Green Bay Packers Inside Slant

Perhaps the only foe that can trip up the snowballing express that is the Packers is Mother Nature.

Just when a once-gloomy season was filled with abundant sunshine provided by a four-game winning streak, more than a foot of snow created a mess in Green Bay on Wednesday. Even the football operations weren't immune to the blizzard.

"Just another day in Wisconsin," grinning quarterback Aaron Rodgers said.

Not exactly.

Rodgers called the unrelenting snowfall in a 24-hour period from Tuesday to Wednesday the worst he's seen in his five years with the Packers.

A typical 15-minute commute to Lambeau Field took 30 minutes for Rodgers, who arrived on time Wednesday morning for a position meeting. Some teammates weren't as fortunate in getting to work, reporting either tardy or not able to leave home because of impassable roads. The stranded players had to be picked up by the likes of trainer Pepper Burruss and director of player development Rob Davis.

So much for being eased into a critical final quarter of the regular season, in which the Packers will play three of their remaining four games on the road. The closing stretch, which will determine whether Green Bay gets back into the playoffs after a one-year layoff or is snowed under, starts Sunday at the Chicago Bears.

"We control our own destiny. So, that's kind of what you want," Rodgers said. "We've done a nice job winning the last three home games, knowing what we had to do."

The Packers possibly saved their season, which was teetering at the midway point with a 4-4 record after a horrible loss at the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, in the past four weeks. Home victories over the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers and then the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night lifted sagging spirits and triggered a late-season surge that has the Packers pointed toward the postseason.

At 8-4, they would be in the NFC field as a wild-card entrant.

"We kind of put ourselves in a position where our backs were against the wall, and we knew that," halfback Ryan Grant said. "The biggest thing for us (after the loss to the Buccaneers) is we said, 'We put ourselves in this position, now we've got to get ourselves out. The only thing we can do about that is playing our style of football and guys need to know what's on the line and why we're out here every week.' I think guys are really stepping up ... and trying to understand what's on the line and what we want out of this."

Head coach Mike McCarthy has been impressing upon the team that 10 wins must be attained for it to more than likely fulfill its playoff aspirations.

Going 2-2 down the stretch might be easier said than done, however.

Playing in Chicago late in the season hasn't gone well for the Packers the last two years, and the rival Bears (5-7) still are clinging to playoff hopes.

Then, Green Bay will play at the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are fading fast at 6-6 and could be fighting for their postseason lives a season removed from winning the Super Bowl.

The presumably easiest half of the Packers' four-game slate will follow with a home contest against the Seattle Seahawks and a culminating road date against the Arizona Cardinals, who potentially will have the NFC West title wrapped up by then and could be resting guys.

"We're a team that's winning games, but I'm excited because I think our best football is in front of us," McCarthy said.

The brewing confidence stems from an opportunistic defense that has ascended to No. 1 in the league and a diversified offense that McCarthy feels is conducive for bringing about success on the road.

Yet, Old Man Winter might have thrown a wrench in the Packers' getting sufficiently prepared for their first big road test, at cold-weather Chicago no less. The timing of the blizzard this week moved all practices indoors.

"Player safety and quality of practice. I don't think we would have accomplished either one of them out there (Wednesday)," McCarthy said.

SERIES HISTORY: 178th regular-season meeting. Bears lead series, 90-81-6. The NFC North rivals meet for the first time since the Packers prevailed 21-15 in the Sept. 13 season opener at Green Bay. The Packers last swept the season series in 2003. Green Bay is only 4-7 against Bears head coach Lovie Smith since 2004, including a 2-3 record at Chicago. The Bears have won the last two meetings at Soldier Field, both played in December.