Few NFC coaches distinguished themselves this year. Minnesota's Brad Childress turned in an admirable job and Arizona's Ken Whisenhunt almost made the Cardinals competitive. Detroit's Rod Marinelli would've been a sure-fire nominee if awards were given at the end of October and Mike Holmgren solidified his stature with another division title. But let's face facts; the NFC West wasn't football's version of Patton's Third Army.

The Packers led the NFC in passing yards and, predictably, Brett Favre was no stranger to the big play. But most important, McCarthy and his staff found a way to protect old number 4. Favre was sacked only 15 times this season. That's good news to any 38-year-old quarterback.

McCarthy found a running game to complement the Favre to Driver or Jennings combination, solving the Packers' most obvious early season need. RB Ryan Grant nearly reached the 1000 yard plateau despite averaging only 12 carries per game. Also, Grant averaged over five yards per carry, led the NFC in runs of more than 20 yards, and fumbled only once.

Before the season began all eyes were on Chicago in the NFC North. The only drama expected in Green Bay was whether or not Brett Favre would retire at season's end. Instead, Green Bay jumped from the gate, silenced the naysayers, and produced one of Lambeau Field's most memorable seasons.

The Cowboys were supposed to be good. But not many people expected them to post the NFC's best record in what proved to be its toughest division. Three of the six NFC playoff teams came from the NFC East.

Dallas posted the NFC's second ranked offense--tops in scoring--and lost only 5 fumbles. They started better than any team in franchise history and established conference supremacy with an impressive win over Green Bay. Texas Stadium again proved to be Brett Favre's personal Dunkirk and gave Dallas a stranglehold on home field advantage, meaning no January reenactment of the Ice Bowl. Furthermore, Phillips' offense was so structured that it kept Terrell Owens quiet, at least for a while.

However, Dallas was as lackluster in December as a winning team could be. Between unremarkable wins at Detroit and Carolina the Cowboys suffered a horrid loss to Philadelphia. A distracted Terrell Owens publicly blamed Jessica Simpson for the team's swoon. The sag culminated with a 27-6 humbling at the hands of arch-rival Washington, a game in which Dallas rushed for a single yard on 16 carries.

What started as a strong and promising season with Phillips wielding the reigns devolved into an exercise in futility and false drama.

The Redskins offense was the perfect definition of mediocre. They ranked eighth in total offense, eighth in passing, tenth in points and fifth in rushing, averaging only 3.8 yards per carry. But Washington played good defense, ranking second in the NFC. They corrected their 3rd down problems from 2006 (44% to 36%) and significantly reduced the number of big passing plays allowed.

While the Redskins appeared an average team and finished with an average record, the course they followed was anything but average. They lost games they should've won (NY, Week 3) and won games they should've lost (AZ, Week 7). The team appeared ready to collapse when they sleepwalked through an ugly home loss to Buffalo in the first game after Sean Taylor's death. To make matters worse, the team's lack of focus extended to Gibbs. His timeout blunder made Buffalo's winning field goal a much easier kick.

Combine the Buffalo loss with the death of Taylor and the injury to QB Jason Campbell and you have the perfect situation for players to grumble about their coach. Yet the Redskins publicly rallied around Gibb's leadership, crediting him with helping them deal with the death of their teammate. The Skins rallied to win their last four games, including important road wins over the Giants and Vikings and a whipping of the hated Cowboys. And they did it with a QB who hadn't started a game in 10 years.

Joe Gibbs second stint with Washington may not have produced the Super Bowl glory that earned him a spot in Canton, but he did produce two playoff teams in four seasons. That's better than any Redskin coach since Gibbs' first tenure. Happy retirement coach, and thanks for the memories.