By Matt Mueller Culture Editor Published Dec 30, 2019 at 7:59 AM

And thus concludes the most unexpected and least impressive 13-3 campaign in NFL history.

You'd have thought the Packers lost based on the overall reaction to Sunday's victory over Detroit, 23-20, as the team looked like hot trash for the first half only to remember how to play football again in the second half and coming back to vanquish the depleted Lions. The win locked Green Bay into a bye week, yet you'd think it knocked us out of the playoffs considering the general vibe toward the team – not from national sports pundits, but from the Packers faithful. 

Sure, the Packers haven't looked impressive over the season, winning ugly at best, and we've yet to see them play a complete game from start to finish. On the other hand, we've yet to see them play a complete game from start to finish ... and they're still 13-3, with a bye week to start the playoffs and home field in the second round. If this is what the Packers look like when they're bad, imagine how impressive they might be if they finally put it all together. That's all that matters now, after all – no more looking back.

OK, maybe one final look back. Here's eight key images from the Packers' regular season finale.

1. Fashion statement

Normally Aaron Jones' sombrero is the most eye-catching part of his pregame ensemble, but this week, it's his sweatshirt making the biggest fashion statement. Apparently during last week's big win over the Vikings, Minnesota's Anthony Barr told the Packers running back after his early fumble that the lights were too bright for him and he should get off the field. And in case scoring the dagger touchdown and going off for over 100 yards wasn't enough revenge for Jones, he's now turned Barr's smack talk into some nice motivational wardrobe. Here's to Jones busting this look out again if the Packers meet the Vikings yet again in the second round of the playoffs. 

2. A new era

After the rough first half on Sunday, one thing is growingly clear: The era of Aaron Rodgers as the faultless number one quarterback in all of the land is over. Sure, he turned it around in the second half and ended with a respectable line of 323 yards and two touchdowns, but whether it's the receiving corps, still getting used to the new system, bad habits from the late McCarthy years, age finally catching up to him or something else entirely, Rodgers just isn't the same precise quarterback we're accustomed to. I guess we'll just have to cope with merely a top 10 quarterback instead of the greatest in the game from now on. Poor us; how will we survive. 

3. Where'd you guys go?

I don't know much about football, but I think you've made a pretty good move when not one but two defenders get juked out of their jockstraps on a single play.

4. Lion's roar

The entire second half brought out a different Green Bay team – with the defense starting to get stops again and the offense, you know, scoring points – but the real turning point seemed to come from Blake Martinez's big interception, snagging a bad David Blough pass midway through the fourth quarter with the Pack now just down a touchdown, returning it to around mid-field and topping it all off with a ferocious roar while running through the sideline. Add 15 yards with a dumb cheap shot penalty on veteran wide receiver Danny Amendola, and suddenly the Packers' hopes of a comeback turned into a reality. 

5. The lion slayer

A season ago, Mason Crosby had to think his career was dead after missing four field goals and an extra point against the Lions in a 31-23 loss. Instead, Crosby came back and put the Lions in their graves as, for the second time this season, he stepped onto the field with seconds remaining and hit a game-winning kick to give the Packers a comeback victory over Detroit and a guaranteed bye week for the first round of the playoffs. What a difference a year makes. 

6. James Nostradamus Jones

Maybe you saw the Packers having a rebound year. And maybe you even saw the Packers returning to the playoffs. But only one person is allowed to say that they actually saw the Packers going 13-3, making the playoffs as one of the top seeds in the entire NFC – and that person is former Green Bay receiver and current NFL Network analyst James Jones, show apparently called the Packers' impressive final result before the season even began to the laughing amusement of his colleagues. Well, who is laughing now? He even got a third of the losses right – the toughest one to predict too, against the Chargers. NOW TELL ME HOW I DIE, NOSTRAJAMESMUS!

7. Welcome back

Not everyone was down on the Packers after their closed-than-preferred victory over the Lions. Indeed, a crowd of fans came to greet the returning NFC North champs. And now, for two weeks of rest, practice and anticipation.

8. THIIIIIIS close

In a situation that surely made Packers fans sick to their stomachs, Green Bay was cheering for the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night as a Seattle victory over the San Francisco would've scored the Pack the top seed in the NFC and home field for the entire playoff path. Unfortunately, the Seahawks came up just short. No, really – JUST short. Literal centimeters, as Seattle's final fourth-and-goal pass play was taken to the turf at the half-inch line, locking the Pack into the second seed where they'll await the winner of the Wild Card weekend matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the Minnesota Vikings. Stupid Seahawks; even when they lose, they mess everything up.

Matt Mueller Culture Editor

As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.

When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.