GREEN BAY, Wis. — One of the things Jeff Ross’ visiting family wanted to do was go to Lambeau Field.
His grandchildren spent part of their morning at the stadium, riding an escalator up and down between the Pro Shop and atrium.
“I really wasn’t thinking this was going to be anything special this year,” Ross said about the performance of the Green Bay Packers through the regular season. “I was hoping for the future, but maybe we get a little gift this year.”
The up and down of an escalator is something many Packers fans can relate to this season. So can quarterback Jordan Love.
“I think it’s kind of good that he’s young and all the players around him are young so they’re all kind of growing up together and going through growing pains together,” Ross said. “Hopefully, there’s some good things in the future.”
After a quick start and a slump through October, the team rolls into the final regular season game Sunday with an eye on the playoffs. That seemed like an impossibility to many a few months ago.
A key win last Sunday night against the Minnesota Vikings was just what 8-year-old Jordy Nowakowski of De Pere wanted to see.
“I like that it was kind of a blowout game and we were doing really good,” he said.
That victory is just one of the extremes thrown at fans this season.
“It’s been up and down. It’s been like a rollercoaster,” Nowakowski said, who is named after former Green Bay Packers player Jody Nelson. “We’re losing and we’re winning.”
The most direct route for the Packers into the playoffs now is a win on Sunday against the Chicago Bears.
Ross said it’s a game the team shouldn’t take lightly, even if the Bears are already out of the playoff hunt.
“They’ve always been our biggest rival and when we were bad, all we wanted to do was beat the Bears,” he said. “I think that if the shoe is on the other foot, they would love to finish the season off, beat us and knock us out of the playoffs.”