A Monkey's Uncle.

Lord Tebow met his match.

Aaron and his Pack lost their way.

And ... Saint Drew fell from grace.

If football isn't religion, I got nothing else for ya.

(Oh yeah, Baltimore beat Houston. I couldn't come up w/ a fitting analogy and let's be honest, that game was a turd and a half.)

This wasn't an impossible chain of events but the idea that both the Saints and Packers would exit the Playoffs in the divisional round was pretty damn unlikely. On the other hand, I think everyone outside of the Rockies could see Tebow and co. were in over their heads but given how the Broncos performed against the Steelers, you would at least expect a competitive contest.

Wrong on all accounts.

Nonetheless, I took two things away from this past weekend's games:

1) Just how well the 49ers offense played.
In the words of The Miz ... really? Really?! I mean, San Fran isn't exactly inept on the O but no one would confuse them with the Saints. Which isn't a bad thing. But the chances of Alex Smith outdueling Drew Brees were pretty slim going in so unless he's completely full of crap, I highly doubt Jim Harabaugh went into the game thinking that was the gameplan. That said, Alex Smith went all-Utah on the Saints. Vernon Davis came up huge. Totally changes the perception of the Niners' passing game and adds a dimension to this team that was missing all year.

2) Just how poorly the Packers played. 
This takes nothing away from the Giants but the Packers blew. In nearly every facet of the game. Completely BLEW.

Injured teams and slumping teams benefit the most from a 1st round bye. The Packers fall into neither of those categories. Throw in an inconsistent defense and then Sunday happens. In week 1, I was impressed as anyone with the offensive performance from the Pack but the ease with which the Saints moved the ball was especially troubling. Yes, it was Brees moving the ball but that's besides the point. A defensive unit that helped carry Green Bay to a title was suddenly an 'opportunistic' defense. And if you're scoring at home, 'opportunistic' (when describing defenses) is code for 'good in spots but largely crappy'.

It's an odd thing with prolific offenses. Their defensive counterparts will generally produce plenty of turnovers and play 'bend-but-don't-break' football en route to a title. And then the subsequent season, the offense will play as well, if not better than the last year, while the defense regresses as the team fails to duplicate their prior success. Case(s) in point: 1999 St. Louis Rams, 2007 New Orleans Saints, and now ... the 2010 Green Bay Packers. What a shame. Better luck next year, cheeseheads.

If this past weekend was any indication, next week's title games will be interesting to say the least. My early vibe: a Super Bowl rematch with ... the Ravens and Giants. Take those picks with a grain of salt as I am unofficially known as 'The Cooler' but lightning strikes. Blind squirrels find nuts. Don't say I didn't call it.

Anyway, I'll be back with some notes on UFC 142 in Rio. For now, I say adieu.