$.01--The Chicago Bears hosted the Green Bay Packers for the NFC North title that nobody has wanted to win for the last two months. After a thrilling back-and-forth second half, the game came down to the seemingly predetermined Hollywood script.

Aaron Rodgers is back at quarterback for the Packers. His team is down to its final possession. He hasn’t played in two months, and while he’s been decent, the rust shows a little. The weather is unpleasant. The Chicago defense is playing better than it has in weeks.

The crowd is amped up as the Packers face 4th and 8 from the Chicago 48-yard line. Rodgers had misfired on both first and third down, and the meek running game (Eddie Lacy had seven yards on his last eight carries) was not an option.

The Bears blitz and time it well. A last-second pick-up by fullback John Kuhn buys Rodgers enough time to spin to his left and scan the field. Who should he find running free behind the defense but Randall Cobb, another Packer making his first appearance in weeks after an early injury.

Cobb hadn’t played since Week 6, and he had done little in Chicago to this point. But Rodgers hit him on the fly and Cobb scooted into the end zone with the division-clinching touchdown. It was the perfect ending, just as the producers drew it up. The walking wounded rise up to record one glorious moment to vanquish a bitter foe, seemingly against all odds.

For Green Bay fans, it was the sweetest moment of an oft-bitter and frustrating season. For the Bears, another late-season collapse cost them yet another playoff berth. This one rings more painful than others, however, because it happened at home to the hated Packers.

And so the Packers win the NFC North with an 8-7-1 record even after cycling through three inept quarterbacks while Rodgers missed two months and the injury-plagued defense struggled as well. That’s impressive

$.02--The Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles also squared off in a winner-take-all game on Sunday night. This game also had a familiar narrative, albeit with a different leading actor for the tragic Cowboys.

For the third year in a row, the Cowboys entered Week 17 controlling their own playoff destiny with a final matchup against a divisional foe. In the last two years, quarterback Tony Romo turned the ball over five times and the Cowboys lost in inglorious fashion. Romo served as William H. Macy’s role in The Cooler, an unfortunate born loser brought in to spread misery to everyone around him. Never mind that his oft-stellar play was the sole reason the Cowboys were playing for anything meaningful; no, that was the inconvenient backstory glossed over like some bad (and they’re all increasingly horrible) Wes Anderson movie.

This time Romo got to play a different role. After leading the Cowboys to a stirring comeback win over Washington despite playing with a herniated disk in his back, Romo had to sit this one out. He was no longer the destined Charlie Brown, falling down as Lucy yanks the ball away one more time. Romo instead was Maximus, the great Gladiator avenging his own demons and tormentors to bring freedom and glory to those loyal to him.

Alas, the story ends in the same dark manner for Dallas. Despite the defense rising up for its most impressive outing in months, guest star Kyle Orton performed as Romo a little too convincingly. After the Eagles bumbled a chance to run out the clock and essentially took the boot off of Dallas’ neck with some ponderous late coaching decisions, the Cowboys had a chance. With two minutes to go and trailing by just two points, Orton had a golden opportunity to win a best supporting actor nod if he could generate a game-winning drive.

You could hear the low rumble of the cello just starting to play as the Cowboys broke the huddle. Millions of fans everywhere prepared for an epic and dramatic ending to the thrilling joyride of a film which had unfolded over the last few hours. And then the music stopped abruptly.

Orton’s first pass on the drive was low and behind Miles Austin but right to Brandon Boykin. He plays for the Eagles. Trumpets crashed from a stirring crescendo to a mocking riff. Orton walked off the field dejectedly, head down like Charlie Brown discovering an empty mailbox while all the other kids celebrated their Christmas party invitations and cards loaded with cash. It didn’t matter who was in the leading role. Dallas was destined to lose. 

$.03--Minutes after the New York Jets drowned the Miami Dolphins’ playoff hopes with a dominating 20-7 win, owner Woody Johnson proclaimed that Rex Ryan would return as head coach.

The Jets finished 8-8 despite not having one offensive skill position player who would start on more than five other teams this year. Ryan coaxed the most out his pledges, and the Jets overachieved beyond all expectations. They entered the season at +/- 5.5 wins on the season at most sports books, and that includes the customary one-game bump that every Big Apple team gets from the oddsmakers.

This is absolutely the right decision for New York. Rex might be bombastic and often his own worst enemy. He’s also forged a team in his own identity, a roster tailored to win his way. The offense is only going to get better as Geno Smith develops and gets some competent weapons around him.

The more interesting angle will be how much changes around Rex Ryan. Most of the offensive staff just finished its first season in New York, so they likely get a reprieve. But NFL.com reported on Sunday that there could be major changes on Ryan’s baby, the defensive side of the ball.

