Super Bowl 2011: Why the NFL Needs a Packers vs. Patriots Matchup

Super Bowl XLV: How about Green Bay and New England?

Packers vs. Patriots.

How about a rematch of one of the season's most amazing games?

The NFL could use this one and so could Green Bay and so could the rest of us.

It was Week 15 and when the smoke cleared at Gillette Stadium, it was New England 31, Green Bay 27.

That was Green Bay minus Aaron Rodgers.

That was the longest kick return in NFL history by an offensive lineman, Dan Connolly, who rumbled into football legend that game.

These teams need to meet again in Dallas. We need to find out if the outcome would have been different with Rodgers in there rather than the brave, but often sacked Matt Flynn.

New England struggled in that game on both sides of the football.

Rematches can be very mundane but this one would be no ordinary rematch.

Last year, both of the top seeds made it to the Super Bowl in New Orleans and Indianapolis. That was the first time since 1993 that it happened.

This would be a great matchup. You have good defense on both sides, offense, two highly competitive quarterbacks, one with a legacy, one who needs to build one.

It's a compelling story and the Week 15 game was close enough to create enough doubt as to what might transpire on a neutral field.

Cheese Heads vs. Chowder Heads. Great fan bases. Brats and clam chowder, good tailgate menus.

A Packers-Patriots Super Bowl would also be the championship rematch from 14 years ago. Back then a quarterback named Brett Favre won his only Super Bowl ring and he did it against a defense coached by an up-and-coming coordinator named Bill Belichick.

Yes, Packers and Patriots just might be really, really good.

And the NFL could use a really, really good Super Bowl.

So could the rest of us.