There's good reason for this Packers team to believe

[Cheesehead]

GREEN BAY – The Packers were a confident bunch last year at this time, but this year they're at another level.


Not the dangerous take-for-granted or "we-got-this" type of assuredness. But in repeating their 13-3 record from a year ago, the Packers feel better about who they are, and they have good reason to, as they prep for another run at a Super Bowl.


"Offensively, we're just a much better team than we were," quarterback Aaron Rodgers said this week. "We're a much more efficient team. That helps, for sure. Last year, we were just so up and down. I think that's been the biggest difference offensively is we're playing with a lot more confidence."


In 2019, the Packers' offense entered the playoffs ranked 18th in the league in total yards, 23rd in third-down efficiency and 15th in points. In 2020, those three rankings climbed to fifth, second and first, respectively.


The lulls offensively have been fewer and farther between than last season, and throughout the year, the Packers performed admirably against a number of defenses that ended up among the league's best, including New Orleans, San Francisco, Chicago, and even Indianapolis in defeat.


As a matchup with the Los Angeles Rams' No. 1 scoring defense looms on Saturday at Lambeau Field, the Packers go into it knowing they've played to their standard against a similar level of competition. That wasn't necessarily the case last year, particularly when the rematch at San Francisco in the NFC title game came less than two months after an abysmal regular-season showing there.


"When there's eight teams left, every team is good, and I'd say all of them have really good defenses, too," Rodgers said. "There's no cakewalks. There's no easy games. It comes down to execution and the little things that we talk about all the time.


"We always talk about starting fast. We've done a good job at that, scoring on the first possession of many games this season, which would definitely help us on Saturday. But we know it's gonna be a game that goes the distance."