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Last month, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers earned first-team All-Pro status from a 50-member panel of Associated Press voters. The vote was a landslide at the quarterback position: 47 1/2 votes for Rodgers to 2 1/2 for Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints. So from that perspective, it should be no surprise that the same 50-member panel elected Rodgers the NFL's Most Valuable Player for 2011 by a similarly one-sided margin.

Rodgers won 48 votes, decisively ending a thin debate that nevertheless raged for the final month of the season. Brees led the NFL in passing yards, touchdowns and completion percentage, but there was near-unanimous agreement that Rodgers had a better year.

Why? Simply put, Rodgers had one of the most efficiently productive seasons in league history. There is no doubt his statistics dipped in the final month of the season, but a slip from "all time" to something just below it would hardly have merited a glance elsewhere for MVP, and I was glad to see the voters did not get caught up in Brees' eye-popping statistics. Consider:

• Rodgers set an NFL record with a 122.5 passer rating, the traditional measure of a quarterback's efficiency.
• His six interceptions were the fewest in history for a quarterback who also threw for 4,000 yards.
• He is the only quarterback to have completed at least 68 percent of his passes while averaging more than 9 yards per attempt. That's an incredible combination that means Rodgers was pushing the ball downfield, with greater success, than in any single season a quarterback has ever had.

It's true that Brees threw for an NFL-record 5,476 yards in 16 games, a full 833 yards more than Rodgers amassed in 15 games. That's why yards per attempt is so important. It evens the field for playing time and (a portion of) scheme discrepancies. The Packers averaged 9.2 yards every time Rodgers threw a pass. The Saints averaged 8.3 yards per Brees attempt. That's a big difference over, say, the course of a 30-pass game.

I haven't had a single bad thing to say about Brees' season, and I still don't. I just think that from Week 1, Rodgers established himself on a higher plane and, at worse, came down to a similar level during the final stretch of the season.

When it was all said and done, we could agree that Brees had a historic season. But I wonder how many people realize Rodgers was having the best season of a generation -- and perhaps the best in NFL history -- for most of the year. I would argue it still qualifies among the leaders in both categories, and there is no better way to symbolize it than a landslide victory in the MVP vote.

Three things to know about next Sunday's New York Giants-Green Bay Packers divisional playoff game:

1. Memories: It's inevitable. Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, Lawrence Tynes, Corey Webster and their Giants teammates will all return to the scene of one of the Packers' most disappointing games ever: an overtime loss in the 2007 NFC Championship Game. On a minus-3 degree day at Lambeau Field, quarterback Brett Favre threw an overtime interception to Webster on what turned out to be Favre's final pass as a Packers player. Tynes kicked a 43-yard field goal to pull off the upset and deny the Packers a chance to play in the Super Bowl. Sunday's rematch will be the Packers' first home playoff game since that loss. For those interested, long-range forecasts are calling for a high of 21 degrees. Here's what receiver Greg Jennings tweeted Sunday afternoon: "The team that kept us from our potential Super Bowl in 08 is back on OUR turf now. Trust me, we haven't forgotten. Here. We...GoPackGo! #BeGreat"

2. Close as ...: The Giants might have given the Packers their second-toughest game of the regular season, getting 347 yards from Manning in a 38-35 Packers victory. It wasn't until quarterback Aaron Rodgers led the Packers on a 69-yard drive over the final 58 seconds that the Packers were able to secure a victory with the decisive Mason Crosby field goal. The Giants rolled up 447 total yards despite holding the ball for only 26 minutes, 47 seconds, getting big chunks along the way and averaging 8.7 yards per play. The Packers were the better team that day, but the teams were evenly matched for most of it.

3. Theory tested: If they are to win the Super Bowl again, the Packers quite possibly will have to defeat a Pro Bowl quarterback every step along the way. That begins with Manning and could move next to the New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees. That will be the ultimate test of a Packers defense that gave up more passing yards than any team in NFL history during the regular season. The Packers got by because they also led the league in interceptions, but the concern during the regular season was that an elite quarterback could roll up the yards, avoid the interceptions and knock the Packers out of the playoffs. Manning is first up.

