A Super first NFL season for ex-Hawkeye Bryan Bulaga of the Packers

It's not this easy, Bryan Bulaga has been told by some of his older Green Bay Packers teammates.

“Chad Clifton's been here 11 years,” Bulaga said by phone. “Donald Driver (a 12-year Packer wide receiver) had never been to a Super Bowl. They had only lost when they got to the NFC Championship.

“They finally get to go to the Super Bowl. They've told me ‘Do you know how you lucky you are to go as a rookie?' Many guys don't get the opportunity to even win a playoff game.”

One of the reasons the Packers are headed to Texas Monday for Super Bowl Week is they scout and draft well. Such as using their first-round pick of 2010 on former Iowa Hawkeye Bulaga, a junior.

He was the 23rd player and sixth offensive lineman drafted after he had been projected as a Top-10 guy through much of the time between the end of the college season and draft day. Different knocks came his way, including one that his arms were too short.

Bulaga laughed that off at his introductory press conference in Green Bay, saying “I've never been in a situation in a football game where I have thought to myself after a play, ‘Gosh, I wish my arms were longer.' I don't know what you want me to say. I can't get them any longer.”

As it turned out, sliding to 23rd in the draft wasn't too awful a thing. Rather than going to a losing club, he landed with a squad many felt had Super Bowl potential.

That potential was tapped this month when the Packers won three straight road games to claim the NFC title and a date with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.

“I never was at the point where I thought (getting picked 23rd) was a bad deal,” Bulaga said. “I knew the Packers were a great organization, a great team. And I was able to play early. It couldn't have turned out better.”

Bulaga was drafted to play left tackle, but free agent left tackle Clifton re-signed with Green Bay for three more years last March after being wooed by the Washington Redskins.

Bulaga worked at left tackle and left guard in training camp, but was a backup left tackle and right tackle once the season started. He moved into the starting lineup at right tackle in the Packers' fifth game after veteran Mark Tauscher was sidelined with a shoulder injury that ended up landing him on injured reserve for the rest of the season.

“I was a little uneasy with certain things at right tackle at first,” Bulaga said, “footwork and hand-placement. But I got comfortable, and once I did I've been very confident in myself and my abilities.”

He has reason to say that. He has probably played his best football over the last three games, when it mattered most.

The Packers' regular-season finale, a 10-3 win over Chicago in Green Bay, wasn't Bulaga's best day. He got called for all four of the Packers' penalties, including two for holding that negated first downs.

“Those four penalties were inexcusable,” he said. “But if you watched it, I played a pretty solid game.” He was good in pass-protection and probably played his best that day in the fourth quarter.

Then came the playoffs, where Bulaga's play has been clean and strong. He was matched up against Bears All-Pro defensive end Julius Peppers early and often last Sunday, and took care of business in Green Bay's 21-14 victory in Chicago, not far from where he grew up in Crystal Lake, Ill.

And now, a Super Bowl.

“It's the championship of all the championships in the world, I feel,” Bulaga said. “This is awesome.”