As a former Northern California kid, Aaron Rodgers knows the Super Bowl story of quarterback Joe Montana pointing out actor John Candy in the Joe Robbie Stadium crowd while leading the San Francisco 49ers on a winning drive in 1989.
Rodgers, while preparing for Monday night’s playoff opener, mentioned that tale as a good example of a quarterback instilling confidence in his teammates.
“When it’s ball on the 8-yard line, need a touchdown to win the game, and Joe’s making comments about John Candy up in the stands, everybody kind of has a belief they’re going to go down and score,” Rodgers said.
No longer a kid, Rodgers had developed a knack for finishing winning drives of his own.
Rodgers completed the 37th game-winning drive of his career last week. Thanks to his last-minute touchdown pass in the regular-season finale, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the AFC North and welcomed the Houston Texans to Acrisure Stadium for a wild-card round game Monday.
His 65-yard drive didn’t quite match Montana’s 92-yarder in the Super Bowl, but it was memorable, nonetheless. Calvin Austin III caught a 26-yard touchdown from Rodgers with 55 seconds remaining in a 26-24 win over the Baltimore Ravens.
“When you grow up reading about that stuff and want to emulate your idols, you know you want to have that belief from your teammates that when we get the ball in that situation with 2:20 (remaining), there’s not a doubt in their mind we’re going to score,” said Rodgers, recalling his late-game heroics against the Ravens.
The four-time league MVP isn’t as young as he once was, but what the 42-year-old quarterback does have in abundance nowadays is experience. Against the Texans, Rodgers will be making the 22nd playoff start of his 21-year career.
To put Rodgers’ football resume in perspective, the seven other starting quarterbacks in the AFC bracket entered the weekend with 22 playoff starts combined. The Bills’ Josh Allen had 13 followed by the Texans’ C.J. Stroud (four), the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence (two), the Chargers’ Justin Herbert (two), the Broncos’ Bo Nix (one) and the Patriots’ Drake Maye (zero).
Asked if he thought experience matters at this time of year, Rodgers liked the idea. The nature of a high-stakes single-elimination tournament seems to favor a quarterback who’s been here before.
“I hope so. I’ve had a lot of experience,” he said with a faint smile.
Much like Montana’s demeanor 37 years ago in Miami, Rodgers’ teammates describe him as calm and composed in the huddle. Wide receiver Adam Thielen long played against Rodgers as NFC North rivals, but the 12th-year pro said he has a newfound appreciation as teammates.
“He kind of just brings this demeanor (in the huddle),” Thielen said. “When he starts calling that play, it’s really slow and thought out. It just kind of gives everybody just calmness. A lot of times us as athletes, we get in the moment, we get anxious, get stressed and want to call the play a little faster or get out of the huddle a little faster.
“But he just brings that calmness and the demeanor that’s really cool to be around.”
Thielen credited Rodgers’ confidence-instilling demeanor in the huddle to the quarterback’s attention to detail and his communication skills, not only on game days but throughout the week.
“You have a certain perception of someone from afar,” Thielen said. “I never was in the huddle with him but played against him a lot and was able to get to know him a little off the field playing golf together a lot in the offseason. When you’re in the huddle, you start to really understand why someone’s great.”
Rodgers is from Chico, Calif., a city a few hours’ drive north of San Francisco. His admiration of the 49ers — especially for Montana — helped shape his mindset.
Over his career, Rodgers has given teammates reason to be confident, including an MVP performance in Super Bowl XLV against the Steelers in 2011. The last-minute drive against the Ravens a week ago was his 25th come-from-behind victory.
“You know when you’re a kid, and you grow up and you watch your idols?” Rodgers said. “For me, it was the guys with the ball in their hand late in the game. It was Joe Montana, Steve Young and Michael Jordan.
“The conversation around a lot of those guys is that there’s an incredible belief that when it’s last seconds and MJ has got the ball in his hands, he’s going to make it.”