After the Detroit Lions' 45-28 loss to the New Orleans Saints, here are three issues that merit further examination:

Kevin SeifertAfter their first playoff appearance since the 1999 season, the Detroit Lions are due for a checkup.
1. The success of 2011 will bring the Lions a busy offseason and some difficult decisions. Coach Jim Schwartz has completed three years of a four-year contract and likely will get a new deal. Receiver Calvin Johnson will have an astronomic salary-cap number approaching $20 million, making him a strong candidate for a contract extension that would lower his 2012 cap figure. Defensive end Cliff Avril, middle linebacker Stephen Tulloch and cornerback Eric Wright will all be unrestricted free agents. Avril led the team in sacks (11), Tulloch led the team with 111 tackles and Wright was second with four interceptions. They'll be a costly trio to re-sign, especially Avril, who might require a franchise tag.
2. We wondered last week how much the Saints would blitz quarterback Matthew Stafford, who faced five or more pass rushers on a lower percentage (24) than any other NFL starter during the regular season. As it turned out, the Saints blitzed on 55 percent of his dropbacks, the most of any game in his career. Stafford accounted well for himself, throwing for 380 yards and three touchdowns and not taking a sack. He did throw two interceptions, but that was after the Lions had fallen behind by two scores in the fourth quarter. The best NFL quarterbacks invite the blitz because they're confident they'll find the resulting mismatches, and Stafford belongs in that category.
3. Our other big point of discussion last week was whether the Lions could pressure Saints quarterback Drew Brees with their front four and then capitalize on potential mistakes. That's how you win a shootout. The Lions did get some incremental pressure, despite blitzing on only 10 percent of Brees' dropbacks, but it wasn't enough to throw him off his game. Schwartz suggested his team had an uphill battle in that regard. "The officials took the approach of letting them play," Schwartz said. "There weren't going to be any holding penalties in this game, and that showed in the protection they were able to get." Indeed, the Saints did not have a holding call among their three penalties. The Lions had one, against right tackle Gosder Cherilus.

And here is one issue I still don't get:

Why did a whistle blow after defensive end Willie Young sacked Brees in the second quarter? Brees fumbled, and linebacker Justin Durant scooped up the ball at the Lions' 38-yard line to began what would have been a touchdown return. Presumably, a member of Tony Corrente's crew blew the whistle because he thought it was an incomplete pass rather than a fumble. We don't know that for sure, though. But in such instances, NFL rules require the play to be ruled dead upon recovery. Schwartz was none too pleased. "Every other time in this league, they let that play go and they don't blow the whistle," Schwartz said. "… For some reason in this game, they decided to blow the whistle when that would have been seven points." It wasn't a play that cost the Lions a game, but it is one for which they deserve an explanation.

NEW ORLEANS -- Congratulations are in order for the Detroit Lions. Graduating from preschool is a momentous occasion for any young pup, and that is where I see the Lions now that their 2011 season is in the books.

Saturday night's 45-28 loss to the New Orleans Saints should be the last time the Lions are graded on a curve, cheered for their effort or applauded for an accomplishment other than a victory. It's true: No one expected them to beat the Saints, who now are 9-0 at home since the start of the regular season. And few if any will have harsh words after the Lions collapsed in the fourth quarter against the NFL's hottest quarterback.

But after returning to relevance this season, the Lions have earned themselves big-boy treatment moving forward, both inside the organization and outside. Expectations for this team will rise in 2012, for good reason. They won't be celebrated for a winning season or even a playoff berth. With a 23-year-old quarterback teaming with the NFL's best receiver in a pass-happy league, the Lions should neither sneak up on anyone nor have their success be considered a surprise.

"We know we're building something really good," defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. "We have really good players. We have a lot of potential. ... But this is where we expect to be. Now we expect to go further. We expect to do more. I don't think in the future, people around the league are going to be surprised that the Detroit Lions are in the playoffs. This is where we belong. This is where we're going to be for a long time."

For the old Lions, we would note that they led the Saints at halftime and trailed by only three points, 24-21, as the fourth quarter began. Moving forward, we'll note that their defense -- shaky for much of the game -- got run over in the fourth quarter. The Saints put up 21 points and 192 yards in the final 9 minutes, 53 seconds of the game, running away with a playoff game the way prospective champions always do.

We won't hold Saturday night's Lions to that standard, of course. None of their players had won a postseason game wearing a Lions uniform. No one in the organization younger than 54 had been born the last time the Lions won a playoff game on the road. This wasn't a team that would know how to react in such a situation. That should never be the case again, however.

"It was a learning experience for our whole team," said quarterback Matthew Stafford, who threw for 380 yards and three touchdowns in his first playoff start but also forced a pair of fourth-quarter interceptions. "We'll be back. We have a confident bunch of guys. Obviously it hurts right now, but we'll be ready to go."

