GREEN BAY, Wis. -- It was the week before Super Bowl XLV, and Donald Driver walked into the Lambeau Field media auditorium with the widest grin you'll ever see.

The Green Bay Packers receiver had been waiting his entire 12-year NFL career for this -- a trip to the Super Bowl.

On the same day, in January 2011, Charles Woodson stood in the same spot. Although Woodson had actually played in one before, losing in Super Bowl XXXVII as a member of the Oakland Raiders, he, too, was relishing his chance -- perhaps his last chance -- to get a ring.

Four years later, there was Julius Peppers -- same media auditorium, similar smile on his face. The 34-year-old, 13-year NFL veteran stood on the stage in front of a bright blue banner monogrammed with the words "National Football Conference Championship."

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He's that close to another shot, maybe his last shot, to win the Super Bowl.

"I think it is similar," said Packers receiver Jordy Nelson, a member of that Super Bowl XLV winning team.

"I think one thing that is different is that this is Julius' first year here, so you don't have as deep of a connection as you do with the other two that you mentioned. But I think with anyone, you want everyone to get one. If it is Julius, who is maybe toward the end of his career, the last couple of years of it, or Randall [Cobb], who has been here four years, or even a rookie, everyone wants that Super Bowl ring. Some of us have one and we want another one, so I don't think it is any different. I just think everyone wants to win games, and that's where you'll end up."

Peppers went once with his first team, the Carolina Panthers. It ended in heartbreak when New England Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri booted a 41-yard field goal with 4 seconds left to win Super Bowl XXXVIII.

That was Peppers' second NFL season.

"I always thought I was going to be back the following year, and that never happened," Peppers said. "It makes you realize that you've got to take advantage of the moment when you have it."

He found himself on the cusp two other times: The 2005 NFC Championship Game, when his Panthers lost to the Seahawks in Seattle; and the 2010 NFC Championship Game, when his Chicago Bears lost at home to the Packers.

Peppers signed with the Packers in part because they offered a good chance to win a Super Bowl. The three-year, $26 million contract surely played a part, too. In reality, that deal was more like a one-year trial, structured so that if the Packers wanted to move on after this season, they would actually save salary-cap space next season.

After the season Peppers turned in -- seven sacks and two interceptions in the regular season followed by another sack and two forced fumbles in the NFC divisional playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys last Sunday -- general manager Ted Thompson may just bring him back.

But he has learned not to wait for next year.

His forced fumble on running back DeMarco Murray in the third quarter of Sunday's game might have been the biggest play of the game had it not been for Aaron Rodgers' game-winning touchdown pass or Dez Bryant's catch that wasn't a catch.

"Julius Peppers [made] the impact that we were definitely looking for," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "I didn't know him on a personal level. I had an opportunity to coach him and be around him in two Pro Bowls. He was obviously a very private and reserved person, but just watching him be a part of our team just really from day one until now, it's night and day. He's been an outstanding leader for our football team. His style is unique. Couldn't have more credibility for what he's accomplished, and he's definitely made a big impact for us."

So much so that he was elected a playoff captain by his peers in the locker room.

"I think he has been a quiet leader," Nelson said. "Obviously, I don't think he talks much to you guys, and he doesn't stand up in front of the room and talk a lot, but a lot of guys have fed off of his experience, off of his knowledge of the game. I think as the year has gone on he has become more comfortable with us and speaking more with the defense and understanding that guys are leaning on him to be that leader and looking up to him. I think that has been great and he has just been a steady force on the defense in what he has been able to do."

Peppers, in his understated way, put it in simpler terms.

"It's worked out so far," he said. "The rest is to be determined. Hopefully it works out, and we get to where we want to go to."