where the QB escapes. Rodgers went down 55 times last year. He can't always escape. He did pretty much that night.

Chicago, like the Philly game, we could have blown this one away, but we didn't, we let them linger around. But had Urlacher not been tripped up by Rodgers on the Int, he would have probably scored and who knows what would have happened then. That would have changed the complexion of that game, and our offense was in quicksand after that early part of the game.

Super Bowl. Should have blown them out, but because of the Woodson and Driver injuries, we didn't.

Rewatching that game, the Steelers were taking control in the 3rd & 4th quarter, and if not for the Mendenhall fumble and great scoop up by Bishop, they would have taken the lead there.

We commited no turnovers, they committed 3, and it still came down to the final drive, and Roethlisberger usually has pulled out games like that, as the Ravens know, and as we found out in 2009.

Also, how many times were guys not even really open, but Rodgers passes were totally pin-point? Had some of those big plays passes been one inch left, right, up or down, a lot of them would not have been completed. Great passes, but a bit of good fortune involved.

Now we've lost a lot of games where bad luck doomed us. Luck is a factor.
We were great, but we had good luck on our side, starting with David Akers shanky foot.

Winning the SB always entails some luck and one reason football is so exciting, you never know. No matter how good on paper your team is, some good luck for the other team and your team goes down in flames.

I believe many football teams that won the super bowl were lucky. Think of it like this:

Not many people expected the Giants to win it all, even after they won the 2007 *** ************ (censored it for Jess here). I rewatched the game and remembered, on the Brett Favre interception, he had at least 2 wide open recievers. Had he thrown to one of them, they would've gone into field goal range, at least, and kicked their way into the Super Bowl. And speaking of, remember the Tyree Catch? That play is the definition of lucky.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27XeNefwABw"]YouTube - The best play on super bowl XLII[/ame]

The 2008 Steelers had a ton of lucky breaks. One was the James Harrison 100-yd return. This completely switched momentum because the Cardinals were inches away from the endzone, and if they scored, the Steelers would be down by 4. Also, Santonio Holmes.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOfouSAAkZY"]YouTube - Santonio Holmes Game Winning Touchdown Super Bowl 43. Steelers 27 Cardinals 23[/ame]

It's not the 2009 Saints winning Super Bowl XLIV, it's how they got there. The 2009 NFC Championship was a slobberknocker from start to finish, with New Orleans still not finishing the game off despite the Vikings bumbling and fumbling the ball and a battered Brett Favre throwing ill-advised throws. On the Brett Favre interception, there was an open reciever near the out-of-bounds line, so he could've thrown there, and the reciever would run out of bounds, have Longwell kick the game-winning the field goal, and the Vikings would be Super Bowl bound. As a matter of fact, he could've ran for the extra yardage. Here's the play if you want to analyze it further:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUigYU2B-TQ&feature=related"]YouTube - Paul Allen's Call of Final Favre Interception - January 24, 2010[/ame]

So, yes, I believe the Packers had a lot of lucky breaks, but so do multiple Super Bowl teams. As a matter of fact, that's why I love the Super Bowl, because you never know what's going to happen.

While I agree with what you are saying, we also had our share of bad luck. We had many injuries this season, had we not had those injuries, who's to say we couldn't have been untouchable. Remember one stat if nothing else from the SB season. We never trailed by more than a touchdown ALL SEASON including playoffs. That's not so much luck as it is amazing.

I bet is you analyzed most playoff runs teams have got away with calls or had some crazy luck that kept them winning.

Luck does play a part but I don't think the Packers were unusually lucky. Many times when we talk about luck in the NFL its regarding injuries and we can all agree the Packers were very unlucky in that regard. To me the Eagles comeback against the Giants was the luckiest thing that happened to the Packers, but that is easily "balanced" by their bad luck with injures. BTW, IMO opposing QBs overthrowing receivers and Rodgers' pinpoint accuracy aren't "lucky" at all.

And one more thing: While the Packers went through an entire season never trailing by more than 7 points and losing 6 games by a total of 20 points, many Packers fans criticized McCarthy and his staff for their inability to win the close ones. A story after the Super Bowl reported that inside the Packers locker room the players were talking about how close they came to an undefeated season.

