Over the past two years, fans and pundits alike haven’t questioned Aaron Rodgers’ talent, just whether or not he could win. Brett Favre was a winner, so it wasn’t enough that Rodgers put up good numbers: He had to win, too.

In his second year, Rodgers has proven that he can be a winner. Yes, he still must lead the Packers to the playoffs, but he’s on the verge of doing just that as Green Bay has won four in a row and has a grasp on one of the two Wild Card spots in the NFC.

In the Packers’ 27-14 win over the Ravens on Monday night, Rodgers completed 26-of-40 passes for 263 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. The two interceptions don’t look great on the stat sheet, but one was on an overthrow on a deep ball and the other was a fluke that bounced off of Donald Driver’s leg and into the waiting arms of a defender. The key was that Rodgers looked poised in and out of the pocket, used his legs to effectively buy himself more time and he didn’t make many mistakes to put his team in a position to lose (unlike Baltimore’s Joe Flacco, who made a horrendous decision near the goal line by throwing an interception to kill a potential scoring drive late in the second half).

There’s still a chance that Rodgers will fade down the stretch and the Packers will miss the playoffs. But with the way he and the rest of the Packers are playing right now (especially the defense, which has really come together under new coordinator Dom Capers), Green Bay won’t miss the postseason. And that’s amazing given how bad the offensive line was playing earlier in the season.

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Aaron Rodgers completed 28-of-39 passes for 348 yards and three touchdowns as the Packers shredded the Lions 34-12 on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanks to a three-game winning streak, Green Bay is now 7-4 and if the playoffs were to start today, they’d be in as one of the Wild Card teams. They were helped last night when the Giants (a conference foe) lost to the Broncos in Denver.

The Packers have benefited from having one of the softest schedules in the league, although they do have to play the Ravens, Steelers and Cardinals before the season is finished. Still, if they can beat one of those teams and then handle their business against the Bears and Seahawks (two teams Green Bay should beat), then the Pack should make the playoffs.

One thing that was apparent yesterday is that Rodgers has more time to throw. Granted, the Lions don’t offer much of a pass rush but the Packers’ O-line is starting to protect Rodgers better and give him time to find stellar receivers Donald Driver and Aaron Rodgers.

The defense has also rebounded from its embarrassing effort against Tampa Bay a few weeks ago. The Packers held Dallas to only seven points three weeks ago and then forced five turnovers against Detroit yesterday.

If the offensive line can continue to play at a somewhat respectable level and the defense can resemble Hyde more than Jekyll, then the Packers could be a tough out come postseason time.

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