The second best story in football.

Mike Lupica, my favorite sportswriter wrote this today in his Sunday "Shooting from the Lip" column, available at nydailynews.com: "The Giants don't earn a trip to the Super Bowl if they beat the Cowboys today. They don't even make themselves the best team in the NFC, not if Brett Favre throws another one down the field when he has to and the Packers win again. The Giants don't make themselves the story of the season in pro football if they beat the Cowboys today, because the Patriots are the story of the season, and after them comes Favre, who makes you watch him even more now, at the age of 38, than he did when he was young."

So here in lies a story about the second best story of the season

I was terrified this week, what with the Vikings coming to Lambeau field after their big win against the Chargers last week. By now every sports fan in the country knows who Adrian Peterson is, and by all accounts I honestly believed that the Packers would not be able to stop him. Remember, when these teams first met Peterson had over 100 yards rushing in the first half alone, and was stopped only by his head coach Brad Childress who refused to use the explosive Peterson in the second half. Childress, who must have an IQ somewhere in the range of Carl Childers is probably the dumbest man in football this side of former Vikings head coach Mike Tice. Which is a fortunate happenstance for Packer fans come to think of it. Today, the Packers finally put together a complete game, a game the likes of which I haven't seen since the 52-3 drubbing of the Saints that Mrs. Samichlaus and I witnessed in 2005.

This was a game where Brett Favre didn't exactly start out firing strikes. Favre, looking like a cross between Nuke Lalouche and Scott Norwood was wide right, wide left and all over the place with his rocket balls, nearly decapitating Donald Driver's fingers on one pass. Can one actually decapitate fingers? Forgive me, I forget the Latin word for "fingers". Fortunately, the Packers running game finally woke up, and they did it against the stingiest running defense in the league. Ryan Grant had 115 yards and showed tremendous poise and balance finding the gaps while outrunning Pat Williams for most of the day. Grant's performance allowed Favre to relax, and by the end of the first half Favre found his groove. Meanwhile, the Packers defense put on a show that was reminiscent of the Reggie White era. They shut down Adrian Peterson who mustered a mere 45 yards before leaving late in the third quarter with a leg injury, and shut out the Vikings, who haven't been shut out since 1991.

And I have to say, I'm starting to believe that the Packers can play with any team in the NFL.

I'll be curious to see what happens in the Dallas - Giants game today. If we did get around to predictions this week I'd have taken the Cowboys and rooted hard to be wrong. And as far as the Patriots are concerned, well maybe the Packers could play with them but I'm not saying they'd like, win or anything. But the Packers season has thus far been a great story, reminiscent of the Denver Broncos story of 1997. I've been waiting 10 years to right that 1997 season, but I guess I shouldn't complain. Patriots fans still have their tits in a twist over the 1996 season. Sometimes you'd never believe they've won all those Super Bowls.

Every week the Packers show me something new and different, and every week they seem to get a little better. Almost every week they find a way to win.

And Brett Favre is playing the best football of his career.