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Every so often, you are fortunate to be in front of the TV at just the right time to see something memorable sportswise. Course, when you watch as much sports as I have over the years, you will see your share of good stuff. Still, when an unexpected classic unfolds that you watched from the jump, all the better. Previously, the best playoff NFL game I was ever privileged to see was probably the Chargers at Miami game in 1981 (the Winslow game). I will need to reflect on it, but what just came to pass in Glendale may surpass that for me. At the least, it rivals it.

Arizona, up 24-10 at halftime and 31-10 early in the third quarter, had no answer for Aaron Rodgers the rest of the half and a massive choke from ex-Bengal (naturally) Neil Rackers put the game into OT tied at 45. And then Green Bay won the toss. And you would figure it was their game. Only in a game that was marked by offensive brilliance from both teams, it ends on a defensive TD from the Cardinals finally making a play.

Just a fun game. Hard to imagine that the Cardinals/Saints game could be more entertaining than what just got played, but maybe it will be in the ballpark.

As always, it’s more fun to look in on pain as opposed to joy when it comes to the morning after in the NFL. It just is. So, let’s see what is being said in…:

—…New York! Nothing good about the Giants, who have indeed lost the cover of the Yankees, and that four-game losing streak is now painfully exposed. Gary Myers in the Daily News:

Tom Coughlin stopped for a moment Sunday night before heading down a hallway leading to the coaches’ locker room. He had a blank look on his face as he stood and stared back into the players’ locker room, saying nothing. Clearly, Coughlin was still in shock over the most excruciating regular-season loss in his six years as the Giants’ coach, the fourth in a row after the 5-0 start, the one that could eventually blow up the season, if it hasn’t already.

“It’s not the end of the world. We’re not going to panic,” Mathias Kiwanuka said. “We are professional athletes. We are here to do a job. We’re just going to get it done. The bottom line is we got seven more games left and seven chances to turn it around. It’s not over.” Even though the Giants played better than they had in getting outscored 112-61 the last three weeks by the Saints, Cardinals and Eagles, and even though seven games remain to turn this around, it could be that this loss sucked what little life was left out of the team. The season is now officially on life support.

Yes, it is, as New York is in the Wild Card mix, not really in the win-the-division mix. And the Wild Card mix is a tough spot to be in, in the NFC, with Atlanta and Philly running ahead of them and the carcass’ of Green Bay and Chicago just behind them. Not optimal, to say the least.

—…Chicago! Where the memories of defenses past is haunting any Bears fan at this point. And should be haunting Lovie Smith. David Waugh in the Chcago Tribune on the Smith issue:

If you are looking for answers from Lovie Smith to explain why his team responded to a sense of urgency with apathy, keep looking. You might say Smith didn’t have a clue after the Bears’ 41-21 loss Sunday to the Cardinals at Soldier Field. “I don’t have a lot of reasons to give you on why we played that way,” Smith said with a straight face. There are 5.5 million reasons that’s not acceptable. As one of the league’s highest-paid head coaches, Smith is the most qualified person to help everybody understand why his historically inept defense gave up 31 points again in the first half. That happened for the second time in three weeks — and only five times in Bears history before this season. Smith is best equipped to explain how the Bears gave up 182 yards rushing to the worst running team in the NFL. And why a defense that can look so dominant for a 5-minute stretch in the fourth quarter needs to fall behind 34-7 before showing a pulse. If Smith cannot offer plausible reasons the Bears played as awfully as they did, exactly who can? More significantly, if the head coach fresh off a jarring 20-point loss cannot take a stab at what went so wrong, should anybody believe he grasps the ability to make it right?

This isn’t another call for Smith’s job. After the Bears miss the postseason for the third straight year as is now likely, Smith should be given a playoffs-or-else mandate for 2010. Given Smith’s resume and contract — he has $11 million and two seasons left after this one — that’s fair, firm and fiscally responsible. This has nothing to do with how Smith acts at the podium either. This has to do with whether Smith knew Sunday how the season got away from the schizophrenic Bears. Or if anybody on the Halas Hall payroll without a degree in psychiatry knows.

