Randall Cobb on winning TD for Packers: ‘You better not get caught’

Aaron Rodgers is touted as the hero for the Green Bay Packers’ remarkable comeback victory against the Chicago Bears Sunday night, and no one would dispute that.

After leaving the field in the second quarter with a knee injury, Rodgers not only returned in the third quarter but even while clearly hobbling he still managed to lead the Packers from a 20-0 deficit to a 24-23 victory. He threw for 286 yards and three touchdowns.

‘I only saw the end zone’

But it was his final scoring throw, a 75-yard connection with Randall Cobb, that decided the outcome. And Cobb’s role in the play can’t be overlooked.

“I only saw the end zone,” Cobb told Bruce Murray and Brady Quinn on the SiriusXM Blitz. “I turned around I saw nothing but green grass and the only thing I thought in my head was, ‘You better not get caught.'”

‘In that moment, it was like, ‘No way this is happening again”

Cobb admitted it was difficult watching Rodgers be carted off the field. It brought back terrible memories of when he missed most of last season with a fractured collarbone. That contributed heavily to the Packers missing the postseason with a 7-9 record.

“Obviously, whenever one of your guys goes down it’s rough,” Cobb said. “But when it’s 12 it weighs a little heavier on you. And I think, in that moment, it was like, ‘No way this is happening again. No way the first game of the year in the first half this is happening.’

‘I thought that was a bright spot with that first drive with DeShone (Kizer)’

“But quickly you realize like, ‘Well, we’ve got to go out and play. Not only the rest of this game but we’ve got 15 other games that we have to get ready and prepare for.’ So that was kind of the mindset. It was like, ‘OK, let’s get guys in here and see what we can do.’ And immediately we marched down the field, we made some plays, we got in the red zone and, unfortunately, turned the ball over. But I thought that was a bright spot with that first drive with DeShone (Kizer).

“I didn’t get the chance to see (Rodgers) at halftime, but he comes back out and I’m thinking he just comes to the sidelines for the second half and then he starts warming up and I’m like, ‘Alright, well, here we go.'”

‘They’ve got a great pass rush, they play their coverages really well’

Now, the Packers are preparing to face another NFC North rival, the Minnesota Vikings. They might very well have to do so without Rodgers, whose status for the game remains unknown.

“Their defense looks great. It’s the same defense that we’ve been seeing that’s been giving us trouble the last few years,” Cobb said. “They’ve got a great pass rush, they play their coverages really well, their technique is very sound. They have two hard-hitting safeties in the back end and two great cover corners, with (Xavier) Rhodes leading the way. So it’s definitely going to be a challenge for us, but again it comes down to the fundamentals of football and making guys miss and breaking tackles when we get in open space.”