Before the kickoff of the 2009 season one of the questions bandied about was whether Aaron Rodgers could go from being a very good to being an elite quarterback in the league. Asked by ESPN and NFL Network analysts as well as Packer fans and reporters this question seemed to be everywhere. Could A-Rod be more than just really good? Could he be one of the greats? This question, of course was totally unfounded if one looks at the fact that Aaron Rodgers was the sixth best passer in the league in his first year as a starter in 2008. But people wanted to know if A-Rod could crack the top five and the question came about more because of the Packers final record in the 2008 season than because of Rodgers's final passing stats. People wanted to know if Aaron Rodgers could lead the Packers into the playoffs and ultimately to the promised land.

Let's take a quick glance at A-Rod's last passing stats from 2008:

Read more: Aaron Rodgers Can Bring it Home for Green Bay

Although it has been anathema to talk about Brett Favre on any blogs or Packer fan pages this season, the name became less of a curse word last Sunday. In the NFC Championship vs. the New Orleans Saints, the Vikings looked like they would not repeat the 1999 loss to the Atlanta Falcons and at least have a chance at overcoming their insidious 0-4 record in Super Bowls. But in the end, the Vikings did what the Vikings are best at. An article at Hispanic Business dot com (of all places) equated the two games. But for Packers fans, the equation was different.

To those of us who watched Brett Favre and Green Bay part ways a couple years ago only to see Brett retire another time and then unretire again after being released by the Jets and come back to the Vikings, the scenario could not have been worse. We watched the Vikings beat the Pack at the Dome but could live with it because they still had to play us at home. They beat us at home, but we still had the promise of another late season melt-down or scandal. We thought that happened when Brett and Brad Childress had it out on the sidelines during the Vikings 7-26 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Our hopes were confirmed when the Vikings lost to the suck-city Bears on Monday Night. Then, against the Giants, the Vikings were back and we all had to wonder again. While all this was happening, the Packers were getting their freak on racking up wins, solidifying a wild card game, and whooping up on the Cardinals just a week before they played them in the wild card playoff game. But then the unthinkable happened. The Packers lost to the Cards after coming back from two giveaways in the first two posessions and through a game to which the defense never showed up to take it in to overtime and win the toss...only to lose the game on a fluke play during which there was a penalty that was not called (one of many, other no calls, some even more important than the one on the last play of the game.

Packers fans again had to watch as Brett Favre and the Vikings got back on their horse and beat the Cowboys to advance to the NFC Championship.

Before the game, someone on our Facebook fanpage (if you read this, throw us a comment because we want to give you props) wrote that he was still waiting for the football gods to speak on the subject of Brett going to a hated rival who had been to four Super Bowls and never won one, to get his swan song.

Read more: The Football Gods Have Spoken