Really? One more year for Smith after this? That Super Bowl appearance was awhile ago now. And I don’t think the return of Urlacher fixes what is ailing them. More importantly, the appearance that Smith has a grasp on the problem and how to go about fixing it would go a long way to appease what is becoming an increasingly angry fanbase. And right now, Smith is not giving off that appearance.

—…Green Bay! Losing twice to Brett Favre, that must hurt something awful. Losing the previously winless Bucs? Fetid icing on a crapcake. Mike Vandermause in the Green Bay Gazette on the carnage:

This was as embarrassing at it gets for the Green Bay Packers. It marks the low point of the Mike McCarthy coaching tenure in Green Bay and raises serious questions about where the Packers are heading. “Every loss is embarrassing,” linebacker Nick Barnett said. “For me, it doesn’t matter what their record is. I think the most embarrassing thing for us is that we had this game won and we let them make a play.” Actually, no loss in the last four seasons under McCarthy was quite this bad, and a terrible Buccaneers team made not just one play, but several late in the game to stun the shell-shocked Packers. Blowing an 11-point fourth-quarter lead against one of the worst teams in the NFL is bad enough, but the colossal collapse could ruin the Packers’ season.

Yes, it could indeed do that. Or, the swiss cheese offensive line has already done that. I would wager the latter sure as hell led to the former. Seriously, Aaron Rodgers may end up hospitalized when Green Bay has to go to Pittsburgh.

Ugly.

Green Bay, where it looked like it did when Favre played for them, only different. Mike Vandermause in the Green Bay Gazette with this:

Favre showed exactly why Packers General Manager Ted Thompson refused to trade him to the Vikings last season. The 40-year-old gunslinger still possesses magic in his arm and is helping the Vikings run away with the NFC North Division title. To Thompson’s great dismay, Favre found his way to Minnesota anyway, and the Packers general manager’s worst fears have been realized. Favre came into the Packers’ sacred house, the place he once called home, and carved up his former team with impressive efficiency (128.6 passer rating) and eluded the defense’s furious attempts to generate pressure. “He did a good job of recognizing where the pressure was coming from before it even came,” lamented Packers cornerback Al Harris. “But we’ve got to come up with it. It doesn’t matter if he recognizes it or not, somebody has to beat somebody one on one. Somebody has to do something to make whatever it is work.”

Harris’ frustration was evident, and for good reason. Unless someone starts making plays, the Packers will continue to struggle. This is a team talented enough to subdue the stumblebums on their schedule (Lions and Rams and Browns, oh my!), but not capable of keeping pace with an elite opponent like Minnesota. “That’s what we are,” said Charles Woodson. “Right now we can’t win the big game.” The blame for that must ultimately be laid at the feet of Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy. The longer this team hovers near the .500 mark after a subpar 6-10 record last year, the more it looks like the Packers’ 13-3 mark in 2007 was an aberration. That remains the only season the Packers finished above .500 under Thompson and McCarthy. Both bear responsibility for ending Favre’s relationship with the Packers, a move that will be debated endlessly but ultimately was based on sound football principles.

It was, but as much as I have been annoyed with the Favre will-he-or-won’t-he retirement stuff, I can’t forget that it is ultimately Ted Thompson’s fault that it came to that. And this. It’s one thing to decide you want to roll with Aaron Rodgers (a decision that clearly made sense for the long term). It is another to decide to roll with Aaron Rodgers AND also try and force Favre into a retirement he clearly didn’t want or to be a back-up, something that he clearly is better than. What should have happened that would have spared everyone several years of Favre related retirment shenanigans? Thompson decides to go with Rodgers, and grants Favre his release to continue his career elsewhere. But since Thompson was too big a puss to do that, we have had the machinations of the last 18 months.

At any rate, Favre can clearly still play and wants to play, it is not Aaro Rodgers’ fault that Green Bay is coming up short in big games, and Ted Thompson is a douche. My scorecard is clear.

In Minneapolis, they are so bored with the Brett Favre story this morning that Sid Hartman devotes his column space to the homerun draft picks that were Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin. In Harvin’s case, the worries of off-field troubles that caused him to slip in the draft to a grateful Minnesota seem quite distant.