GREEN BAY — Even the Green Bay Packers, it seemed, feared the worst.

Why else would they have designated their defense to run out during pregame introductions on opening night of the Aaron Rodgers era?

But if the Packers were worried that Rodgers would be roundly booed Monday night at Lambeau Field in his first start since he officially became The Quarterback Who Replaced Brett Favre in Green Bay, their fears were unfounded. Rodgers was greeted with a loud cheer — and even a partial standing ovation — when he took the field for the Packers' first offensive series.

Then Rodgers did something really special. He gave the fans reason to go right on cheering. He only played the first quarter and was far from perfect.

But with seemingly every set of eyes in Wisconsin trained on his every move, Rodgers took the first step toward winning over the fans in the Packers' 20-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in a typically sloppy season-opening exhibition game.

But more important than Rodgers' encouraging performance was the healing that seemed to take place less than a week after the contentious standoff between Favre and the Packers finally ended with the team trading its iconic quarterback to the New York Jets.

Though Favre was the face of the franchise for 16 seasons and a large segment of Packers Nation is upset at general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy for essentially running him out of town once he ended his brief retirement, everyone seemed intent on putting the entire ugly mess behind them Monday night.

Rodgers facilitated the healing process with his positive debut as a starter after three seasons as Favre's caddie.

He completed nine of 15 passes for 117 yards and his 30-yard touchdown pass to James Jones gave the Packers a 10-0 lead.

Rodgers' numbers would have been even better if Donald Driver and Chris Francies hadn't dropped well-thrown balls. Francies' inability to control a slant pass that hit him right between the numbers led to Rodgers' only interception. Rodgers also just missed completing a deep pass to Jones, who made a poor adjustment to the ball and had it glance off his fingertips.

But if Rodgers' ability to function in one of the most pressure-packed situations any quarterback could imagine came as a surprise, so was the fans' ability to at least give Rodgers a chance with the Favre trade still fresh in their minds.

In a clear-cut case of misdirected anger, many of them had been taking out their frustrations over Favre's forced departure on Rodgers.

He was greeted with boos prior to the team's Family Night scrimmage and was sent off with more boos ringing in his ears after going 7-for-20 for 84 yards with an interception.

When Favre was reinstated by the NFL and showed up in Green Bay last week, fans regularly interrupted practice with stinging chants of "We want Brett" and "Bring back Favre."

Rodgers later told stories of fans — some of them children — who were openly rude and in some cases vulgar during close encounters with the quarterback.

Of course, blaming Rodgers for anything that went on during the Favre soap opera is sheer lunacy.

Other than one wayward comment to Sports Illustrated in which he told Packers fans to "get on board right now or keep their mouths shut," Rodgers has never taken a false step during his Packers career.

Even though he was a first-round draft pick, he patiently waited through three seasons as Favre's backup.

He learned the offense, reshaped his body, assumed a leadership role on the team and showed enough improvement that Thompson and McCarthy staked their reputations on him.

Even during the six-week circus that ended with Favre's trade to the Jets, Rodgers stayed above the fray by consistently saying the right things.

Oh, and there is one more reason for Packers fans to give Rodgers some love. He's not going anywhere in the foreseeable future.

The Packers are committed to him and, for better or for worse, the fans are stuck with him.

Monday night was the first indication that they've come to grips with that and are willing to throw their support behind Rodgers.

Of course, Rodgers made it easy to jump on his bandwagon in a game that began with everyone fearing the worst.

Contact Tom Oates at toates@madison.com or 608-252-6172.