It's been a foregone conclusion for awhile that the Packers would be NFC North champions this year. The team got off to a roaring start, and even despite the Lions playing well early, quickly established a sizable lead in the division. With the Lions fading entirely, the Vikings only just coming into their own and the Bears gone completely in the tank, the Packers have been able to cruise in the division. Today they brushed aside the hapless Oakland Raiders 38-7, and clinched the NFC North with three weeks still to go.

Much of the talk in the NFC North, especially early, centered around the Lions and the prediction by their brash QB Jon Kitna that they would win 10 games this year. That bit of prophecy turned out to be a lot of bluster and not much truth - the Lions' loss today to Dallas dropped them to 6-7, and unless the league decides to add a 17th regular season game, that means they can't get to 10 wins. Much less publicity, meanwhile, was given to Packer QB Brett Favre's assertion that this year's team was the most talented Green Bay club he had ever played on, including either of the teams that made the Super Bowl in the mid-'90s. Favre, it turns out, knew what he was talking about a lot more than Kitna. The Packers are a very talented club, on both sides of the ball, and the best thing for them is that most of it is young talent.

Even if the Pack doesn't make it back to the Super Bowl this year - and they're going to have a hard time getting past Dallas in the playoffs, especially if the game is in Texas Stadium - they can still look forward to having a window of opportunity that lasts for at least several more seasons. The big unknown, of course, is whether Brett Favre will be part of those future teams. It's a lock that he'll be back next year obviously - there's no reason for any retirement talk this off-season, not with the near-MVP year the QB has posted. But after that, who knows if Favre's body, or his desire to play, will be able to hold up.

That's down the road though. For now, the Pack can celebrate being in the playoffs again, and in position to claim the 2nd spot in the NFC - with the faint chance still out there that Dallas could stumble, giving them home-field throughout.