Famed California Golden Bears alumni Aaron Rodgers and Desmond Bishop are now Super Bowl champions with the Green Bay Packers. But even before they've begun to fully celebrate, the question that'll now be presented for them ad infinitum this summer: Do they have the mettle to go back-to-back?
On the face of it, it seems like a fairly reasonable proposition. Green Bay's team is young. They shouldn't have a second straight year of horrid injury luck. Their starting tailback Ryan Grant should return, as should their monster tight end Jermichael Finley. Bishop was originally a replacement for Nick Barnett, who also went down; they will probably fight for the starting position this offseason, although Bishop seemed well on his way to earning the starting spot with his play and his contract extension this season. Other guys that could be back in the mix are linebackers Brandon Chillar, Brad Jones and Brady Poppinga, backup tight end Spencer Havner, offensive tackle Mark Tauscher, defensive ends Justin Harrell and Mike Neal, safeties Derrick Martin and Morgan Burnett, cornerback Josh Bell. Add all these guys back into the mix, and you have a Packers team that is 7:1 to repeat as Super Bowl champions, leading all other teams.
However, if it looks too good to be true, it rarely is. Strangely, the biggest impediment to a repeat is coming from off the field, as a lockout might be coming that sinks the entire season. Plus EVERY team will be pumped up to play them and "shock the world". So take a wait-and-see approach with these Packers; there is a reason repeats are so rare in the NFL...