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It was a wild finish to an emotionally-charged week in Indy that began with Monday morning's announcement that Pagano had been diagnosed with leukemia after players left for their bye week.
Green Bay (2-3) had a chance to force overtime with a 51-yard field goal. But Mason Crosby's attempt went left with 3 seconds to go, setting off an emotional celebration on the Colts sideline.
"I thought they (Colts) played well," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "Obviously, a tough week for them. I thought they played with a lot of emotion, a lot of energy. Frankly, I'm more focused on my football team and my football team is not playing the way we are capable of playing."
Pagano knew the motto all week would be to win one for the coach.
On Friday, he set out to change that speech -- a message Wayne and Luck took personally, especially after falling into a 21-3 halftime deficit.
In the second half, the Colts dominated.
Luck threw an 8-yard TD pass to Dwayne Allen and set up Adam Vinatieri for a 50-yard field goal to make it 21-13 midway through the third quarter. He then ran it in from 3 yards out with 18 seconds left in the third quarter to get the Colts within 21-19.
A few minutes later, Vinatieri hit a 28-yard field goal to give Indy its first lead, 22-21.
But Aaron Rodgers got Green Bay's offense back in sync in a hurry.
Alex Green ran 41 yards on the Packers' first play, and Rodgers threw an 8-yard TD pass to James Jones on the next one to give the Packers a 27-20 lead with 4:30 to go. Rodgers was 21 of 33 for 243 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
All the Packers had to do was stop Luck one more time to clinch it.
Luck and Wayne wouldn't allow it.
With the clock ticking down and anxious fans hoping and praying they could get this win for Pagano, Luck converted two third-down passes to Wayne, then scrambled for a third third-down conversion before, fittingly, spotting Wayne for the go-ahead score.
"Chuck's instilled a lot in us," Wayne said. "His whole motto since day one, the first meeting has been team team, team, team. Nothing else. So we've wanted to do it every week as a team. That's all we practice, that's all we preach."
NOTES: The Packers lost three starters during the game -- running back Cedric Benson (ankle), defensive tackle B.J. Raji (ankle) and tight end Jermichael Finley (right shoulder). McCarthy did not have immediate updates after the game. ... Colts defensive end Robert Mathis left with a knee sprain and did not return after trying on a brace. ... Wayne now has catches in 100 consecutive games and passed college and pro teammate Edgerrin James for No. 2 on the Colts career list for yards from scrimmage. ... Packers receiver Donald Driver played in his 197th career game Sunday, breaking a tie with Bart Starr for second in team history.
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