Green Bay got bad news on Friday when Aaron Rodgers was ruled out for Sunday’s game against the Steelers, but Packers coach Mike McCarthy pointed out that “bad news” isn’t the same thing as devastating news.
Specifically, McCarthy said everyone in the Packers’ locker room believes that they can beat the Steelers on Sunday with Matt Flynn running the offense, just as they beat the Falcons and Cowboys the last two weeks with Flynn running the offense.
“We feel that we can beat Pittsburgh with our football team,” McCarthy said. “We came in here Monday morning preparing to beat Pittsburgh with Matt Flynn, stated that all along. We feel very good about the preparation.”
That’s obviously what any coach would say (and it was a little surprising that a reporter actually asked McCarthy if the Packers could beat the Steelers with Flynn), but in the case of McCarthy’s comments, he has every reason to be confident. Flynn is no Rodgers, but he understands the Packers’ offense well enough to put them in a position to win.
If the Packers do win with Flynn, they’ll be one win away, Week 17 against the Bears, from the playoffs.