The Green Bay Packers' season ended Sunday afternoon at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers capping a strange year. The total record for the team was a perfectly mediocre 8-8-1. Yet, the Packers won the NFC North and reached the playoffs for the fifth straight season. There was plenty to cheer for, plenty to shake your head at and enough to wonder what exactly was going on out there.

Here are some of the good, the bad and the odd moments and players that helped define the 2013 Packers season.

The good

Eddie Lacy
After a slow start to the season (a fumble and benching in week one, a concussion in week 2 and missing week 3) the rookie out of Alabama exploded for 1,208 yards and 10 touchdowns in his final 14 games (including the playoff game). He ended the season hearing his name chanted around Lambeau Field on Sunday. He set franchise records for a rookie and is in the conversation for Rookie of the Year and has given the Packers a legitimate running threat for the first time in years.

Aaron Rodgers’ return
After suffering a broken collarbone, there were thoughts Rodgers might not return at all in 2013. But, the former Most Valuable Player took the field in the final week of the regular season in Chicago and led the Packers to a 33-28 victory by throwing for 318 yards and two scores against two interceptions, including the game-winner to Randall Cobb on a fourth down play late in the game.

The comeback against Dallas

The first half looked awful as the Packers trailed 26-3 at the break, but Matt Flynn led a stirring second half comeback where the Packers outscored the Cowboys, 34-10. Flynn tossed four touchdowns in the game and Sam Shields and Tramon Williams came up with huge interceptions of Tony Romo late.

Rodgers to Jordy Nelson

In the nine full games Rodgers played in 2013, his chemistry with Nelson was incredible. The wide receiver caught 56 passes for 872 yards (15.6 average) and 8 touchdowns. Without Rodgers? Nelson caught just 29 passes for 442 yards and no scores.

The bad

Thanksgiving Day in Detroit

This was the unequivocal low point (in terms of a game result) of the 2013 regular season for the Packers. The team went into Detroit losers of three straight but with slim playoff hopes.Then, they were beat down, 40-10, in a contest that wasn’t even that close.

The offense didn’t score a touchdown as the defense kept them in it initially, but 126 yards of total offense and three turnovers proved just how much the team missed Aaron Rodgers.

The final seconds against Pittsburgh

Many in the Packers locker room laid some blame at the officials for not letting them get two snaps off in the final 10 seconds, but a false start before that resulted in a 10 second runoff and the team didn’t execute efficiently after a long kick return by Micah Hyde set them up for a potential game-tying score.

The injuries to Rodgers, Clay Matthews and Randall Cobb

No one in Green Bay was willing to say losing so many starters and key reserves to injury mattered, but when the league’s best quarterback, one of its top 10 pass rushers and one of the most dangerous multipurpose threats miss a combined 25 games (including Matthews’ absence in the playoffs) it’s very difficult to win a ton of games, or even a playoff game.

The San Francisco 49ers

The year began and ended with losses to Jim Harbaugh’s crew. Week one was disappointing because the Packers spent all offseason preparing for the read-option only to see Colin Kaepernick complete 27 passes for 412 yards and 3 touchdowns. On Sunday, Kaepernick threw for 227 and a score and ran for an additional 98 to knock the Packers out of the postseason for the second straight year.

The odd

Tying the Minnesota Vikings

Flynn provided a second half spark after Scott Tolzien was benched, but the game left an odd taste in everyone’s mouth. Players weren’t sure how to feel about it and despite the tie, the Packers had chances to win the game in the 15-minute overtime session. The result wound up benefiting the Packers as they eventually won the NFC North, but a tie is always a strange result.

Four quarterbacks taking snaps

It was odd enough to see Rodgers knocked out of a game, but when Seneca Wallace was injured a week later and then Tolzien was pulled for Flynn two weeks after that, it gave Packers fans an insight into what most quarterback situations are like in the NFL. This season ended a run of 20 years of quarterback stability.

Rodgers’ struggles

This may be nit-picky, considering No. 12 finished his season with a 104.9 rating in the nine games he played, but there were times when he didn’t quite look like himself. There were the two interceptions and 64.5 rating in a loss to Cincinnati, completing 53 percent of his passes with an interception in Baltimore and the overall struggles of the offense in the red zone.