$.04--The Cleveland Browns got an early jump on Black Monday by firing head coach Rob Chudzinski on the bus ride home from Cleveland’s lifeless loss in Pittsburgh. Yes, that’s right--the Browns fired Chudzinski after just one 4-12 season.

While many Northeast Ohioans are lining up to jump off the Valley View Bridge, I applaud the bold stroke. This is a tacit acknowledgement that the front office made a mistake in hiring Chud in the first place, something first-guessed here by yours truly. They should have known better from the last time they fired him, but they finally learned their lesson.

If Chud obviously isn’t the answer going forward, and he clearly was not, then why keep him? Giving him one more year to prove it even more only wastes more time. Fans will be distraught over yet another coaching blunder, but isn’t it better to fire a coach a year too soon than too late? Didn’t my fellow Clevelanders learn anything from Mike Brown Part I or Eric Wedge, both of whom stuck around far too long without real merit?

The public relations staff will have its hands full, no doubt, but in the end owner Jimmy Haslam and majordomo Tom Heckert did the right thing in swiftly pulling the Chud plug. Here’s hoping they don’t fill the void by hiring Josh McDaniels and bringing Ryan Mallett along with him from New England. I’m not opposed to McDaniels getting a second chance, but this team must spend one of its first-round picks on a quarterback.

$.05--The Denver Broncos coasted to the No. 1 seed in the AFC, as Peyton Manning coasted well past all the single-season passing records of note. Manning was as close to perfect as you’ll ever likely see against the Raiders, completing 25-of-28 for 266 yards and four touchdowns before he left early with the game well in hand.

Manning will be the NFL MVP in 2013.  Anyone who votes otherwise needs to have their voting privileges revoked. The bigger question that arises is if his season is the greatest ever for any player. He broke Drew Brees’ single-season yardage record at 5,477 with his TD pass to Demaryius Thomas just before halftime. He broke Tom Brady’s 50 TD mark last week, blowing it away with 55 on the year. The ease and precision at which he dissected defenses to a variety of receiving weapons almost made it seem as if he was playing Madden on “rookie” mode.

For my money, it’s the best QB season ever. I’m old enough to have watched Dan Marino’s magical 1984, the widely regarded standard-bearer. Frequent readers know I consider Marino to be one of the most overrated athletes in history, but even this critic acknowledges how awesome his second season was. It’s the only other instance where a quarterback has so masterfully carved up defenses so consistently throughout a season. Aaron Rodgers in 2011 and Kurt Warner’s debut in 1999 are also in the mix, but Manning surpassed them all this year. 

$.06--Jeff Triplette is the worst referee in the NFL, of this there is no debate. Never was his incompetence more on display than in the UFC cage match that was the St. Louis Rams/Seattle Seahawks game.

As the Rams employed the old Jeff Fisher tactic of “if you can’t beat ‘em, fight ‘em”, Triplette and his crew facilitated on-field lawlessness that rivaled the opening scene of The Last Boy Scout. There were five personal foul penalties called over a two-play period, leading to about a 15-minute delay. Tempers had been brewing all game, but Triplette and his crew were clueless.

One of the first things you learn as an official is to take control of the game when it starts to spin askew. If that means calling penalties that make fans upset, it’s better than letting heavily muscled men continue towards anarchy. In a sense you are protecting the players from themselves, and they do eventually get it.

Not with Triplette. Worse, he’s not effective at the other aspects of his job. Things like understanding game procedures, or handling the clock, or knowing the rules:

He’s an embarrassment to his profession and to the NFL. It’s time for the NFL to take a stand against officiating incompetence and end Jeff Triplette’s tenure.

$.07--Season Awards:

MVP--Peyton Manning over Russell Wilson and Nick Foles

Defensive Player of the Year--Richard Sherman over Robert Quinn and J.J. Watt

Offensive Rookie--Keenan Allen edges Larry Warford and Gio Bernard

Defensive Rookie--Sheldon Richardson over Kiko Alonso

Coach of the Year--Bruce Arians edges Andy Reid

Most Improved Player--Cameron Jordan over DeAndre Levy. I try not to give this to players with less than two prior seasons.

Biggest Breakout--Alshon Jeffery and Nick Foles

Comeback Player--Philip Rivers, whom I had written off for dead before the season

$.08--NFL Quickies

1. The Miami Dolphins went from controlling their playoff destiny two weeks ago to losing out. How did that happen? They scored one touchdown in their final 25 offensive possessions. Ewww.

