In a nail-biting finish, the Packers overcame offensive mistakes and defensive lapses, to defeat the Dallas Cowboys at home. The win now sends the Packers down to Atlanta to play the Falcons for the NFC Championship.
With 3 seconds left on the game clock, the Packers 10-year veteran, Mason Crosby, sunk a 51-yard field goal to put the Packers up 34-31.
Head coach Mike McCarthy said, “Mason is the best kicker in the NFL. I think he could have hit that 10 out of 10. I don’t think there is a doubt in anyone’s mind. He’s a machine.”
The Packers blew an early lead but eventually, their offense and defense worked hard to make important plays.
Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes
It was the biggest upset that the Packers (12-6) have posted in the postseason since the watershed divisional victory at San Francisco in 1995. They were a 10 ½-point underdog that sunny afternoon at Candlestick Park and a 5 ½-point underdog before a crowd of 93,396 in the football palace erected by owner Jerry Jones.
The reaction afterward was similarly ecstatic. The Packers became just the second No. 4 seed in the NFC to beat the No. 1 seed in 11 matchups since the present playoff system was inaugurated in 1990.
“It was a very excited locker room, probably the best locker room we ever had,” added McCarthy. “The excitement of what we accomplished and the way we did it. I just love our resolve.”
Thus, the Packers won for the second time in one postseason for only the second time under McCarthy, whose team had lost on the final play five times in the last seven years.
This time, it was the other team, the Cowboys (13-4), who were inconsolable after a defeat that Jones found crushing.
For more on the Packers victory, visit Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
