We even sacrificed our first born in pursuit of that Packer victory

You would not believe the shenanigans we had to pull to yank our beloved Packers across that soggy finish line yesterday.

First, we sacrificed our firstborn son to the raucous crowd at MetLife Stadium. Charlie and his friends sat through that drizzly mess. He wore his 77 jersey and Wisconsin BRAT hat, both of which eventually proved to be good luck charms for the overtime win. Still, that first quarter was a rough one to watch, especially in person.

Just getting that penalty-prone team to overtime proved to be a challenge.

Naturally, we did not hang our Packer flag from the balcony yesterday. We did that last week and now, due to our team’s frustrating fourth quarter collapse against the Vikings, our old, beat-up Packer flag has been shelved for another season.

As always, we chose our game-day gear carefully. Then, due to a mishap with an errant cloud of hornets spray, one of us had to shower and change right before kickoff. We worried that pivot might have swung the momentum away from the Green and Gold permanently. Game day gear is an important consideration now that the regular season has begun.

Then there was the issue with our Packer snacks. Molly made us some delicious chili, Katherine added some cornbread, and the combination was so tasty we worried we should have saved it for a game down the road. As everyone knows, if the Packers lose, you can’t serve the same Packer snacks again that season. It would have been a shame to sideline that tasty chili.

I always check a few items off the old to-do list when I’m nervously watching Packer away games. So, I folded laundry, weeded out old pictures from my bulging photo storage, and, naturally, sharpened my kitchen knives. That last task happened right during Skyy Moore’s 63-yard punt return so you can imagine my dilemma when Trey Smack lined up to kick the game-tying field goal.

“Wait! Should I watch it from here or should I go back into the kitchen and sharpen more knives?”

We considered this important question carefully. No one wants to be the one that jinxes a game-tying kick.

Molly had a reasonable solution.

“I think you can stay in here,” she said. “Just turn away from the TV.”

So that’s what I did. (I may have peeked.)

I know these game-day superstitions may sound crazy to the uninitiated. But, we’re playing with an offensive line cobbled together with baling twine and a prayer, we lead the league in penalties, and we can’t seem to play four full quarters of football.

We fans really need to lean in!

Toward that end, I feel compelled to point out that I watched this latest Packer win in the company of my four-month old granddaughter, who is visiting from LA.

You know what that means for the rest of the season.

Go Pack Go!