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Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers were reunited at the NFL Awards show this winter.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel beat writer Tom Silverstein caught up with Packers president Mark Murphy on Monday at the NFL Owners meetings in Phoenix.

As a favor to bloggers and online media outlets, Murphy talked about two Packers that generate a ton of clicks and web traffic: Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.

On the former, Murphy says progress has been made toward getting Favre’s jersey retired in Green Bay. On the latter, Murphy said cash will not be a problem in extending Aaron Rodgers’ contract.

On Favre:

“I don’t want to put a deadline on it, but it’s going to happen,” Murphy said. “It’s got to be sitting down, the organization, whether it’s myself or others, sitting down with him and working on the timing on it.”

On Rodgers:

“A priority as an organization…We all want to see it get done,” Murphy said. He did not know the progress of talks between Rodgers’ representatives and Packers negotiator Russ Ball.

Here’s hoping we see Favre’s number enshrined forever at Lambeau Field and Rodgers locked up to a long-term deal sooner rather than later.

Adam Czech is a freelance reporter and a Packers fan living in the Twin Cities. Follow Adam on Twitter. Read more of Adam's writing on the Packers here.

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Surviving Sundays With No Packers Football

As I get older, I can’t tell if I’m getting soft, getting smarter, or both.

I was always one of those people who wasn’t bothered by the use of American Indian imagery and slang for team logos and nicknames. I went to school at St. Cloud State University (the Harvard of the Midwest), which was in a hockey conference with the North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

The Fighting Sioux nickname has been debated endlessly in North Dakota and Minnesota for years. Some say it’s offensive to American Indians and should be scrapped. Others say it’s honorable and should be kept.

In college, I proudly supported keeping the Fighting Sioux nickname. I was the guy at parties who had one too many Keystone Lights and got into fierce political debates. When someone said that the Fighting Sioux nickname should be changed, I would shout them down while cracking open another can of Keystone.

I’ve grown up a lot since then. Most importantly, I now drink good beer, not Keystone Light. Almost as importantly, I now hate American Indian team logos and nicknames.

The Fighting Sioux nickname is bad enough, but nothing gets me going more than the Washington Redskins.

I mean, seriously. The Redskins?! How is it ok to name your team after an obvious racial slur? The fact that our nation’s capital still refers to its professional football team as the Redskins in the year 2013 makes me embarrassed to be a football fan.  Read more... (938 words + 1 image, estimated 3:45 mins reading time)

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Surviving Sundays With No Packers Football

Should it matter that Aaron Rodgers probably didn’t check in with the Packers before doing his schtick with Brett Favre last weekend?

It shouldn’t.

I doubt Ted Thompson or Mike McCarthy really cares about that kind of thing. And if for some reason they do, they shouldn’t.

If Rodgers wants to run off and do commercials, play in celebrity golf tournaments, host Saturday Night Live or share the stage with his predecessor, so be it. I don’t think public relations are at the top of McCarthy’s and Thompson’s list of offseason priorities. To those two, the only PR they need to worry about is winning in 2013.

Unless Favre goes completely crazy and tries another comeback, No. 4 has nothing to do with how the Packers will play next season.

I could see Mark Murphy maybe being a little irked. As the team president, part of his job is to try and manage the team’s image and handle situations like when to welcome Favre back into the Packers family. Perhaps Murphy had a plan on how to approach the issue, and Rodgers deviated from the plan without asking first.

Or maybe he didn’t. Who knows?

Either way, I’m glad it happened. I’m looking forward to the day when Packers fans can cheer Favre again and remember all the great things he did for this organization. After a few years of uncertainty, it looks like that day might actually happen sometime in the near future.  Read more... (684 words + 1 image, estimated 2:44 mins reading time)

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A image many thought was impossible even a year ago.

Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers: Reunited. Maybe the Mayans were on to something after all.

In a moment that stunned everyone, especially fans of the Green Bay Packers, Favre and Rodgers appeared on stage together to present the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year Award to Peyton Manning during the NFL’s annual Honors award ceremony. Favre and Rodgers poked fun at Favre’s decision to retire and then comeback. It was likely a scripted moment, but it brought laughter to the crowd.

