Packers will host Tampa Bay in NFC Championship after Bucs beat Saints 30-20

Regardless of who won Sunday’s Divisional Playoff game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, the Green Bay Packers were going to face a rematch from the regular season. The only question was which NFC South team would come to Lambeau Field to face the top-seeded Packers.

Now we have our answer: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Bruce Arians’ team advanced to the NFC Championship Game by beating the New Orleans Saints 30-20 on Sunday evening, turning the tables on a Saints team that had beaten them twice during the regular season. The Bucs forced four turnovers in the game, intercepting three Drew Brees passes and forcing a fumble from former Packers tight end Jared Cook. Tampa converted points following the first three of those takeaways and ran out the clock after the fourth, pulling away from New Orleans in the fourth quarter for a ten-point win.

Next Sunday’s game will kick off at 2:05 PM Central Time. The current extended weather forecast for Sunday calls for high temperatures around 24 degrees Fahrenheit with about a 50 percent chance of snow.

In the two teams’ first meeting back in week six, which took place at Raymond James Stadium, the Packers jumped out to a 10-0 lead before back-to-back interceptions by Aaron Rodgers, one that went for a pick-six. Green Bay did not score again as the Buccaneers cruised to a 38-10 victory. The Packers will obviously hope for a different result at home in cold weather as the two teams will be one win away from the Super Bowl.

Sunday’s game will also be the fourth-ever game that will feature Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers as starting quarterbacks. The Packers won the only one of those games that took place at Lambeau Field, beating the New England Patriots 26-21 in 2014. Green Bay then lost in Foxborough to Brady’s Patriots in 2018 and in Tampa back in week six.