Thanks for making me chuckle, Formo.
I've been literally battling waves of nausea for a while now.

We only have this season because Aaron Rodgers is beast. Give him the protection Brees and Brady get and he is unstoppable. I also have fallen out of love with 88 officially. He's just not that good.

After this spectacular cockup, it would not surprise me to see the Packers tag neither Flynn nor Finley.
Finley needs to either take whatever the Packers offer him or resign himself to moving on.

Nonstopdrivel;202718The Packers just became only the second team in league history to go 15-1 and not make the Super Bowl. The only other team to accomplish that feat was the . . .

I can't bring myself to say it.

Ehh, the Steelers also went 15-1 a handful of years back. Lost to New England in the Divisional round. But yeah, we're in pretty sad company with the Viqueens on the list.

This is also the first time the Packers haven't made it to two Super Bowls in a row.

evad04;202729Ehh, the Steelers also went 15-1 a handful of years back. Lost to New England in the Divisional round.

Actually, they lost in the AFC Championship Game.
But good catch. I thought they had made it to the big dance that year.

Nonstopdrivel;202721Thanks for making me chuckle, Formo.
I've been literally battling waves of nausea for a while now.

I know the feeling.

102 days until the draft.

Does anyone know where we can buy a big tub of Stick_um???

Now that I've had time to cool off, I want to come back and congratulate the New York Giants on a superbly played game.
After watching their victory last week, I said to the few people who bothered to show up in the chat room that I could see them beating the Packers by 10-14 points.
There were expressions of incredulity from some of the other members present, but it seemed clear to me that their strengths matched up well against the Packers' weaknesses.
By the time Sunday rolled around, I was letting the hype get to me and saying in the chat room that I thought the Packers might win by 7-10 points.
Still, I remarked that whenever the consensus on this board is a blowout, it seems like it ends up being a close game, and that anyone who was hoping for a blowout was probably doomed to disappointment.
Well, they got their blowout -- just not the one they were hoping for.

The Giants came in with a great game plan and they executed impeccably.
I don't know what the Packers' game plan was, because whatever it was, they executed it so poorly that it was unrecognizable.
They hardly did a single thing right all game.
They never looked like they had their heads in the game.
Did they really think that all they had to do was show up and the good times would keep rolling?

Well, if they did, history was against them.
Only two of the teams in league history to go 15-1 in the regular season -- the 1984 49ers
and the 1985 Bears -- have gone on to win the Super Bowl.
No team with a defense that has ranked worse than 25th by yards given up has ever won the Super Bowl. In fact, no team has ever made it to the Super Bowl after giving up more than 360 yards a game in the regular season, and the Packers gave up almost 412 yards a game this year.
Now, as the offensive statistics continue to get inflated, I am sure that will change eventually, but I think the importance of relative defensive ranking will remain.
It is extremely difficult to win a championship without a solid defense, as history as shown over and over.

Someone said in the chat room last night, "At least they didn't go 16-0."
I have to concur.
I think this would have felt even worse had they gone undefeated in the regular season.
At least the fiasco in Kansas City braced us for what might come to pass.
That game made it clear that if the offense doesn't perform at a high level, this team doesn't have a chance.
As Kevin Seifert put it:

Kevin SeifertWhat Sunday's mistakes told me was how much the Packers grew to depend on elite -- and not just great -- play from their offense on a weekly basis. The Packers were an elite team as long as their offense scored at a rate that left them with the second-highest point total in NFL history. But as soon as a few mistakes piled up, they got wiped out of the playoffs by a team that won its division with a 9-7 record.

The result of their ineptitude was that the 2011-2012 Packers became the first team in league history to go 15-1 and not win a single playoff game.
That's pretty embarrassing.
Or should be.

It used to be that when the game was on the line and Brett Favre would go back to pass, I would catch my breath because I was afraid he'd make a spectacular mistake.
Now when the game is on the line, I catch my breath for a different reason.
The offensive line is a revolving door . . . the receivers can't hold onto the ball when it really counts . . . the running game can't close out games . . . and the defense simply cannot get a stop when it really matters.

The reality is that this team is designed and coached to get out to a lead as fast as possible and it is all but incapable of coming from behind.
I don't blame just Aaron Rodgers for that -- I blame the whole team.

Before the game, I said that all of the pretenders had been eliminated from the tournament.
tromadz replied that just one remained.
I know he meant the Giants, but it appears that in fact it was the Packers who were the pretenders.

Of the quarterbacks remaining in the playoffs we have:

• Joe Flacco: YDs: 3,610 (12th), TDs: 20 (t-13th), INTs: 12 (t-14th), RTG: 80.9 (18th)
• Tim Brady: YDs: 5,235 (2nd), TDs: 39 (4th), INTs: 12 (t-14th), RTG: 105.6 (3rd)
• Eli Manning: YDs: 4,624 (4th), TDs: 29 (6th), INTs: 16 (t-20th), RTG: 92.9 (7th)
• Alex Smith: YDs: 3,144 (19th), TDs: 17 (17th), INTs: 5 (1st), RTG: 90.7 (9th)

Of the defenses remaining in the playoffs we have:

• Ravens: YDs: 3,140 (4th), TDs: 11 (1st), INTs: 15 (t-17th), RTG: 68.8 (1st)
• Patriots: YDs: 4,703 (31st), TDs: 26 (t-22nd), INTs: 23 (t-2nd), RTG: 86.1 (t-12th)
• Giants: YDs: 4,082 (29th), TDs: 28 (t-25th), INTs: 20 (t-6th), RTG: 86.1 (t-20th)
• 49ers: YDs: 3,695 (16th), TDs: 20 (8th), INTs: 23 (t-2nd), RTG: 73.6 (5th)

Of the remaining rushing attacks in the playoffs we have:

• Ravens: YDs: 1,996 (10th), TDs: 15 (t-10th), FUMs: 6 (t-11th)
• Patriots: YDs: 1,764 (20th), TDs: 18 (t-3rd), FUMs: 3 (t-1st)
• Giants: YDs: 1,427 (32nd), TDs: 17 (6th), FUMs: 6 (t-11th)
• 49ers: YDs: 2,044 (8th), TDs: 14 (t-12th), FUMs: 5 (23rd)

What does this tell us?
Well, if the Patriots make it to the Super Bowl, they will be making history.
Other than that, it appears that having an elite quarterback isn't all that necessary to reach the conference championship.
Considering the fact that the two leading MVP candidates will both be watching the championship round from home, however, it appears that having a solid defense is pretty helpful.