On the eve of the biggest game in their collective lives, the Green Bay Packers were already setting their sights on the hardware that comes with winning football's biggest game.
A day after his Packers won Super Bowl XLV, Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy revealed that he had his team fitted for Super Bowl rings on Saturday night following the team's final meeting before the Super Bowl.
"I talked to our football team a lot about having real confidence, and those are just examples and opportunities to express that,” McCarthy told reporters on Monday, according to the Kansas City Star. "I felt that the measurement of the rings, the timing of it would be special, it would have a significant effect on our players doing it the night before the game.
As Packers general manager Ted Thompson pointed out, the Pack would need to be fitted either way since they'd be receiving rings for winning the NFC Championship, but McCarthy's intended message seemed to resonate strongly with his team.
"It was the night before the game, and we could see that it was right there," linebacker Desmond Bishop told ESPN.com. "Everything we wanted was right there in our hands, literally and figuratively."