Stafford and receiver Calvin Johnson sit at the center of that confidence and the inevitably rising expectations for the team. Stafford targeted Johnson on 15 passes Saturday night despite a Saints defense dedicated to stopping him, connecting for 12 receptions, 211 yards and a pair of touchdowns. In their past four games, Stafford and Johnson have combined for an incredible 771 passing yards and six touchdowns.

Considering the NFL's shift toward the passing game in recent years, the Stafford-Johnson duo is enough on its own to expect big things from the 2012 Lions. If there is a concern, it's a defense that allowed a postseason-record 626 total yards Saturday night. In its final two outings of the 2011 campaign, the defense allowed 90 points and a whopping 1,176 yards.

On Saturday night, we'll note that those games came against two of the best offenses in the NFL -- the Saints and Green Bay Packers. Moving forward, it'll be fair to ask why the Lions couldn't hang better with the best of the best.

Defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham took his 2011 approach to an extreme Saturday night, sending four or fewer pass-rushers on 90 percent of Brees' drop-backs, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The Lions got some incremental pressure on him, sacking Brees twice, hitting him four times and forcing a second-quarter fumble.

The Lions forced some errant passes, noted coach Jim Schwartz, "but we weren't able to capitalize on those errant passes." Overall, Brees torched the Lions for 33 completions in 43 attempts for 466 yards and three touchdowns.

Schwartz, to be clear, already had moved to 2012 mode when he met with reporters afterward. He angrily pointed at three dropped interceptions, three fourth downs the Saints converted and the Saints' 7-for-11 performance on third down.

"This game was all about missed opportunities on defense," he said.

I didn’t walk away thinking the Lions had botched a legitimate chance to win. I felt the same way I felt heading in: The Lions needed to play a perfect game to beat the Saints in this environment. They couldn’t drop one interception, let alone three. They couldn’t miss a single tackle, much less the dozen or so Saints tailback Pierre Thomas and others ran through. (The Saints gained 92 of their 167 rushing yards after contact, according to ESPN Stats & Information). They couldn’t miss a single opportunity to pad their first-half lead, let alone punt after both takeaways.

I wouldn't expect Schwartz to agree. He is the coach and has been the driving force behind reversing the Lions' losing culture. Next season, I'll be right there with him. The Lions will no longer be an oddity, an unknown quantity or a feel-good story. They enter the offseason as one of the NFL's upper-echelon teams, and it's time we all raised our standards and treated them accordingly.

To their credit, most Lions players are already there.

"I feel good about what we have coming back, but this is a hard one to swallow right now," center Dominic Raiola said. "I'm stunned. One and done. Yeah, it was a successful season, I think. I don't think anyone predicted us to go to the playoffs. But you don't want to hang your hat on this. We weren't just happy to be in the playoffs. We're disappointed right now."

Really? A member of the Detroit Lions disappointed to have lost a playoff game? That's the way it should be. My, how far they've already come. Play time is over.

Four NFC North players were named Friday to the Associated Press' All-Pro Team, and three were elected by nearly unanimous votes. That's the upshot of an honor that, to me, is far more prestigious than the Pro Bowl rosters that always seem to get more attention.

The All-Pro Team combines players from the NFC and AFC onto one all-star team, requiring more difficult choices from the 50 media members who vote. So it's quite newsworthy to me that Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson and Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen each received 49 votes at their respective positions. It's the fourth All-Pro Team for Allen and the first for Johnson.

And in what could be a preview of MVP voting to be announced next month, Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers easily topped New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees in All-Pro voting. Rodgers received 47 1/2 votes to Brees' 2 1/2 to be named first-team quarterback.

The Packers' Charles Woodson was one of two cornerbacks elected to the team, along with Darrelle Revis of the New York Jets.

Note: Not that this would compare in any way to the All-Pro Team, but for those who are asking: Rest assured that we will compile a 2011 All-NFC North team after the Super Bowl. As always, I'll seek your input on tough choices. Hang tight.

» Wild-Card Final Word: Bengals-Texans | Lions-Saints | Falcons-Giants | Steelers-Broncos

Three nuggets of knowledge about Saturday's Lions-Saints wild-card game:

Historic battle: I did my best this week to make our preview coverage about the actual game and its matchups, as opposed to just how unprecedented a victory Saturday night would be in recent Lions history. (Here's a link to our handy "Lions-Saints" tag.) But here goes: The Lions are one of two NFL teams never to have won a wild-card playoff game, tallying an 0-6 record since its advent, according to ESPN Stats & Information. They haven't won a playoff game of any sort since the 1991 season, and its been 54 years since they've won a playoff game on the road (a 31-27 victory at the San Francisco 49ers in the 1957 Western Conference playoffs). The Lions are 11-point underdogs against a Saints team that hasn't lost at home this season. It's no surprise that the Twitter hashtag #shocktheworld has emerged this week. For any number of reasons, there aren't many people counting on a Lions victory Saturday night.

