The Green Bay Packers and their fans had every right to be pissed when Brett Favre came out of retirement twice and joined the team's archrival in the twilight of his career. That's somewhat understandable -- although they should consider that the team discarded Favre, not the other way around. Regardless, things ended badly and it hurt a lot of fans.

But you know how I see it now? This is like breaking up with a really cool girlfriend and then meeting Kate Upton, or losing a really good job but then finding your dream career. 

Naturally, it's a lot easier for human beings to forgive and forget when they're better off than they were when the infraction(s) in question took place. And so it should be easy for Packers fans to do exactly that. After all, they've won a Super Bowl and have been to the playoffs four times since Aaron Rodgers took over in 2008. 

Favre was special, but Rodgers might out-special him. We're talking about the highest-rated quarterback in NFL history here, and by a wide margin. 

Hell, even Rodgers, who was victimized while holding clipboards during Favre's final, waffle-filled years in Green Bay, is willing to bury any hatchets.

"It's been too long," Rodgers said on "The Jim Rome Show" Wednesday regarding the grudge Packers fans have held against No. 4. "You know, our country and the state of Wisconsin, these people are a people of second and third and fourth chances. I think it's time to let the healing process begin for those who are still upset for what went down."

Rodgers and Favre appeared on stage together at the NFL's annual awards show on the eve of this year's Super Bowl in New Orleans, and it appears that broke some ice.

"It was kind of a good first step," Packers president Mark Murphy said last month. "And our intent all along is we want to bring [Favre] back into the family and retire his number. He deserves it."

He does. And because the Packers are winning now, this is no harm, no foul. It's a win-win. No more pettiness. Time to move on.

Steelers rookie quarterback Landry Jones is charged with the difficult task of backing up Ben Roethlisberger. That's a difficult position to hold with the Pittsburgh Steelers simply because Ben Roethlisberger does tend to find himself sidelined with injuries from time to time.

If there's anything that jumps out about Landry Jones, it's his personality. Anyone who's met him says the same thing. He has an outstanding outlook on life, and he's an open, friendly person to engage. He's also extremely devoted to his Christian faith, and in the coming years, that will become more and more important, especially should he become more than just another backup quarterback.

Cyd Zeigler of SBNation had a chance to talk to Jones about his faith and how that affects his views towards and about gay athletes. In recent years, the issue of gay athletes has made its way to the forefront of the sports world, and there have been inflammatory comments made by current athletes as well as remarks of acceptance. Landry Jones gave yet another perspective.

"Now, do I condone what they're doing? No, I don't think it's right," Jones told Zeigler. "But, am I going to go out there and not talk to them? Am I going to go out there and be hateful and mean to them? I think that's ignorant. I think we respect and love everybody. But, there's also a moral standard there for me, and I'm going to take a stand on that. I don't think it's right, but it's their life and I'm not going to go up because someone is gay and be mean or hateful and say terrible things to them. I'm going to treat them like a human being."

The fact of the matter is that one's views on homosexuality, and in turn gay athletes, are a personal matter of opinion. Some see no problem with homosexuality, some have a huge problem with it, and some people simply don't agree with it in the way that they don't agree with waking up early in the morning; it's not for them, but that doesn't mean anyone that wakes up very early in the morning is bad, it simply means they're their own person.

Landry Jones has developed his views on homosexuality based on his religious faith. There's nothing wrong with that. He doesn't agree with leading a homosexual lifestyle. That's okay too. The key point here is that he's also ready to treat those that don't hold such convictions as equal human beings. Acceptance doesn't necessarily mean unanimous agreement; there's nothing of that sort in this world. As the issue of gay athletes becomes more prevalent, battle lines may be drawn, and we'll need rational thinking people to help sort out the issue. Count Landry Jones as one such rational person.

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Jason Garrett is not coaching for his job in 2013; at least that's what Cowboys owner, GM and kingpin Jerry Jones would have us believe about his embattled head coach.

"Well, no, no he's not ... to the last question: Is Jason coaching for his job? No," Jones told the NFL Network.

Jerry Jones may think that if he says Jason Garrett is his man enough times, he'll start to believe it himself. The problem is nothing about Garrett suggests that he's the right man for the Cowboys' head coaching position.

"What we're doing is taking the assets that we have, and Jason being right at the top and certainly our premier asset, and we're using them to the best of our ability," Jones continued.

The Cowboys have finished 8-8 two seasons in a row, missing the playoffs due to a week 17 loss to a divisional rival in both cases.

