Photos: Packers' 2020 season in pictures

Aaron Rodgers led the league with 48 touchdown throws and guided Green Bay (13-3) to the NFC's top seed and its only first-round bye in the expanded playoff format that added a third wild-card team.

Aaron Rodgers was one of four Packers on the first team, joined by wide receiver Davante Adams, left tackle David Bakhtiari and center Corey Linsley. 

The Packers led the NFL in red-zone efficiency this season, having scored 48 touchdowns in their 60 trips inside their opponents’ 20-yard line.

The vibes from Aaron Rodgers are all positive heading into the postseason as he seeks the second Super Bowl berth that has eluded him for the last decade.

As the top seed in the NFC, the Green Bay Packers will play the lowest remaining seed in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs next weekend.

The Packers and Rams, who haven't faced each other since 2018, will play Saturday at 3:35 p.m. with a spot in the NFC title game on the line.

Next weekend's NFC divisional round will give fans a third-time treat: another meeting between old-timers Tom Brady and Drew Brees that likely will be the last.

No one showed up for work on Green Bay's defense this season more than Adrian Amos, who started all 16 games and played 1,008 defensive snaps — meaning he was on the field for 98.2% of the plays.

For a team that doesn't know who its starting quarterback will be this weekend when it faces the NFC's top-seeded club in sub-freezing temperatures, the Los Angeles Rams actually are in pretty good shape.

The conditions were freezing — 8 degrees with a wind-chill factor of 15 below — the last time the Los Angeles Rams played a cold-weather game …

It may be instructive for Aaron Rodgers and Patrick Mahomes to consider what happened 11 years to Philip Rivers and the Chargers when they received a similar gift during a bye weekend.

According to Pro Football Focus, Jalen Ramsey allowed only 32 completions and three touchdown passes on 64 targets this season.

Cam Akers has plenty of reasons to be confident heading to the frozen tundra, particularly after what's happened during the second half of his increasingly impressive NFL debut season.

Packers head coach Matt LaFleur has faced two other former bosses this season, defeating now ex-Atlanta coach Dan Quinn and Tennessee’s Mike Vrabel.

Just-added offensive lineman Jared Veldheer tested positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus, but no other Green Bay players were deemed high-risk contacts, according to a source.

Two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald finished the regular season with 13.5 sacks and is deemed healthy to play Saturday despite a rib injury.

The team appears to have avoided any high-risk close contact designations and should have all of its linemen other than Jared Veldheer available against the Rams.

Jared Goff will start the Rams' postseason game at Green Bay on Saturday, while John Wolford will be inactive one week after incurring a neck injury.

How Jared Goff leads the Rams into their NFC semifinal game against the Green Bay Packers at cold Lambeau Field will serve as a template for his future with the team.

As he prepared for Saturday’s NFC divisional playoff matchup with the Los Angeles Rams at Lambeau Field, Aaron Rodgers did so acutely aware of what a golden opportunity he and his team have before them.

After being shut out of Green Bay Packers games all season because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pat O'Connell of Chippewa Falls is thrilled to be returning to Lambeau Field this weekend.

“I forgot how much you truly, truly miss having a crowd there," Aaron Rodgers gushed after the Packers dispatched the Rams. "It’s hard to really put into words how special that feeling is. But you can feel it. It’s so palpable.” 

Taron Johnson's pick-6 of Lamar Jackson's pass with 41 seconds remaining in the third quarter helped secure a 17-3 win over the Ravens in a divisional-round playoff game Saturday night.

As the final minutes ticked off the clock on the Los Angeles Rams season, Aaron Donald stood on the sideline trying to fight back tears.

The Rams lost on Saturday, but Jared Goff won. The Green Bay Packers' unstoppable offense triumphed, but the Rams' beleaguered quarterback shined.

On Oct. 18, the Buccaneers routed the Packers 38-10, but that was at Tampa, while Sunday's NFC title game will be at Lambeau Field as future Hall of Famers Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady meet for just the fourth time.

Tom Brady’s best game in three tries against New Orleans kept the Buccaneers moving on in the NFL playoffs, and has Saints quarterback Drew Brees headed home — perhaps for good.