More than Megatron: Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams noted this week that "guys that are 6-5 end up being 5-5 when they get flipped over on their head," an obvious reference to Lions receiver Calvin Johnson. But no matter how much attention the Saints pay to Johnson, they'll no doubt be aware of the impressive across-the-board production the Lions got during their 3-1 finish to the regular season. Johnson caught 27 passes and four touchdowns over that span, but tight end Brandon Pettigrew also caught 27 passes, while receiver Nate Burleson had 22 and Titus Young 17. Young scored four touchdowns, Pettigrew two and Burleson one. The Lions aren't likely to win if Johnson gets shut out, but they have the capacity to compete even if he is limited, especially if quarterback Matthew Stafford can beat the Saints' blitz as we discussed earlier this week.

Impact player: As the quarterback, Stafford will have more opportunities to impact the outcome of the game than any other Lions player. But a close second will be any of the Lions' key pass-rushers up front. Whether it's Ndamukong Suh or Kyle Vanden Bosch or Cliff Avril, someone needs to make Saints quarterback Drew Brees uncomfortable in the pocket early and maintain the pressure for the duration. Otherwise, Brees will pick the Lions apart. In the teams' first meeting, the Lions put Brees under duress on only three of his 38 dropbacks. He completed 26 of his resulting 36 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns. Suh, Vanden Bosch and Avril have each had dominant games at one point or another in their careers. At least one of them must produce another Saturday night.

The Detroit Lions are the biggest underdogs of wild-card weekend. The New Orleans Saints were 11-point favorites at last check. The game shapes up on paper as an epic shootout, and on Wednesday we discussed the circumstances that must occur for the Lions to pull off the upset in that scenario.

Namely, they will have to pressure quarterback Drew Brees with their vaunted front-four pass-rushers -- and force a turnover or two, as well. Thursday morning, my friend Jeff Duncan of the (New Orleans) Times-Picayune illustrated just how difficult that will be.

As Duncan writes, the Saints have the best tandem of guards in the NFL. Jahri Evans and Carl Nicks were both named to the 2011 Pro Bowl, giving Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and his interior teammates the most formidable set of opponents imaginable. Evans and Nicks helped limit opponents to a total of five sacks over the Saints' final eight games, and no NFL team allowed fewer sacks per pass attempt than the Saints this season (3.63 percent).

Suh was suspended for the teams' Week 13 meeting, when the Lions managed to put Brees under duress on only three of his 38 dropbacks. Rookie defensive tackle Nick Fairley did most of that damage; Fairley had the Lions' only sack before departing because of a sore foot.

Perhaps Fairley can reprise his success Saturday night. But this is more about Suh, who was left off of the NFC's Pro Bowl roster after an inconsistent sophomore season. In most cases, teams advance in the playoffs because their top players rise up and carry them. The Lions need their best players, including Suh, to make an elite impact Saturday night. If the best two guards in the NFL swallow him up, as they have many other opponents this season, it's hard to imagine the Lions having a chance.

I'm charging my laptop batteries, packing extra notebooks, carbo-loading and hydrating. I hope you are as well. In three days, the Detroit Lions will visit the Superdome for what could go down as one of the wildest playoff games in recent NFL history.

It was only a few years ago when NFC North fans watched the Green Bay Packers and Arizona Cardinals combine for an NFL-record 96 points in a wild-card playoff game at University of Phoenix Stadium. Saturday night's matchup between the Lions and New Orleans Saints has the same kind of feel, forcing us to recalibrate our usual pregame questions. It's not worth discussing whether one of the defenses can stop the opposing offense. No, the issue is which defense has a better chance to slow down the scoring.

After all, the Saints (34.2 points per game) and the Lions (29.6) are two of the NFL's four highest-scoring teams. The starting quarterbacks, Drew Brees for the Saints and the Lions' Matthew Stafford, combined to throw for 10,514 yards this season, the highest collective total for a playoff matchup in league history. And for what it's worth, the 59-point over/under for this game, as established in Las Vegas, is the highest in NFL playoff history, according to R.J. Bell via ESPN's sports gambling blog.

Players on both teams have downplayed the possibility of a shootout, motivated by humility or pride, depending on the circumstance. Brees said: "It seems like, typically, when you get weeks like this where everybody's hyping up one side of the ball or the other, and kind of predicting it to be a shootout or whatever, the defenses are off kind of quietly in the corner making sure they come out with their best performance and they take that as motivation."

Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh agreed. "I don't plan on anybody shooting our defense out," he told reporters in Detroit.

Convenient or otherwise, Lions coach Jim Schwartz probably best captured the essence of this matchup.

"I think that the best defenses allow one less point than their offense scores," Schwartz said. "I think we need to take more of a chess approach. Nobody cares in chess how many pawns you give up or if you sacrifice your queen. They care about if you win the game, whether you get checkmate or not. And I think that's the only thing that’s important, not stats."

So from our perspective, the question is whether the Lions can win a shootout at the Superdome. We've already discussed the Saints' options for slowing down Stafford. Now it's fair to ask to what extent the Lions' defense can check Brees, who has led the Saints to a frightening average of 41.1 points and 492.6 yards in their eight home games this season.

The Lions "limited" the Saints to 31 points in the teams' Week 13 matchup, which was actually the Saints' second-lowest point total of the season at home. And three defensive starters who missed that game -- Suh, cornerback Chris Houston and safety Louis Delmas -- are expected to be in the lineup Saturday night.

Those factors give the Lions some reason for optimism. But let's also acknowledge that their defense started a second-half slip even before Suh's two-game suspension and the knee injuries to Houston and Delmas on Thanksgiving. Since Week 10, as the first chart shows, the Lions have given up more points and yards than all but two teams.

We can surely attribute some of that production to their fluid personnel situation, but at the very least we must note that the Lions' defense is trending the wrong way as it enters the playoffs. With that said, there are at least two areas where the Lions could make some headway against Brees: With an overwhelming four-man pass rush and by creating turnovers. Let's look at each.

As we've discussed many times, the Lions relied heavily on standard pass rushes this season. They sent an extra rusher on only 21.1 percent of opponents' dropbacks, the fourth-lowest rate in the NFL, according to ESPN Stats & Information. That strategy makes perfect sense with a defensive line that includes Suh, Cliff Avril (11 sacks), Kyle Vanden Bosch (eight), Lawrence Jackson (4.5) and even rookie Nick Fairley (one).

The Lions stayed with that strategy against the Saints last month, even with Suh and Jackson sidelined and after Fairley departed early because of a foot injury. As the second chart shows, Brees torched the Lions' standard pass rush in that game and he has done the same when other opponents have tried to stop him with maximum coverage as well. In fact, according to ESPN Stats & Information, the Lions had Brees under duress on only three of his 38 dropbacks, as defined by forcing the quarterback to move or alter his throwing motion because of pressure.

But most NFL teams don't have the frontline that the Lions will boast Saturday; in addition to Suh, Jackson and Fairley are also expected to be available. It's reasonable to think the Lions are capable of putting more pressure on Brees than he has seen from most four-man pass rushes this season.

If that's the case, the Lions' pressure could dovetail to our second point. Brees committed 15 turnovers this season, 14 via interception to go with one fumble. Five of those turnovers came in losses to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and St. Louis Rams.

Despite their second-half defensive struggles, the Lions forced 34 turnovers this season -- a figure higher than all but two NFL teams. In a back-and-forth shootout, even one takeaway could make a dramatic difference by stopping a Saints drive and giving the Lions' offense an extra possession.

The Saints have the NFL's most prolific quarterback and have been unbeatable at the Superdome this season. There's a reason the Lions are 11-point underdogs in this game. It might not be likely or realistic, but there is a path the Lions could follow to victory Saturday night. It's narrow and would require a reversal of some extended trends. But in a shootout, anything can happen.

We're Black and Blue All Over:

It's understandable if, in yesterday's flurry of news, you missed Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers' always-interesting weekly radio show on 540 ESPN in Milwaukee. As always, you can listen to the podcast, where among other things you can hear a discussion about the very issue we hit on Monday.

Namely: Would the events of Week 17 in any way impact MVP voting? As you know, Rodgers sat out the Packers' 45-41 victory over the Detroit Lions, during which backup Matt Flynn threw for 480 yards and six touchdowns. Meanwhile, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees played almost all of a 45-17 blowout of the Carolina Panthers, adding another 389 yards and five touchdowns to his totals.

Asked about the MVP impact, Rodgers said: "I don't really see how that comes into play when you're talking about a most valuable player vote. I think the way that we've gone about it and the games that we've won, I don't think you can say in any way that we've tried to get late points or late yards or late touchdowns. Look at the film. I'm not sure if that's the case for every team in the league."

