None of them, however, will hit the nail on the head better than wise, old Charles Woodson.

After the Packers were lucky enough to hold serve against the lowly Detroit Lions, Woodson looked at the big picture.

"That doesn't mean anything going into next season," offered the Chuckster. "We're 6-10. There's no playoffs. It was a win that we should have won."

Right you are.

6-10.

No playoffs.

And there were a lot of wins that they should have won.

But they didn't.

It just wasn't in the cards from the outset.

That's because the dark cloud of Brett Favre lingered over this team from mid-March to when Aaron Rodgers took the knee to put the season out of its misery on Sunday afternoon.

Will he or won't he play was a broken record. Just for the record, a record is a disc with a spiral groove carrying recorded sound for phonograph reproduction.

Ah, the good old days - back when Favre was a Packer and 6-10 was a darn good year for the Bears. Heck, a 6-10 season might just lead to a ticker-tape parade in Detroit.

But the unthinkable happened. Brett got old and then looked real old in his Football garb. Brett got wishy-washy. Brett retired. Brett got a cell phone. Brett learned how to send text messages. Bad, bad Brett.

This eventually led to Green Bay's organized team activities being disrupted. You hate to see off-season activities get disrupted when Mike McCarthy is trying to choose sides for paintball

Once the OTAs were imposed upon, the Family Night Scrimmage was fair game. The torch had been passed to Rodgers, but Favre showed up and tried to intercept it. There wasn't going to be competition for the starting quarterback spot and then maybe there would be.

But that never happened. It became very clear at that point that Green Bay wasn't big enough for the egos belonging to Ted Thompson and Favre.

"The Football team's moving forward," McCarthy said at the time. "The train has left the station, whatever analogy you want. He needs to jump on the train and let's go. Or, if we can't get past things that have happened, I have to keep the train moving."

Brett didn't jump on. He became a Jet. It was clearly time for everyone to move on.

The Packers were branded as fools for letting this happen. After all, they entered the campaign just one Favre interception away from the Super Bowl.

A 2-0 start raised hopes. But 2-0 was followed by 4-10.

That 4-10 stretch was ugly, too. "The Packers aren't slow starters," grumbled a veteran NFL observer during the team's run to nowhere. "They're non-starters."

There has long been a train of thought that the Packers would have been a playoff team had they caved in and catered to 'ol No. 4 once again.

Nonsense.

Brett Favre used to be able to do a lot of great things on the gridiron. Unfortunately, blocking, tackling, punting, covering receivers, coaching defense, coaching special teams and executing an onsides kick were not among them.

The presence of Favre would have never made up for Bob Sanders, Mike Stock, Derrick Frost, Mason Crosby, running the fullback up the gut, Ryan Grant running like a turtle, Al Harris' spleen, Nick Barnett's knee, bad blocking, blown pass coverages, no pass rush and Ned Yost.

And, let's face it, Favre ain't as good as he once was.

Rodgers, by the way, showed up every week and basically exceeded expectations.

The record will show that Rodgers finished with three less victories and was the sixth best passer with a 93.8 quarterback rating (28 touchdowns, 13 interceptions).

Meanwhile, Brett the Jet was 21st (81.0 rating, 22 touchdowns, 22 interceptions, one bad wing.)

So Rodgers was not why the Packers were 6-10.

It was a total team effort.

Meanwhile, the Jets went from 8-3 and visions of a Super Bowl showdown with the Giants to 9-7 and their coach getting canned. Broadway Brett was last seen contemplating retirement. What else is new?

The 39-year-old Favre went from the toast of the town to yet another misguided professional athlete who hung around too long.

He brought back the painful memories of Johnny Unitas in a San Diego Chargers uniform with his black high tops, Willie Mays falling down in center while chasing a routine fly for the Mets against Oakland in the 1973 World Series, Joe Namath getting benched by the Los Angeles Rams and Muhammad Ali losing to Trevor Berbick of all people.

Once again, it is time for Favre to ride off into the sunset.

Let's hope he stays there this time.

Grilling season

The carcass known as the New York Jets' collapse of 2008 was barely cold when coach Eric "I'm no genius" Mangini was unceremoniously booted out of Gotham City.

While Mangini was feeling the heat down the stretch, Favre was raked over the coals after the Jets failed to make the playoffs.

Nobody pulled any punches when the Jets were grounded for good after Miami's 24-17 victory.

Here's a sampling:

John Branch of the New York Times: "The coming weeks should provide more than enough time for fans and pundits to ponder whether the union of Favre and the Jets was a good idea in the first place."

Ohm Youngmisuk of the New York Daily News: "Unfortunately for Favre and the Jets, what started out as a marriage made in heaven in August ended in heartbreak and bitter disappointment. . . . As has been the case down the stretch when the Jets dropped four of their last five games, Favre didn't make the best decisions and the Jets suffered."

Brian Costello of the New York Post: "His finale was a dud."

Stand by your man

After Tony Romo broke the ugly meter with his outing Sunday afternoon against Philadelphia, many were expecting Mount T.O. to erupt.

Somehow that did not happen.

Terrell Owens, sans shades and tears, was on his best behavior.

"I just told him no matter what, I'm still the same guy who shed tears for him at last year's press conference, and I'd do it again because that's the type of person I am, regardless of what anybody thinks or says about me," Owens said.

Romo probably slept a lot better knowing that.

But it was doomsday in Dallas after the Cowboys missed the playoffs thanks to a 44-6 shellacking by the Eagles.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, sans smirk, told anyone who would listen afterward that Wade Phillips would return as coach. Look for Phillips to start cleaning out his desk any day know.

Fort Worth Star Telegram columnist Randy Galloway was not impressed with Jones or Phillips. Here's what he had to say:

"Jerry loves Wade. Wade loves his job, which is the highest paying puppet gig in the world. Jerry loves his team. His team loves Jerry, who grossly overpays for heartless, foolish and don't- really-give-a-damn behavior. . . . With the entire NFL laughing at Jones' Jokers, laughing at the greatest collection of choke artists in the game, wouldn't you think love stinks?"

You sure would.

VineLines

Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel: "Does anybody really believe Brett Favre when he says Sunday's game might be his last? Puh-leeze. As long as there's a Jon Gruden, there will always be a suitor for an aging over-the-hill quarterback like Favre." . . .

Lions fan Adam Gadsby, who drove eight hours to Green Bay to see his club make history Sunday: "As a Lions fan, we're used to them stinking. But they've never stunk as well as they're stinking this year." . . .

Michael Rosenberg of Detroit Free Press: "Instead of an owner getting a trophy, William Clay Ford Sr. got precisely what he deserves for his 45 seasons of ineptitude: the first 0-16 season in NFL history. How should you celebrate? I suggest you try smoking a wet cigar." . . .

Fox analyst John Lynch on the 0-16 Lions: "Bill Walsh, Vince Lombardi . . . aren't going to win with this roster." . . .

Steve Rosenbloom in his Chicago Tribune blog: "The Bears' offense got a quick 10-0 lead, then choked. The Bears' defense got a 10-0 lead, then choked. No killer instinct. No urgency. No nothing. How much smaller could the Bears have come up in the biggest game of the year?" . . .

Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix: "Is it just me, or is it beginning to look like Plaxico Burress has a bigger arsenal than the Canadian military?"

From Packer Plus wire, Internet reports and other news sources. Send e-mail to mhart@journalsentinel.com

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