Tom Brady is one win away from the Super Bowl, two wins away from a seventh ring. And Aaron Rodgers stands in his way.

With Patrick Mahomes out with a concussion, the Chiefs' defense and backup QB Chad Henne enabled Kansas City to survive Cleveland 22-17, keeping their hopes of a Super Bowl repeat alive.

"We’ll take what we can from that game and try to learn from it, and apply it where we can in this upcoming game,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said of the 38-10 loss to Tampa Bay.

Tom Brady's quest for a seventh Super Bowl ring continues, thanks to a young defense that's regained its swagger when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers needed it most.

“Anytime you call on Billy, he steps up and does a great job for us,” offensive line coach Adam Stenavich said.

To beat Green Bay at Lambeau Field and advance to the Super Bowl, it’ll take another superb performance from a defense that until last Sunday had not played a dominant game since it sacked Aaron Rodgers four times and intercepted him twice in a 38-10 rout of the Packers in Week 6.

If Pat Mahomes is cleared to play Sunday, it might be a good week to put defensive backs through plenty of those backpedal-turn-run drills.

Tom Brady is already the NFL's GOAT, but if he can take the once-moribund Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship, he will be the lion of all GOATs.

“My future is a beautiful mystery, I think," Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said Wednesday. "The present is such a gift to be able to stay in the moment and to have gratitude for being in this situation again."

No team has ever played a Super Bowl in its home stadium, but Tom Brady and the underdog Bucs (13-5) can do it by winning the NFC championship game against the Packers (14-3) on Sunday.

If Dan Campbell builds the kind of ball-control, physical squad he likes and if the new general manager, Brad Holmes, unearths enough playmakers on defense, the Lions could — maybe should — be relevant in a way they haven't been in decades.

Ted Thompson died on Wednesday night, three days after his 68th birthday and just as a Packers team that bears his fingerprints is again one victory away from a Super Bowl berth.

Former Packers general manager Ted Thompson, who died Wednesday, made a legendary impact on the franchise in his unassuming way.

Tom Brady’s teams are 10-3 against Mike Pettine-led defenses, including winning the past eight games.

Teams that have defeated an opponent by at least 20 points in the regular season, then played that team again in the conference championship game are 13-3 all-time.

Green Bay began the week as a 3.5-point favorite in the NFC Championship Game, but a Tampa columnist provide 10 reasons the Buccaneers will win Sunday.

The Battle of the Bays might well be decided by what Mr. Six Rings does against the Packers' defense, or what the 2020 All-Pro Rodgers manages versus the Buccaneers' D.

Tramon Williams played for the Packers from 2007 through 2014, then again in 2018 and 2019, before the team opted not to re-sign him last spring.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who again has his team a win away from the Super Bowl, explains how he’s a different man than he was when he led Green Bay to the title after the 2010 season.

When Tampa Bay destroyed the Packers 38-10 in Week 6, Buccaneers linebacker Devin White recorded 10 tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack and two quarterback hits.

The Packers’ gut-wrenching 31-26 loss to the Buccaneers at Lambeau Field had been over for less than an hour Sunday, and Aaron Rodgers was searching for words in the face of another NFC Championship Game disappointment.

It took the Kansas City Chiefs five frustrating decades to make their third Super Bowl appearance. Now, the defending champs are headed there for the second straight year.

“We played like our life depended on it,” Jason Pierre-Paul said Sunday after the Bucs forced two turnovers and sacked Aaron Rodgers five times in a 31-26 victory that sent Tom Brady to an unprecedented 10th Super Bowl.

Former Packers executive, and Chiefs and Browns general manager John Dorsey has agreed to join the Lions as a senior personnel executive, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“I feel like I put out some good film and did the best that I could this year," Packers center Corey Linsley said. "Hopefully if the Packers don’t re-sign me, hopefully another team will."

Aaron Rodgers has a gift: the ability to answer a question truthfully, and in a way that placates those who are able to hear what they want to hear in his response — while still not clearly answering the question at hand.

"I wish he hadn't left, but so be it," Brian Pope said. "I'm still a Patriots fan, but I'm not upset that he's playing in the Super Bowl, by any stretch."

Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine is not under contract for next season, having not signed an extension following last season.