In addition to playing most of Week 17, Brees also remained in the Saints' Week 16 blowout of the Atlanta Falcons as he pursued the NFL's single-season record for passing yards. All told, Brees threw 155 more passes than Rodgers this season.

Continuing around the NFC North:

• Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel offers a thoughtful and reasoned argument for why he chose Rodgers over Brees on his MVP ballot.
• Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette delves into the 2012 possibilities for Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn.
• Rodgers on the possibility of Flynn returning to the Packers next season, via Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com: "Not going to happen, I don't think."
• The Chicago Bears are inviting trouble by forcing coach Lovie Smith on the new general manager they hire, writes Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune.
• Smith emerged as the "most powerful man in the building" after the Bears fired general manager Jerry Angelo, writes David Haugh of the Chicago Tribune.
• Melissa Isaacson of ESPNChicago.com wonders if longtime NFL executive Bill Polian, fired this week by the Indianapolis Colts, could be a fit with the Bears.
• Tom Pelissero of 1500ESPN.com on the Minnesota Vikings' decision to promote Rick Spielman to general manager: "The authority the Vikings handed Spielman on Monday -- control over all football matters and final say on the 53-man roster -- doesn't ensure success. The overhaul ahead is too arduous and Spielman's track record too limited to draw strong conclusions. What's certain is Spielman will get to execute his vision now, for better or worse, without interruption or exception, and assume all the pressure that goes with being the most powerful football man in the building."
• Mark Craig of the Star Tribune: "Other than the fact we now know exactly who to blame or praise for all personnel decisions, essentially nothing has changed because, right or wrong, the decision-makers are the same and no changes are planned for the scouting departments."
• Brutal take on the proceedings from Tom Powers of the St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Coming off a disastrous season and facing an increasingly disillusioned fan base, Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf needed to make a bold statement. And on Tuesday, they did: 'We are idiots.'"
• The Wilfs met with a select group of reporters to discuss this move. Here's a transcript from 1500ESPN.com.
• The Detroit Lions aren't bothering to play the "disrespect card" this week, notes Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press.
• Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh on the possibility of a high-scoring game Saturday night at the Superdome, via John Niyo of the Detroit News. "Yeah, I don't plan on anybody shooting our defense out."
• Suh is clearly excited about playing in this game, writes Anwar S. Richardson of Mlive.com.

Stand up, give yourselves a pat on the back and a round of applause. Two NFC North teams combined for the most prolific passing game in NFL history Sunday. In the wind and snow of Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions combined for an NFL-record 971 net yards passing.

Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford (520 yards) and the Packers' Matt Flynn (480 yards) produced two of the top three individual passing games of the 2011 season. (The New England Patriots' Tom Brady threw for 517 yards in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins.) Let's take a closer look:

Matt Flynn
Week 17 passer rating: 136.4
Week 17 QBR: 91.7
Tell-tale number: Since 1960, only two other quarterbacks have thrown for 480 yards and six touchdowns in a game. Both are in the Hall of Fame. One was Y.A. Tittle for the New York Giants in 1962. The other was Joe Namath for the 1972 New York Jets.

Matthew Stafford
Week 17 passer rating: 103.8
Week 17 QBR: 86.2
Tell-tale number: Stafford's 520 yards were the most in a game since Boomer Esiason threw for 522 yards in 1996, and the fifth-most in league history. The huge yardage total also pushed Stafford to 5,038 yards this year. Remember, entering the season, the NFL record for passing yards in a season was 5,084, set by Dan Marino in 1984. Both Drew Brees (5,476) and Tom Brady (5,235) eclipsed Marino's mark this season. But at 23, Stafford finished just 46 yards behind Marino.

Josh McCown
Week 17 passer rating: 75.4
Week 17 QBR: 15.4
Tell-tale number: Sunday was McCown's first win as a starter since Dec. 2, 2007, when he played for the Oakland Raiders. His performance came against a Minnesota Vikings defense that finished the season allowing a 107.6 passer rating to opponents, the second-highest mark in NFL history.

Joe Webb
Week 17 passer rating: 46.4
Week 17 QBR: 19.7
Tell-tale number: The Vikings scored only three points with Webb behind center, but he did throw for 200 yards in about 2 1/2 quarters of play.

Christian Ponder
Week 17 passer rating: 8.3
Week 17 QBR: 1.1
Tell-tale number: Ponder's second-quarter interception was his 13th in 10 starts and a total of 274 attempts. But don't forget that Stafford threw 20 interceptions on 377 attempts in 10 starts as a rookie in 2009. The more important number will be the presumed improvement Ponder makes in 2012. Since his rookie season, Stafford has thrown 17 interceptions in 759 attempts over 19 starts.

