Packers Name Post-Season Captains

According to Sports Illustrated, the Packers have already named their playoff captains. They don't usually do this until after the regular season ends, preferring to rotate the captaincies week-to-week, which is why they've never worn those silly patches in the regular season.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) scrambles during the first half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

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Packers name their playoff captains before making the playoffs

Despite being among the league's elite teams, the Packers have not yet clinched a playoff spot and could need a 2-0 finish to make the postseason. But that hasn't stopped the team from choosing its playoff captains.

Coach Mike McCarthy announced that the six captains for the team are Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson on offense, Julius Peppers and Morgan Burnett on defense, and Randall Cobb and Jarrett Bush on special teams.

McCarthy is apparently not familiar with the concept of jinxing oneself.

The Packers can secure a spot in the playoffs this weekend with a win at Tampa Bay, as well as an Eagles loss or a Cowboys win. Which retired quarterback could lead the Cardinals on a Super Bowl run?

On Pro Football Now, Super Bowl champion Amani Toomer, Sports Illustrated senior writer Don Banks, and NFL writer Andrew Perloff discuss their picks for which retired quarterback would lead Arizona to a championship.

- Brendan Maloy

Interesting motivational technique.

It also remains to be seen what Rodgers's patch looks like. The basic patches have a white "C" over one gold and three white stars; each subsequent white star is colored gold in the next season, indicating how many years that person has been a captain. After all four stars are en-gold-ened, the C itself is turned to gold.

Last year, Rodgers was the first Packer to be named a captain in five different seasons and consequently the first to wear the all-gold patch. Now he's in his sixth, so we'll see if the NFL is doing anything different for him or if the whole silly enterprise is so poorly thought through that they didn't consider somebody might actually break the five-season mark. I'm leaning towards the latter.