Former Packers coach Mike McCarthy first hired Maurice Drayton as an assistant special teams coach in 2018 under then-coordinator Ron Zook, and he was retained when Matt LaFleur hired Shawn Mennenga in 2019.

Mike Pettine, whose contract with the Packers was set to expire after the season, becomes the second coordinator to depart this week, two days after Matt LaFleur fired special-teams coordinator Shawn Mennenga.

"When the season started this year I was in the hospital with COVID for almost three weeks, and my wife was sick with COVID at the same time," Tom Brady Sr. told ESPN.

Tom Brady is looking to join hardwood great Oscar Robertson and baseball Hall of Famer Frank Robinson as superstars who won a championship in their first year with a new team.

The Kansas City Chiefs were supposed to have a talented lineup of millionaires, each a seasoned veteran of the rough-and-tumble NFL, protecting their half-billion dollar quarterback as they defended their Super Bowl title this season.

The Detroit Lions are trading quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for quarterback Jared Goff, two future first-round draft picks and a third-round pick, a person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press.

Gambling is against NFL rules, but the Rams rolled the dice Saturday night in betting their immediate future on quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has never won a playoff game.

Whether free agent running back Aaron Jones will play for Green Bay again remains to be seen — and is up, in part, to him and his new agent, Drew Rosenhaus.

In their end-of-season news conferences, Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst and coach Matt LaFleur had a clear message for Aaron Rodgers: You’re our guy. In 2021, in 2022 and probably longer.

Head coach Matt Lafleur said Monday he wants the Packers defense to be more aggressive than it was at times under Mike Pettine.

An NFL source confirmed Packers coach Matt LaFleur was set to talk with Badgers defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard about the Packers’ vacant position, though it was unclear when that conversation was going to take place and just how intensely Leonhard was pursuing the opportunity.

“(I’m) very patient," Love told CBS Sports. "In the back of my head, I know my time will come. It’s all about what I do with that. Got to make the most of that opportunity. (The timing) is out of my hands, I guess.”

Nine years and a pair of career-threatening injuries later, Jason Pierre-Paul is back in the Super Bowl and ready to wreak havoc on behalf of Tom Brady this time.

“I thought our coaching staff did an unbelievable job taking advantage of the virtual offseason this past year," Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. "I thought our players certainly improved. I think that we definitely have a better handle on how to attack that. I think we can do it even better than we did a year ago.”

Charles Woodson is the Packers’ 27th Pro Football Hall of Famer and fifth to be selected in the last nine years.

“2020 was definitely a crazy year, filled with lots of change, growth, some amazing, memorable moments," Aaron Rodgers said in a pre-recorded speech. "180 straight days of having my nose hair scraped. A plan for very little fans or no fans the entire season. I got engaged. And I played some of the best football in my career.”

Tom Brady threw two touchdown passes to Rob Gronkowski and one to Antonio Brown, and the Buccaneers routed Patrick Mahomes and Kansas City 31-9 on their home field in Super Bowl 55 on Sunday.

The Chicago Bears hired former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine as a senior defensive assistant Wednesday.

"I came here 10 years ago as a kid from Wisconsin who'd never really been to Texas before," J.J. Watt said while wearing a Badgers sweatshirt, "and now I can't imagine my life without Texas in it."

Depending on his asking price, Green Bay should have as good a chance at any team at landing Watt, the Pewaukee native who has played in just eight career postseason games during his decade in Houston.

Considering how much of the offensive load Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams have carried over the past four years, the prospect of not having the running backs return has to be disconcerting to Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst.

After his release by the Packers, Ricky Wagner may retire following an eight-year NFL career.

“I don’t know him as a football guy,” actor Shailene Woodley said of Aaron Rodgers. “I know him as like the nerd who wants to host ‘Jeopardy!’. ”

Corey Linsley, who turns 30 in July, finished the season as Pro Football Focus’ highest-rated center and has been among the NFL’s best centers since entering the league with the Packers as a fifth-round pick from Ohio State in 2014.

In the Super Bowl era, only eight teams have repeated as world champions, and none since Brady's Patriots squads of 2003 and 2004.

Offensive line coach Adam Stenavich, a rising star in the coaching ranks, received an additional title on Monday as the team’s offensive run-game coordinator.

