Chad Clifton led a Packers offensive line that dominated the Eagles.

The Green Bay Packers offensive line dominated the Eagles defense paving the way – literally – for the visitors to earn a 21-16 win in the Wildcard round of the NFC playoffs setting the stage for a meeting with the No. 1 seed Atlanta Falcons next weekend in the Divisional round in Atlanta.

The Packers ran and threw the ball well at the Linc yesterday, kept mistakes to a minimum and were able to keep Eagles X-Factor-quarterback Michael Vick on the sidelines for long periods of the game.

“Whenever you have balance on offense, obviously it means a lot,” veteran left tackle Chad Clifton said at his locker after the game. “We were able to run the ball well today, especially on first down. When you can do that it makes third downs a lot easier.”

The Packers (11-6) converted 8 of 13 third down situations compared the Eagles (10-7) who were just 5 of 13.

Defensively it was important that Eagles defensive ends Trent Cole and Juqua Parker play well and put pressure on Aaron Rogers for the Eagles to have success.

Parker registered six tackles and Cole just three, neither recorded a sack. Worse, the Packers were able to rush the ball for 138 yards, 123 coming from rookie James Starks who rushed 23 times, and 5.3 yards per carry average. He caught two passes for another nine yards.

“You are expected to produce when your number is called on this team, Starks said. “This season was a process that I had to go through and I am doing better with it. This was a big win for the team. The coaching staff put me in a great situation today and I really thankful for that.”

Another Packers rookie – tackle Bryan Bulaga – also played well, keeping Parker off of Rogers. The 6-foot-5, 315 pounder complimented the Eagles ends and seemed a bit humbled by the way he and Clifton were able to dominate the line of scrimmage.

“They are both great players,” said Bulaga, the Packers 2010 first round pick out of Iowa. “They are very athletic, strong guys who do the fundamentals right, they get off on the snap count…they use the crowd to their advantage very well but we were able to keep Aaron upright.”

Clifton also showed respect for his advisory.

“Trent Cole is a phenomenal player,” Clifton said. “Today I think we were just focused on it. We knew coming in that he was their leader on defense and we knew we would have to neutralize him at all costs.”   

The Eagles went about the first half doing just about everything wrong.

Ineffective play calling, poor special teams, pedestrian defense and a lack of intensity all added up to a 14-3 deficit at the half.

Several times this season other parts of the team would cover for the one that was playing poorly; but the defensive line got no such help Sunday.

David Akers, who turned in one of his finest regular seasons in 2010, and making the Pro Bowl, missed a 41-yarder on the Eagles second drive of the game.

He also missed a 34-yarder in the fourth quarter.

Reports are starting to surface that Akers is having some kind of off field problems that may have affected his play, but no specific details were available Sunday night.

The second half got off to a much better start for the home team.

On the first drive of the third quarter Rogers coughed up the ball at the Packers 24-yard line.

Two plays later, Vick hooked up with Jason Avant for a 24-yard touchdown and it was 14-10 and the Birds were back in it.

Defensive lineman Darryl Tapp hit Rogers for the sack and Parker recovered the fumble. 

But the Eagles could not stop the Packers at all without a turnover.

Rogers led his team downfield for another score to go up 21-10. This time it was Brandon Jackson snagging a 16-yard pass from Rogers capping an 11-play, 80 yard drive that took up 6:17 of the clock.

The Eagles – despite the Akers miss – would rally in the fourth with a 13-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a Vick sneak into the end zone, making the score 21-16.

The two-point try failed when tight end Brent Celek’s heal touched the out-of-bounds line in the back of the end zone just before he caught a perfect pass from Vick.   

The Eagles had one last drive that reached the Packers 27-yard line but Vick threw an ill-advised pass to rookie receiver Riley Cooper in the end zone and was intercepted by Tramon Williams.

That last play we had four verticals and I just took a shot at the end zone,” said Vick, who was 20 of 36 for 292 yards with a touchdown pass, an interception and was sacked three times. “I could have checked it down to the back and I feel like I got greedy and took a shot at the end zone and didn’t throw the right ball I wanted to throw and then it got picked off. It’s a bad way to go off, but, hey, I went out swinging.”

Avant led the Eagles with seven catches for 93 yards.

Rogers was 18 of 27 for 180 yards, three TDs, no interceptions and was sacked twice.

He fumbled twice, losing one. As a team the Packers fumbled four times, losing two.

Celek said he was having a hard time accepting the season was over.

The Eagles would not believe their last positive play contributing to a win for the year would have been DeSean Jackson’s epic punt return against the New York Giants back on December 19, 2010.

“It’s real hard, just for the fact that…it’s real hard to look at this game,” Celek said. “You start to look at the whole season. You look at the whole offseason, what you did, what you didn’t do… ‘What did I do wrong?’ It’s just frustrating because you have to go through another whole offseason and training camp before you can get back out here again.”