2. Very quietly, the Indianapolis Colts are playing pretty strong football entering the playoffs. They dominated Jacksonville in the finale and are finally stringing together complete games, not just one good half. If they can keep that up, they can play with anyone in the AFC.

3. Houston wrapped up the No. 1 overall pick by dropping its 14th straight game after starting 2-0. We should have known from those first two wins that trouble was brewing; they trailed 28-7 to San Diego before rallying, and they never led until the final gun in an overtime win over the Titans the next week. Whomever the new coach is has to take Louisville QB Teddy Bridgewater with the first pick.

4. There is no doubt the Washington Ethnic Slurs are in need of a complete coaching house cleaning. They played like a team with little interest in trying to save Mike Shanahan’s job in losing to the Giants. It is not as attractive of a position as you might think, what with an oft-meddlesome owner, an injury-prone QB, a porous defense losing its leader in London Fletcher, and no first round pick.

5. Two teams with impressive late-season rallies that proved the mettle of their coaches: the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants. Mike Tomlin’s Steelers won six of the final eight to finish at 8-8 and just missed the playoffs. Tom Coughlin’s Giants improved from 0-6 to 7-9 even with Eli Manning throwing 27 interceptions behind one of the weakest offensive lines in recent times. Both teams will be better next year, book it.

$.09--College/Draft quickies

1. If there was any lingering doubt, Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater should have ameliorated them with his awesome devastation of Miami in the Russell Athletic Bowl (side note: I’m actually wearing a Russell Athletic shirt as I write this). He’s not perfect, but he’s able to do things that normal quarterbacks cannot. I haven’t finished grading him yet, but he will rank very close to Andrew Luck and Cam Newton in the end evaluation. He makes less dangerous throws than either of those two coming out.

2. The Big Ten has yet to win a bowl game. The MAC has yet to win a bowl game. Future B1G members Rutgers and Maryland also lost their bowl games. It’s not a good football year for the Midwest.

3. Thus far the most entertaining bowl game was the first one played, the Gildan New Mexico Bowl between Colorado State and Washington State. CSU running back Kapri Bibbs opted to turn pro, capitalizing on his NCAA-leading touchdown production. He looks like a 4th-5th round pick but he’s not the best pro prospect on the Rams. That would be their center, Weston Richburg. He put on a technical clinic against Wazzou and should come of the board in the 70-90 overall range. I’d love to see him take over in Detroit for Dominic Raiola.

4. I’m headed to St. Petersburg in a couple of weeks for the annual Shrine Game, and the good folks there have assembled some pretty strong rosters in terms of NFL talent. But they erred in inviting Notre Dame QB Tommy Rees over more deserving guys like Ohio State’s Kenny Guiton or Pittsburgh’s Tom Savage. Rees has zero NFL potential, and he showed that in the Irish’s Pinstripe Bowl win over Rutgers. Of course the Scarlet Knights are in significantly worse shape at the position.

5. Since I didn’t include college games in the picks this week, here are a couple I like: Ohio State over Clemson, Stanford over Michigan State sans suspended Max Bullogh, Alabama big over Oklahoma, and Nebraska over Georgia.

$.10--2013 is about to end. It’s another year where the pro sports teams I actively root for will fail to win a championship. That’s been true for all of my 41 years.

For some reason, I still care. Even though my Detroit Lions tap-danced on my heart with stilettos once again, even though my Cleveland Indians came up just short but so far away in what was the year of “wait til next year”, even though my Cavaliers remain a dysfunctional running joke for drafting a guy with no discernible NBA ability with the top pick, I still am not numb to the pain.

Even the teams I pull for on a more minor basis, the Houston Rockets (my son’s burning sports passion) and the Cleveland Browns, have come up empty. Sure the Rockets won back in ’94 and ’95, but that was before they earned my fandom.

So my resolution for 2014 is to not let my miserable sports experiences bleed into the rest of my life. I know the Lions are going to be talented but implode, probably in spectacular and bitter fashion. I know the Indians are going to bubble back down to the bottom of the AL Central for a couple of years before they threaten to sneak into a Wild Card road game against the eventual Cy Young winner. I know the Cavs might get hot enough to seize the eight seed just to get swept away by the Pacers or LeBron’s Heat. Even the Rockets, who have a lot of pieces in place, are unlikely to win more than one playoff series as Dwight Howard clanks away free throws down the stretch and lack of a defensive presence at power forward proves deadly in the playoffs.

I’m not going to let those inevitable sports failures ruin my good time! It’s cliché, but they really are just games. I think a lot of folks out there would be wise to make this their resolution as well. America would be a happier place for it.