Three things to know about next weekend's Detroit Lions-New Orleans Saints wild-card game:

1. Dome-field advantage: The Saints have been unstoppable at the Superdome this season, setting an NFL record by scoring 339 points (42.4 per game) in their eight home games, all of which they won. The Lions held the Saints well below that average per game in the teams' Week 13 matchup but still absorbed a 31-17 loss. Saints quarterback Drew Brees is the hottest quarterback in the NFL, and overall the Saints are the most difficult first-round opponent the Lions could have drawn. Anything can happen, but the Lions will enter this game as deep underdogs.

2. Slowing Brees: Every game stands on its own merits, but it's worth noting the Lions' defense -- which was missing only one starter -- gave up a record-breaking passing day Sunday to Green Bay Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn. Safety Louis Delmas (knee) was sidelined but appears on track to return for the playoffs. How much difference can Delmas make? If the Lions gave up 480 yards and six touchdown passes to Flynn, how much might Brees light them up for? That will be the central talking point this week. Brees finished this record-breaking season with 5,476 yards and 46 touchdown passes. That's an average of 342 yards and nearly three touchdowns per game.

3. Managing the blitz: Entering Sunday's game, no NFL quarterback had been blitzed on a lower percentage of his dropbacks (23.7) than the Lions' Matthew Stafford. That makes sense, considering the number of skilled Lions pass-catchers who are left in favorable coverage against a blitz. But the Saints love to blitz under defensive coordinator Greg Williams, making for an interesting fulcrum point in this matchup. It's worth noting that Sunday, the Packers blitzed Stafford 34.4 percent of the time and dramatically limited his production on those plays. According to ESPN Stats & Information, Stafford completed nine of his 21 passes against the blitz for 154 yards and an interception Sunday. Against the Packers' standard pass rush, Stafford completed 27 of 38 passes for 366 yards, five touchdowns and one interception.

We've spent plenty of time over the past few months discussing the record-breaking season of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Now that it is over, at least for the regular season, we can predict with some confidence that he has set a new NFL record for passer rating in a season.

Rodgers is inactive for Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions, meaning his 15-game rating of 122.5 won't change. That beats the season Peyton Manning had for the Indianapolis Colts in 2004; Manning had a 121.1 passer rating that season.

The second-highest passer rating in 2011 belongs to New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees, who is at 108.4. Brees is scheduled to start Sunday's game against the Carolina Panthers, but this late in the season, he isn't going to be able to lift his yearlong passer rating that much no matter how well he plays.

Rodgers finished the season with Packers records in yards (4,643) and touchdown passes (45).

Those who are still mentioning the MVP candidacy of New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees might simply be recognizing a great season by one of the NFL's top players. From an objective standpoint, however, little has changed since we discussed this topic last month: There is almost no measurable and objective standard that suggests Brees' season has been better than that of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

That includes Brees' new record for passing yards in a season. I did my best to end this debate once and for all in our latest 411 video. My portion ends a bit abruptly, but my basic point is that there isn't enough objective evidence to suggest Brees has had a better season than Rodgers. Brees has more passing yards, but that's because he's thrown more passes. He also has completed a higher percentage of his passes, but I don't think we should decide the MVP award based on completion percentage.

Related: Rodgers continues to sit atop Mike Sando's MVP Watch on ESPN.com.

» NFC Pro Bowl: East | West | North | South » AFC Pro Bowl: East | West | North | South

Perfect sense: Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the presumptive league MVP. He was pretty much a lock to be named the NFC's starter. Detroit Lions receiver Calvin Johnson is tied for the NFL lead in touchdown receptions (15). He wasn't going to get snubbed. Neither was Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, who leads the league with 18.5 sacks, nor Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson, who is tied for the league lead with seven interceptions. It was nice to see the league recognize some deserving NFC North players who had the potential to slip through the voting cracks. Bears tailback Matt Forte was leading the NFL in all-purpose yards when a knee injury sidelined him in Week 13. He obviously won't play but still deserved the honor. Bears cornerback Charles Tillman has had an outstanding season, as we have discussed, especially when matched up against Johnson. Tillman has only two interceptions, but I was glad to see voters didn't overlook him. Packers center Scott Wells is anonymous on a league level, but the Packers feel he has had his best season. And although Packers linebacker Clay Matthews has only six sacks, voters correctly recognized the all-around impact he's made this season. Finally, Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh didn't make the team but was named an alternate. That was the right decision. Independent of the headlines he has made this season, Suh hasn't made a Pro Bowl-level impact.

