Sports

Favre’s exit paved way for Packers

CHICAGO — From the bench, Aaron Rodgers could only shiver three Januaries ago as Brett Favre threw the overtime interception to Corey Webster that was the first frost in the relationship between a legend and a legendary franchise.

“That miserable game,” recalled Rodgers yesterday of the Giants’ NFC Championship Game upset at Lambeau Field, the bullet in the heart that Packers GM Ted Thompson turned into ammunition to put the iconic franchise ahead of an iconic quarterback waffling about retirement.

When Favre changed his mind and decided to come back, Thompson’s already was made up that it was time to move on. Three years later, Favre is finished and the Packers are in the Super Bowl. That was one big hit Rodgers took in the head Sunday from Julius Peppers, but Thompson has endured more.

“I can’t say enough about Ted,” said coach Mike McCarthy. “Ted built this house.”

Since 2007, the Packers drafted Clay Matthews Jr. and B.J. Raji, elevated Tramon Williams and signed Sam Shields to round out the Cullen Jenkins-A.J. Hawk-Charles Woodson-Nick Collins nucleus into a defense that gave up fewer points in 2010 than every team but Super Bowl opponent Pittsburgh.

When the Green Bay offense that torched Atlanta last weekend died in Sunday’s second half, it was defense and special teams that got the Packers to Dallas. But, of course, the foundation of the house that Ted built was the use of the 24th overall pick in 2005 to make Rodgers the third quarterback chosen (after Alex Smith and Matt Jones).

“Any young quarterback, there’s a ladder to climb,” said McCarthy. “You have to first show you belong as a starter and [Rodgers] definitely did his first year.

“You have to win big games. He is a 4,000-yard, 30-touchdown-a-year quarterback, definitely in the upper echelon statistically.

“The next step is to win playoff games. He has accomplished that now, and gets the challenge to be a Super Bowl champion. That’s the process and the progress of a young, talented, special individual.”

Men of a certain age who think Super Bowl think Green Bay for dominating the first two and Pittsburgh for winning four in six years. Having come of age, Rodgers thought first of the 49ers he grew up watching from Chico, Calif.

“It still hasn’t really hit home; it’s early,” he said Sunday. “But it’s what I’ve dreamed about since I was a young kid watching Joe Montana and Steve Young.

“This is what I always wanted to do, and it’s amazing to know I’ll be living out my dream in two weeks in Dallas.”

The dream seemed a pipe dream when this year’s Packers were buried under a barrage of injuries, including two concussions by Rodgers. They gave away a game to the Bears with 18 penalties, lost to the Redskins and entered the final two weeks having to beat the Giants and Chicago to give themselves the chance to play on.

“We have had to win five elimination games,” said Rodgers. “And what makes it that much sweeter . . . is to do it with guys we didn’t count on at the beginning of the season.”

Turns out, what didn’t kill the Packers made them stronger.

“We’ve moved a number of players through the season, but our defense has stayed extremely consistent,” said McCarthy. “Really, the trials and tribulations we encountered was how we were shaped.

“It’s challenged our character. This was the path chosen for us.”

It wasn’t the first time the Packers’ yellow brick road was overgrown with thorns. Three years ago Thompson courageously cleared it.

jay.greenberg@nypost.com