Super Bowl XLV: Green Bay Packers Are Champs Despite Injuries and Setbacks

Tonight, the Green Bay Packers became the first NFC sixth seed to go on to win the Super Bowl.

But that doesn't even tell all the story.

Not only were the Pack a sixth seed, they were a severely banged up sixth seed: Green Bay has placed 15 players on injured reserve. In other words, well over a third of the team have been injured and yet they have hung together to complete a World Championship season.

Tonight in the big game, Packer stars like Charles Woodson (arguably the Packers' most important defensive player) and Donald Driver (arguably the Packers' most important receiver) were injured and could only watch from the sidelines, cheering for their teammates with everything they had. 

But even without such key players, the Packers never trailed in the game. Even though Packer receivers dropped several good throws from quarterback Aaron Rodgers, they still controlled the game from start to finish.

One has to wonder how much bigger the winning margin would have been for the Packers if they'd have been at full strength.

Aaron Rodgers outplayed opponent quarterback Ben Roethlisberger in every way, and was clearly the better QB. With this performance, Rodgers certainly has cemented the fact that he is an up-and-coming superstar, and already one of the best quarterbacks in the game.  And he's only in his third season as a starter.

The sky is the limit for Aaron Rodgers. 

The future certainly looks bright for the Green Bay Packers and with this Super Bowl championship, the present is pretty great as well.