One of the biggest problem the Cowboys seem to have is at the quarterback position. Tony Romo plays well much of the time, leading to a number of wins that the Cowboys may not otherwise earn, but he also falls apart in big situations. Two seasons in a row, the Cowboys had a de-factor division championship game in week 17, and two years in a row, Tony Romo couldn't pull through for the Cowboys.

The overarching organizational problem, however, is Jerry Jones. He's all too willing to accept credit for the successes of the Cowboys, and they've been few and far between for some time, but he's also more than willing to pick scapegoats to fire. Following 2012, Rob Ryan was dismissed as the Cowboys' defensive coordinator for questionable reasons. Right now, Jerry Jones will be content saying that Garrett isn't coaching for his job, but if things start to go downhill again this season, Jones will change his tone in a heartbeat.

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Chuck Norris is a cultural icon. Tim Tebow is a cultural icon. That's not the only thing the two have in common. Chuck Norris recently compared himself to Tebow, and he didn't exactly miss the point.

"Tebow is a player who rises to the occasion and delivers big in critical game moments," Norris wrote. "He reminds me of myself when I used to compete in martial arts. I would spar with my black belts in class, and sometimes they would outscore me. Yet in the tournaments, I would defeat them. My students used to ask me, ‘Why can we contend equally against you in class, but we can’t beat you in the tournaments?’ My answer was always the same, ‘When it counts, I rise to the occasion.’ The same is true of the former Heisman Trophy winner: When pressure mounts and the game is on the line, Tim’s turbo turns on!"

Norris has a point here. During the Broncos' playoff run a couple seasons ago, the Broncos defense kept the team in the game for about 55 minutes of the game. Then, right at the end, Tim Tebow found a way to get it done. It wasn't always pretty, in fact it was usually quite ugly, but the Broncos won games under Tebow, and it got them to the playoffs.

While the comparison is nice for Tim Tebow, he needs a lot more endorsements from the right people to actually help out his NFL career.

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As NFL coaching staffs and front offices have increased their emphasis on passers and those who attack passers, middle linebackers have lost their luster in recent decades. But two players emerged in the last decade and a half to change the perception that linebackers who didn't blitz couldn't be superstars. 

Fittingly, Brian Urlacher and Ray Lewis are retiring together, and there's a small chance both enter the Hall of Fame together in about half a decade.

Lewis walked away a Super Bowl champion in February, while Urlacher confirmed Wednesday on Twitter that he's going out on less glamorous terms. He was let go by the Bears in March and apparently couldn't find the right job elsewhere.

Urlacher and Lewis should leave together. Two of the scariest dudes of this generation, and two throwback linebackers who stood out above all of their peers at that position. It just feels right. 

Combined, the two played 30 seasons but never switched teams. Lewis spent 17 in Baltimore, while Urlacher played 13 in Chicago. They recorded 2,565 tackles in 410 games (6.3 tackles per game over a 17-year span). They both had exactly 41.5 sacks, but Urlacher played in 46 fewer games. Urlacher had 6.8 tackles per game, while Lewis "settled" for 5.8. He had nine more interceptions than Urlacher (31 to 22), but Urlacher beat Lewis by a margin of 11 when it came to passes defenses (78 to 67). Lewis forced 17 fumbles, while Urlacher had 12, but that works out to only 0.008 more forced fumbles per game in Lewis' corner. 

They made three Super Bowls, with Lewis winning two and Urlacher losing one. And that might be the biggest difference between the two and the only reason why Lewis becomes a first-ballot Hall of Famer while Canton makes Urlacher wait. 

That would be a shame, though, because this is a team game. And while both were remarkable leaders, championships shouldn't define individual athletes completely. Urlacher has the look and feel of a first-ballot Hall of Famer, at least so long as everyone believes Lewis does. 

The phrase "defense wins championships" used to be a common phrase in the closing weeks of an NFL season. At those times, there would often be a high-powered offense cruising into the postseason, and that team's detractors would pull out that one stock quote to discredit any Super Bowl hopes. Then, the Rams won a Super Bowl, the Patriots won Super Bowls, the Colts won one, and the Saints won their own as well.

In today's NFL, it's no longer enough to simply eat the clock with a bulldozing running game and a tough defense. Now, you have to be able to put up plenty of points, even with a strong defense.

Case in point, the big game just a few months ago between the 49ers and Ravens. Both teams fielded exceptional defenses and bruising running games, yet the final score was a healthy 34-31 in favor of the Ravens. It's no accident that both teams put up plenty of points.

Rule changes have led to greater offensive production over the past couple of decades. We all know that, but offensive creativity has also led to great innovation on the offensive side of the ball. Conventional wisdom likely slowed that progress, but conventional wisdom has shifted. It's no longer a run-the-ball-and-stop-the-run league. Now it's a pass-and-stop-the-pass centric league, and that's given some teams a huge edge over others.

