There were a lot of reactions after the Green Bay Packers rallied to tie the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

The overwhelming reaction was kind of "blah."

We didn’t lose but we didn’t win, either. Players and fans and coaches took some solace in the fourth-quarter comeback but nobody went overboard about anything. That’s kind of what a tie does to you.

I, humbly, would suggest a slightly more concerned response might well have been appropriate.

Something along these lines:

"HOLY CRAP! WE ALMOST LOST TO A TEAM THAT IS TIED FOR THE WORST RECORD IN ALL OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL (EXCEPT CANADIAN PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL). I MEAN, HOLY CRAP!"

There are probably no more optimistic fans anywhere in professional sports. The "We’ll be better next week/month/year/decade" is a disease that runs rampant through Packerdom.

The performance of this team without Aaron Rodgers points out a couple of things.

Number one is that the NFL has succeeded in making the game all about the quarterback. Between rules changes and practices it has now come down to you either have a great quarterback or you go home. I find that whole premise ridiculous.

But more than that is the point that this football team really doesn’t have a whole lot going for it now, with or without Rodgers.

The thing that has me scared almost beyond recovery is how lousy this defense is.

(Side note: As for B.J. Raji being in a contract year and thinking about paying him millions of dollars, take your wallet and go home. Two years ago he was in the Pro Bowl and his dog performance was almost solely responsible for talk about how to improve the Hawaiian junket, or whether to just dump it in the ocean. Raji had one tackle against the Vikings. One. Tackle.)

The defense was shredded. Everybody expects Adrian Peterson, who gained 146 yards, to get his due. He averaged 4.6 yards a carry. But his backup, Toby Gerhart, rushed for 91 yards and had an average gain of 11.4 yards a try.

Christian Ponder, a decidedly middle-of-the-road quarterback, shred them for 233 yards and a passer rating of 103.9 for one of the top five quarterback performances Sunday.

If you watched the game on television, as almost all of us do, we can’t help but notice those occasional shots of defensive coordinator Dom Capers. Maybe it’s the angle of the shot or something, but I swear he has a befuddled look on his face.

There is, as far as I can see, only one good thing that came out of the tie. If the Packers win their remaining five games they will win the NFC North, even if the Bears win all of their games: 10-5-1 beats 10-6.

But the idea of winning their remaining games seems, at best, a slightly forlorn hope.

They play Detroit on Thanksgiving in the Motor City. The Lions need the win at least as much as the Packers do, if not more.

Then the Packers play Atlanta at home, at Dallas, Pittsburgh at home and at Chicago. Only Atlanta seems like an odds-on win, but after last Sunday, who knows. Pittsburgh, Dallas and Chicago are all in the playoff hunt so nobody is going to lay down for Green Bay.

I know this is the season when we are supposed to be thankful for stuff. And I want to play, too.

I’m thankful this season is almost over and we can all get on with fixing things for next year.