“Defensive football — bottom line — is about guys killing blocks and getting off blocks. It’s about tackling. It’s about taking the ball away. It’s about playing with not effort but relentless effort,” Joe Barry said.

Using the franchise tag would virtually assure Aaron Jones’ return in 2021 — as long as he signed the tag and reported to camp — since any team signing him to an offer would have to give the Packers two first-round picks if Green Bay didn’t match the offer.

Coach Matt LaFleur believes Maurice Drayton will put his own stamp on the Packers special teams units and improvement will follow.

Despite having already restructured All-Pro left tackle David Bakhtiari’s contract to clear $8.3 million in cap space, the Packers still have to create more than $11 million in cap space just to reach the projected cap of $180.5 million, according to OverTheCap.com.

The move means Aaron Jones’ agent, Drew Rosenhaus, will be able to start talking to free agent suitors Monday and Jones will be free to sign with any team when the new league year starts next Wednesday.

The Packers appear to have a handful of avenues to follow to clear cap space without severing ties with too many key contributors or going overboard with pushing player costs too far into the future.

Green Bay also informed quarterback Tim Boyle it will not make him a qualifying offer and released tight end/fullback John Lovett.

On Monday, two days before the NFL's 2021 business year begins, the 32 teams and agents for the players will be making deals. Lots of deals, even if they aren't official until Wednesday.

“We anticipated bigger offers in free agency but Aaron wanted to stay with the Packers,” Jones’ agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said.

The deal, which includes a $13 million signing bonus and $26 million in guaranteed money, makes Corey Linsley the NFL’s highest-paid center with a $12.5 million-per-year average salary.

Just as he had done several times in New England, Tom Brady reworked his big-ticket contract last week to free up money for Tampa Bay to use to re-sign sackmaster Shaq Barrett, fellow standout linebacker Lavonte David and old buddy Rob Gronkowski.

General manager Brian Gutekunst hopes suitors won’t woo their top tight end after breakout season. 

If the Packers intend to add anyone during free agency, they still may need to alter Aaron Rodgers’ contract to clear additional salary cap space.

The NFL's new rights agreements, worth $113 billion over the 11 seasons of the new deals that begin in 2023, include Amazon Prime Video getting exclusive rights to the 15 “Thursday Night Football” games.

If the Bears are interested in finding a quarterback on the first night of the draft, they will have to have trade capital ready and a feel for how high up the draft board they'll need to jump to get their guy.

By bringing Kevin King back, the Packers will be able to keep their starting secondary together, with Adrian Amos, fellow safety Darnell Savage and second-team All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander all under contract for 2021.

ESPN and the NFL Network reported Marcedes Lewis' new deal with Green Bay was for two years and $8 million, though ESPN said it included $4 million in guaranteed money while NFL Network said it was $2.1 million guaranteed.

“I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface to enter (my) prime yet,” Aaron Jones said.

Aaron Rodgers and the Packers will meet Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium at a date to be determined in the 2021 season.

Packers CEO Mark Murphy did nothing Tuesday to diffuse any concerns fans might have about another future Hall of Fame quarterback and the franchise possibly heading toward a less-than-amicable separation.

Team owners at a virtual meeting on Tuesday approved the 17th game as expected, marking the first time in 43 years the regular season has been increased.

There was never any doubt the NFL would grow its regular-season schedule to 17 games once the labor agreement with the players union was reached a year ago. More games, more money and more flexibility for America's most popular sport.

Aaron Rodgers reiterated his standing with the Packers remains a “beautiful mystery,” but shed little light on where things stand with the team following CEO Mark Murphy’s non-answers about Rodgers’ situation last week.

Surely, signing Andy Dalton is Part 1 of a two-part plan, which creates intrigue as you look ahead to the draft.

ESPN's analyst Mel Kiper says this year's draft is "mysterious" and "complicated."

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst is a proponent of continually developing assets at the quarterback position.

It wouldn’t be at all surprising if Green Bay spent one of its 10 picks in the April 29-May 1 NFL draft on a back — even after picking Boston College’s AJ Dillon in the second round a year ago.

None of the Packers' current wide receivers is under contract beyond 2021.