The 49ers are suddenly shallow at the wide receiver position after Michael Crabtree suffered an Achilles tear in OTAs according to USA Today Sports. Crabtree will "soon" undergo what could be season-ending surgery to repair the tear.

Crabtree, now 25, found success last season with the 49ers, and he was in position to be a staple of the 49ers pass attack.

To be clear on this injury, it's not a given that Crabtree will miss the whole 2013 season. Achilles tears can be rehabbed within months, and it's possible that Crabtree could return to action sometime in the middle of the regular season, just in time for the 49ers to make a run down the stretch.

The injury could prompt the 49ers to look for a fill-in receiver. Randy Moss had a quiet season with the 49ers in 2012, but his experience with the team could give him an opportunity to play one more year in the NFL. It may not be a popular option for the team, but San Francisco will need to replace at least some of the production they'll be losing without Michael Crabtree.

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Bruce Arians is not happy with his offense, and he's letting everyone know about it. It's not often that you hear a head coach, much less a first year head coach, call out his own team as early as OTAs, but it seems Arians wants to give his team a kick in the rear.

"We're just not picking it up fast enough," he said via the Associated Press. "We're still not picking it up the way I'd like to -- at all positions."

"I don't like mistakes. I really don't like mental mistakes," Arians continued, "especially if you made the same mistake last week. That should be corrected and in the books by now, and our receivers are not getting that done."

Running back Ryan Williams was happy to hear Arians' direct form of communication.

"Everybody’s accountable, that’s the No. 1 thing," Williams said. "It’s a respect thing.  We used to have egotistical guys who felt like they couldn’t be touched and be able to do whatever they wanted to.  So having guys like coach Bruce is able to nip that ASAP and we’re able to have a good, quality practice and sometimes that wasn’t able to happen because some guys were just doing whatever they wanted to do."

Normally, it would signal bad things to come for a first year coach to criticize his own team in such a direct and public manner, but in this case, it can't do any harm. The Cardinals got off to a great start last season, but it all fell apart. Arizona just isn't a very good football team, and they need to be working as hard as possible. By putting his team on notice, everyone in the Cardinals organization knows that playtime is over, and Bruce Arians means business.

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As was predicted by pretty much everyone, Super Bowl L will be played in San Francisco, and Super Bowl LI will be hosted by the city of Houston. Miami, the other city in the running for both Super Bowls, was shown the door after funding for improvements to Sun Life Stadium fell through.

Super Bowl L will be played at the yet-to-be-opened Santa Clara stadium in 2016. The stadium will also be the home to the San Francisco 49ers. The event will be held in the Bay Area for the first time since 1985.

Super Bowl LI will be played at Reliant Stadium the following year. The Super Bowl in 2017 will be the second time the event has been held at Reliant Stadium.

Miami is always a strong bidder to host a Super Bowl, but with so many state-of-the-art facilities popping up around the nation, it's unlikely Miami will win another bid until updates are made to the Dolphins' current home.

The added wrinkle that these selections have is that both the Texans and the 49ers are currently at the top of their respective division. This season's Super Bowl, to be played in New York, and the two aforementioned Super Bowls have the potential to field a team from the host city in the big game, something we've never seen before.

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With David Garrard now out of the New York Jets' quarterback struggle, and that's exactly the appropriate word for their situation, the team's starting quarterback options are essentially down to incumbent Mark Sanchez or rookie Geno Smith.

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports that the Jets may pick their starting quarterback before training camp.

Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg talked with Mehta about the Jets' quarterback battle, saying, "We don't care what the prevailing thought is," Mornhinweg told Mehta about the perception that the quarterback competition will continue through the start of training camp. "We only care about our competition here."

When asked about the possibility of one of the current quarterbacks, presumably Sanchez or Smith, separating himself from the pack as the team's starter, Mornhinweg responded, "Oh, absolutely," Mornhinweg said. "Sure. Absolutely. That's all part of the process. Absolutely. Everything we do is important. Our meetings are important… the way we go about our meetings, the way we go about our preparation right now with a new system. These are very important things. Every pass we throw out there in OTAs and these practices are important."

The overarching question in New York isn't who will be this season's starting quarterback; it's, is Geno Smith the starting quarterback of the future? If the answer is yes, Smith will likely be this season's starter, even if he's outperformed by Sanchez, so long as the competition is reasonably close. Considering the general attitude towards Sanchez, it's hard to see a scenario where the Jets don't roll with Smith in 2013.

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