It also brought hope to fans who are sick of the arguing over the former quarterback.

It was a moment many expected to see at some point in the future, but maybe not so soon and definitely not at this venue. How fast this news spread opened up a lot of old wounds and brought back a lot of emotions regarding the Packer hero-turned-villain.

With Rodgers apparently the one who gave the go ahead for this moment to happen, it has brought renewed hope that Favre will once again be a beloved member of the Packers family and that it would be sooner rather than later. As divisive as a figure Favre is amongst the Packers faithful, this was a good first step towards healing those wounds.

By appearing on stage with Favre, it is almost as if Rodgers is giving some Packers fans the go-ahead to once again fully embrace the former Packer legend.  Read more... (757 words + 1 image, estimated 3:02 mins reading time)

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Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre

…And then there was peace.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and former quarterback Brett Favre will share the stage together, presenting the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award tonight on CBS.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy hinted at it early Saturday evening via Twitter, tweeting, “There’s an unlikely pairing of presenters you will have to see on #nflhonors 9p ET on CBS. their numbers added up to 16.”

Some basic math suggested that Favre and Rodgers were the “unlikely pairing of presenters.”

The NFL Honors program will be televised at 8 p.m. Central tonight on CBS.

The award winners have already been announced. Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III was named Offensive Rookie of the Year, Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly won Defensive Rookie of the Year, Adrian Peterson was named Offensive Player of the Year and J.J. Watt won Defensive Player of the Year.

Peterson was also named league MVP for the first time in his career.

Packers cornerback Casey Hayward finished third in the voting for Defensive Rookie of the Year behind Kuechly and Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner.

Rodgers and Favre will present the Comeback Player of the Year Award to Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.

The relationship between Rodgers and Favre has certainly been rocky, so it’s nice to see them smoothing things out. According to NFL Network’s Michelle Beisner, both men were ready to move on.  Read more... (361 words + 1 image, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

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WR Terrell Owens’ clutch catch was the dagger in the heart of the Mike Holmgren era in Green Bay

The Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers face off Saturday night in an NFC Divisional Playoff game which will be the sixth time since January 1996 that the two teams have faced each other in the playoffs.

The Packers and 49ers became quite familiar opponents in the 1990s as they played each other in the playoffs each year from 1996-1999 (note I am going by the year the playoff games were played, not the year of the ‘season’).   It was a rivalry for the ages as the Packers won the first three games and the 49ers won the fourth in dramatic fashion.

Even though the four games included an NFC Championship which the Packers won en route to Super Bowl XXXII, it’s the first and the fourth of the 1990s contests that have the highest historical importance.

They almost serve as bookends for the Mike Holmgren era.  The Packers’ 27-17 victory over San Francisco at Candlestick Park on January 6, 1996 served notice to the entire NFL that Green Bay was now one of the league’s elite teams.  The Packers lost to the Dallas Cowboys the following week in the NFC Championship, but the win over the 49ers served as a springboard for the great 1996 season.  Read more... (1254 words + 1 image, estimated 5:01 mins reading time)

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There’s no question anymore: Mike McCarthy is one of the best coaches in the NFL today.

Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy is like a member of your family. You love the guy to death, but every once in a while he makes you want to slam your head into a wall.

That said, I’m not here to talk about the bad in regards to McCarthy.  Every coach has their flaws and McCarthy is no different.   Instead, I’m here to do something for him that is rarely done outside the state of Wisconsin and/or the Packer fan base.

I’m giving McCarthy some credit.  He’s one the best coaches in the NFL and no one talks about him on a national scope.  He (along with general manager Ted Thompson) has helped build one of, if not the best, model franchises in the National Football League.  The last three seasons he has won a Super Bowl with a badly depleted roster, won his first 13 games in the following season and this year has another injury riddled team in position to win another Super Bowl.

Yet when it comes to coach of the year discussions this year, McCarthy’s name is conspicuously absent.  The Packers arguably took a harder hit with the injuries this year than in 2010 because of all the stars that have gone down over the course of the season, but the Packers are in position to get a first round bye.   2012 could very well be the best coaching job McCarthy has done since his arrival in 2006.  Read more... (937 words + 1 image, estimated 3:45 mins reading time)

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