All in all - and yes I'm biased - IMO the Packers were not as lucky as most Super Bowl winners. (Ausnadian beat me to the punch making this point.)

Every team has some measure of "luck" in every game; hence the adage: On any given Sunday. Did we have some good luck? Absolutely. Did we have some bad luck? Absolutely. In the final analysis it is everything apart from the luck that wins the game, and that is where we prevailed.

no, next question.

If by lucky you mean ravaged by injuries in an unprecedent fashion, and still being able to rally the troops and win it all, then, yes, the Packers were lucky.

Well-said. That shows that luck is very important, not just for the Packers ride this post-season (thanks Akers), but the Saints, Giants, Steelers all had it as well. That's why none of those teams were able to win another one the following year. The stars weren't aligned again.

The Saints were lucky as crap to get past the Vikings.
The Giants were lucky they even got there, and then the Tyree catch.... miraculous.
David Akers missing 2 FG's like that?

It doesn't matter to me how we got the ring, but we are no different than most of those other teams in that we had some good fortune.

Good luck, bad luck.. a champion team doesn't pay attention to any of that, moves on from adversity, takes advantage of opportunities, and is the last one standing when the dust clears. This is your 2010 Green Bay Packers.

Yeah, losing how many starters to IR during the year was certainly not good luck. We were do for some luck change there.

The packers are lucky in more ways than one.


They're lucky they aren't the Vikings.

No team has won the title because of luck. The Packers had breaks, but every team that's good earns those in my mind.

Luck has nothing to do with not being the Vikings; its superior intellect and a matter of choice.:viksux:

Oh, and by the way, the same goes for Bears and Lions as well.:chisux::detsux:

Lucky?? No such thing. :happy0005:

There are now 4 Lombardi trophies on display at the Hall of Fame in Green Bay.

Lucky?? Nah... last year there were only 3 on display...now there's 4.

Maybe there is some luck such as the Philly kicker missing those FGs.

But I think there is more to it then just luck.
A-rod tripping Ulacher was skill. If he had tripped on his own, that would have been luck.

I just don't see how you can call A-Rod's leadership and awesome accuracy
"luck."
Same goes for the hard playing of the D. What they did was tough work. Not luck.

I totally disagree with your premise: by your definition every act on the field is luck, skill, preparation and ability mean nothing! Should that be the case, then GB was about the most unlucky team in the NFL, ex in game 4 against the Skins, GB loses two key players and Crosby doinks a potential game winner, the next week the Blind mole with Biceps (Houcusucks) steals the ball back from the Packers with a bulls__t call in a tie game that event gives the Dolphins a TD, in the Atlanta game Rodgers fumbles at the goaline and then another blind *** ref doesn't see Gonzales drop the ball, against the Lions Jennings drops a sure TD right into the arms of the DB who is beaten by a yard, GB drops 4 sure int's against the Pats> Should GB have had any luck they are at least 15-1 and cruise into the SuperBowl!!! So "luck" runs both ways but in this case the best team clearly won the important ones and even the refs couldn't take it away from the Packers
Pack88

Yeah, that was luck. The Packers had no control over if Akers kicked it straight or hooked it. Both of them.
Just like in 2004 when the bast*rd made the one to force OT after 4th & 26, and when the pr*** made it in OT to eliminate us.

We didn't do anything to make him miss or make them. Maybe prayer, but otherwise it was luck. And hey, there's luck on a lot of plays and I'm not apologizing for some good luck. We know we had bad luck before..... Jerry Rice fumbled. The loss to the Cardinals in last playoffs... that was all bad luck. This time it was good luck.

I never understood the person who pretends there's no luck involved when we win.

Winning takes an even blend of hard work, luck and skill.

There's luck in winning, but one could make a very compelling case that with Finley and the other injuried players in the fold, we win by a much wider margin, not needing that luck. And it was bad luck that those guys got injuried.

One could also make a compelling case that it was luck that made JJ fumble at the first game in Chicago, and if we win that game, we don't have to play against Philly. That it was luck that the 4th down catch by Gonzales against the Falcons wasn't reviewed, and so on...

Overall, we had more bad luck than good luck in the season.

"...if it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all... Gloom, despair and agony on me!"
-Hee Haw, circa 1970s

we had an unlucky season. good luck doesnt play a part when you have that many injuries.