‘Go Pack Go!’
Green Bay’s players relish return of fans to Lambeau Field.
GREEN BAY - Jaire Alexander took his time after leaving the tunnel, gesturing for the smattering of fans in the stands to get louder, basking in their noise.
Moments later, after the Green Bay Packers won the opening coin toss and elected to kick off, players on the coverage team did the same. The volume inside Lambeau Field increased as they waved their arms in the air. Finally, a year’s worth of silence was broken.
Everyone wanted to immerse in the first game-day experience this season that felt like a genuine game-day experience at Lambeau Field. As Packers defenders left the sideline for the first play of a 32-18 win against the Los Angeles
Rams in the NFC divisional playoff round, they offered their salute to the fans. Before the snap, public address announcer Bill Jartz had a sense of the moment.
“OK Lambeau Field,” Jartz said over the speakers, “we've waited a long time for this one. First-and-10, let's hear you get loud.”
And the fans did get loud. Surprisingly loud. They were a smattering, an announced attendance of just 8,456, of which 7,439 paid for their entry. In a stadium that seats more than 81,000, 10% capacity could seem insignificant.
Against the backdrop of a pandemic that erased crowds in football cathedrals through the NFL this season, 10% was palpable.
The Packers said Sunday they'll allow the same number of fans to attend the NFC championship game scheduled for 2:05 p.m. Jan. 24 at Lambeau Field.
Maybe it takes a prolonged silence to be reminded of how loud several thousand cold, perhaps inebriated people can be when lifting their voices. It was a carnival atmosphere inside Lambeau Field on Saturday night. Lil Wayne led “Roll out the Barrell” on the big video boards before the fourth quarter. His new Packers-themed single “Green and Yellow” accompanied fans as they left for home after the win.
Whenever the Packers entered the red zone, which they have dubbed the “gold zone” this season in homage to the movie “Austin Powers in Goldmember,” a parody video of the movie played on the video boards.
There were times when Saturday reverted to the new normal. No halftime entertainment was provided. Fans were encouraged to stretch and warm themselves during intermission instead, but asked to please be safe, mindful of the coronavirus.
The first “Go Pack Go” chants came early. Yes, the Packers offense was on the field, but perhaps this time Aaron Rodgers didn't mind the noise so much. That the crowd would later serenade Rodgers with “MVP” chants during the final two-minute warning, a victory and trip to the NFC championship game sealed, certainly didn't hurt either.
“Talk about just pure joy running out of that tunnel,” Rodgers said. “We've had a few hundred for a couple games, but it felt like 50,000 when we were running out on the tunnel. It really did. It was such a special moment. Forgot how much you truly, truly miss having a crowd there. Then obviously that wasn't a normal, like, last-year-against-Seattle-type of crowd, but it felt like 50,000, 60,000. It really did.
“It's hard to really put into words how special that feeling is. But you can feel it — it's so palpable. You can feel the energy of the stadium. It's just different. It's different playing in front of a crowd. It really is. It's just a little more special, and obviously more sweet.”
The Packers spent the regular season's final weeks preparing for Saturday's crowd. They hosted a few hundred fans — team employees and their families some weeks, frontline health-care workers on others — in each of their final four home games. They tested their COVID-19 protocols, hoping they could garner a home-field advantage for the playoffs.
The preparations paid off perhaps more than they could have expected. Maybe it was the plastic “Go Pack Go” signs banging against metal bleachers, or the way noise rattles around in echoes throughout Lambeau Field's bowl, but the sheer volume had an impact on this game.
The Packers' offense was 8 of 12 on third down. The Rams were just 2 of 8. The Rams lined up for a fourth-and-1 from the Packers' 14-yard line in the first half, but a false start pushed them back 5 yards, and they were forced to kick a field goal. Before a third-and-16 in the fourth quarter, as fans banged those signs, Lambeau Field was especially loud.
It felt like playoff football. Packers defenders were still talking about the energy they got from the crowd in the locker room afterward.
“It was great to have the fans back,” defensive lineman Kenny Clark said, “hitting the signs on the stands, and just the noise, period. Their snap count is a huge part of their game, and I couldn't hear their snap count.”
Now the Packers get to do it again in a week.
When they host their first NFC championship game at Lambeau Field since 2007, the Packers will have a natural advantage on the tundra. The early forecast for Sunday is a high temperature of 26 degrees.
But the Packers saw Saturday the weather is not the only home-field advantage they'll receive.
“They said 9,000,” receiver Davante Adams said, “and I don't know about 9,000. They were loud. Loud in the perfect situations, end of that game, just making it tough for them to communicate.
“The offense, defense, entire team feeds off of that. We're looking forward to coming back here next week.”