Whether Packers GM Brian Gutekunst drafts a tight end next week largely depends on how confident he is in Jace Sternberger developing after two unimpressive seasons and how certain he is Josiah Deguara can return from a season-ending torn ACL.

NFL owners on Wednesday altered replay procedures, approved eliminating overtime in preseason games and expanded selection of jersey numbers for receivers, running backs and defensive backs.

The uncertain status of David Bakhtiari (torn ACL) and the departures of Corey Linsley and Lane Taylor mean general manager Brian Gutekunst goes into the NFL draft next week with a virtual imperative to add to the unit.

Beyond Kenny Clark and up-and-coming Kingsley Keke, Green Bay's defensive line is full of uncertainty.

General manager Brian Gutekunst might be worried after a huge drop in production from Preston Smith.

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst has made it sound like Krys Barnes and Kamal Martin will get ample opportunity to prove they can do the job.

Cornerback looks like a glaring position of need that GM Brian Gutekunst surely will address with at least one or two of his 10 overall draft choices.

GM Brian Gutekunst suggested multiple times during a video conference Monday that the Packers could still redo Aaron Rodgers’ contract.

Green Bay has added competition for both punter JK Scott and long snapper Hunter Bradley heading into training camp.

About to embark on his fourth draft as Packers GM, Brian Gutekunst’s acumen as an talent evaluator is hard to gauge.

On a day that Yahoo! Sports reported that Aaron Rodgers has told the team that he won’t return as long as Brian Gutekunst is the general manager, and team president/CEO Mark Murphy publicly acknowledged there is an “issue” between the team and the quarterback, Matt LaFleur sounded like the man stuck in the middle.

Similar to Ted Thompson, the man he succeeded, Packers GM Brian Gutekunst finds himself embroiled in a nasty public feud with his quarterback.

A first-round cornerback, an intriguing multi-dimensional slot receiver and three offensive linemen were the highlights of Green Bay's 2021 draft class.

To start, the battle lines could be drawn for June's minicamps. The union could advise its members not to attend, but the teams can hand down hefty fines to those players who, basically, opt out.

With Corey Linsley and Lane Taylor having departed in free agency and David Bakhtiari’s start-of-the-season availability in question due to his torn ACL during a Dec. 31 practice, the newbies will have ample opportunity to compete for roles.

Given the level of acrimony Brett Favre sees between the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers — a familiar feeling, having been there himself in 2008 before being traded to the Jets — Favre isn’t betting on there being a happy ending.

The uncertainty around the future of reigning MVP Aaron Rodgers has turned up the pressure on the Packers to find other options at the all-important position.

It's unclear whether Aaron Rodgers has been open and honest with Green Bay's front office about just how frustrated he has been.

The rookie from Appalachian State led the nation with 17 passes defensed (16 pass break-ups, one interception) last season.

"It would change a lot," said the wide receiver, who will be a free agent after the season.

The 29-year-old journeyman played under Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett while with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2015 to 2018.

The NFL did leave itself a couple of late-season scheduling escape hatches if Rodgers isn’t the Packers’ quarterback this season.

The Packers have publicly maintained they will not trade the three-time NFL MVP.

“It feels so good to be out there with these guys,” LaFleur said. 

“I mean, I’ve been watching him since he was young, and just to see his development and the player he’s become, it’s really astonishing to watch, Cobb says.

The fourth-round pick played every offensive line position except center at Mississippi.

The fifth-round draft pick's immediate focus is getting his weight under control and improving his conditioning.

Charles Woodson and Al Harris have waited long enough. The dynamic defensive back duo’s oft-delayed induction into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame is finally happening on Aug. 28.

Sixth-round pick Isaiah McDuffie and Packers teammate AJ Dillon, a second-round pick a year ago, were college teammates and friends at Boston College.

Second-year quarterback Jordan Love could wind up as the team’s opening-day starter at New Orleans on Sept. 12 if Aaron Rodgers stands his ground and holds out of training camp.

Coach Matt LaFleur said his message to the players was to remain “focused on the things that they can control” at organized team activities.

If the absence of Green Bay's top five wide receivers from Tuesday’s first open-to-the-media organized team activity practice of the offseason was part of a coordinated effort, it was news to coach Matt LaFleur.