Made it on rep: The Bears' defense slipped this season, especially in the past month, but ultimately that didn't affect the candidacies of middle linebacker Brian Urlacher or weak-side linebacker Lance Briggs. In the end, Briggs has been named to every Pro Bowl since 2005 and Urlacher has made two consecutive Pro Bowl teams after several years of injury-related absences. I would say both players were on the cusp. For sure, they made a limited number of impact plays this season. Urlacher has three interceptions and neither a sack nor a forced fumble. Briggs has two forced fumbles, one interception and no sacks. Meanwhile, I wonder whether Packers defensive lineman B.J. Raji got makeup recognition for his strong 2010 performance. Raji has three sacks, less than half his total last season, and is supposed to be a key pass-rusher on a defense that hasn't gotten nearly enough pressure this year. Raji has had a credible, solid season. But was it Pro Bowl worthy? I'm not sure.

Got robbed: I wondered whether voters would side with New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning over Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, and in the end, they did. Stafford is an alternate behind Rodgers, Manning and the New Orleans Saints' Drew Brees. Stafford still could be named to the Pro Bowl as an injury or Super Bowl replacement, presuming he is not playing in the Super Bowl himself, but he has established himself as one of the NFL's top quarterbacks. He has a better passer rating, a higher completion percentage, 10 more touchdown passes and two fewer interceptions than Manning this season. The only people who would have complained had the reverse occurred -- Stafford elected and Manning named an alternate -- are hard-core Giants fans.

Click here for the complete 2012 Pro Bowl roster.

After the Detroit Lions' 38-10 victory over the San Diego Chargers, here are three issues that merit further examination:

Kevin SeifertFollowing their big win against the Chargers, the Lions take a seat in the examination room.
1. What the Lions have done this season might seem to be a standard expectation for every NFL team, but it is exceptional relative to the Lions' history. You already know they have earned their first playoff berth in 12 years. The 2011 season also brought the Lions' first 10-win season in 16 years and only the eighth 10-win season since the franchise moved to Detroit in 1934. If the Lions defeat the Packers next Sunday, it will be their first season of at least 11 victories since 1991 and only the third since the Detroit relocation. Coach Jim Schwartz has spoken often about getting the team to a point where accomplishments are expected rather than celebrated. But I'm sure you realize how unique this season has been.
2. I don't think there's any question the Lions should be pushing for a No. 5 seed in the NFC playoffs, allowing them to bypass a wild-card trip to the Superdome to play the New Orleans Saints and instead leaving them to play at the winner of the NFC East (either the Dallas Cowboys or New York Giants.) The Saints are undefeated at home this season, handed the Lions a 14-point loss there earlier this month and have the NFL's hottest quarterback in Drew Brees. At the bottom of this post is an updated version of the chart we introduced early Sunday morning. There are now eight relevant final-week scenarios for the Lions. As you can see, the No. 5 seed is not a lock, win or lose Sunday at Lambeau Field. But the Lions can only do their part, and that is doing their best to win Sunday. They should be motivated and feel great incentive to beat the Packers, who might rest at least some of their key starters.
3. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has pretty much cleared the single-season passing records for Lions history. We laid out the parameters earlier this month, and Stafford has eclipsed most of them. With a week left to play, he has set new records for completions (385), attempts (604), yards (4,518) and touchdowns (36). If he maintains a completion percentage above 63.28, he'll set that record as well. His percentage currently stands at 63.74. The one unattainable record: Dave Krieg's mark of a 101.7 passer rating. Stafford is at 96.6. Regardless, I think the football world is now fully aware of what we've been discussing for months: Stafford is one of the NFL's top quarterbacks.

And here is one issue I still don't get:

This isn't a new topic around here, but I'm still not sure how significant it is that the Lions haven't had a productive running game this season. Saturday, running backs Kevin Smith and Maurice Morris combined for 71 yards on 20 carries, and through 16 weeks the Lions have the fourth-lowest total of rushing yards in the NFL (1,423). They also have the second-fewest attempts (341). So part of me thinks their running game should be written off as a smart afterthought considering how explosive their passing game is. But you also wonder whether they'll be hampered in the playoffs -- potentially in cold and/or foul weather sites in New York, Green Bay or San Francisco -- by being so invested in the passing game. The Lions know that in an ideal world they would benefit from balance, or else they wouldn't have spent high draft choices on Jahvid Best and Mikel Leshoure in the past two years. They've adjusted without it, and they'll have to hope they can carry that formula into the playoffs.