Upon further review, the fat lady is humming a few bars.

It appears that the fat lady would have to be a math major, too, if she believed it wasn't over for the green and gold this season.

While Mike McCarthy would not come right out and say that most of his charges are playing to be gainfully employed in August, it would not come as a surprise if he played the "Fat Lady's Greatest Hits" 8-track after Houston's Kris Brown put the dagger deep down into the 2008 season.

The Pittsburgh tough guy set the world outdoor record for the headset toss after Brown's boot sailed through the uprights. This was McCarthy's first attempt of the season, even though he could have drilled it several times while opposing runners and receivers were running through his defense like the reindeer ran over grandma.

Thankfully, McCarthy showed some restraint or else he would have wound up on injured reserve with a torn rotator cuff.

But you know it has been a bad season when your new punter draws the biggest round of applause during the 60 minutes of Football.

Nonetheless, McCarthy - like veteran U.S. Navy captain John Paul Jones - has not yet begun to fight. The road to 8-8 goes on.

"We're the Green Bay Packers , so we're going to line up, and we're going to prepare," he vowed shortly after the ship sank to 5-8. "We're going to get in here tomorrow and correct our mistakes, and everybody is going to know exactly what went wrong, what went right, and we will apply that as we move forward.

"But we are going down to Jacksonville to win a Football game. We need to win a game around here. We are the Green Bay Packers . I fully expect everybody to prepare to perform at a high level."

It would be nice if the defense performed at a high level for once. On any given Sunday in 2008, this crew has looked as if it has been in a long winter's nap.

Matt Schaub, who had been a pedestrian for the previous four weeks, threw for 414 yards and two touchdowns on one leg. Obviously, the Green Bay defense planned for a guy who wasn't gimpy.

In the end, it was Green Bay's playoff hopes that didn't have a leg to stand on.

Still, the Pack can crash the post-season bash if they win all their games, if Minnesota loses all three of its games and the Bears lose two out of three. This scenario will play out when pigs are spotted flying over the Don Hutson Center.

"We've got Jacksonville, and that's what we're going to focus on and that's just about all we can focus on right now," claimed quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Right.

Even though the Packers have their backs against the wall, they're still very much alive. It's do or die. There's no tomorrow. They're down but not out. They're not mathematically eliminated, so this is for all the marbles. And you're never out of it until you're out of it.

In other words, the Packers had better hope that the fat lady isn't ready to give it 110%.

The bare facts

For whatever reason, the Minnesota Vikings decided to hand out a game ball Sunday after they avoided losing to the hapless Lions.

And, for whatever reason, the Fox post-game show decided to show the festivities live.

There stood team owner Ziggy Wilf dedicating the game ball to the 19-year-old son of coach Brad Childress, who was joining the Marines and about to go to Iraq.

And there, behind the owner, stood tight end Visanthe Shiancoe in full view in his birthday suit, ready for a naked reverse.

And who says the Vikings don't get any exposure?

Shiancoe quickly covered up, but it was too late.

"It obviously was an oversight on our part and we apologize," said Fox Sports vice president of communications Dan Bell.

In the end, Fox got caught with its pants down and the cameraman was penalized for a false start.

Jet lag

Don't look for Laveranues Coles to share a Christmas ham loaf with Brett the Jet.

The Jets receiver wasn't getting all warm and fuzzy when discussing Favre with the San Francisco media last week.

So the honeymoon is officially over, according to Coles.

Here's some of what he had to say in the conference call:

* "We're in a quarterback-driven offense where he pretty much has control of everything, where before the offense was pretty much driven through me. . . . I just kind of become a role player instead of a guy that teams had to prepare for."

* "This is his offense. When we do throw the ball, there's really no level of importance, where at one point it used to be where I was the guy . . . in position to get the ball most of the time." . . .

* "I catch balls from the Jugs machine. The ball probably comes out harder from there than it does from anywhere else."

* "Of course, he's the big name, he's the Hall of Famer, he's going to get the majority of the credit, but most of the guys who deserve the credit don't really get it."

Touch?.

Things are bound to get worse since Coles caught just one ball for five yards in New York's 24-14 loss to the 49ers.

So don't go looking for Coles hanging out with guys wearing Wranglers in Broadway Brett's backyard.

Football follies

The fall of O.J. Simpson and the misfiring Plaxico Burress gave Jay Leno all the ammunition he needed to take some good shots at the situations.

Leno had this to say about Simpson: "As you may have heard, a Nevada judge has sentenced O.J. Simpson to 15 years in prison. Up until now, the worst penalty that O.J. ever got was 15 yards."

Here's his shot at Burress: "As you know, New York Giants superstar Plaxico Burress was arrested after his unlicensed firearm went off in his pants in a night club.

Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg wants to throw the book at him. Today he was given a choice: Either 3 1/2 years in prison or he has to play for the Detroit Lions. I would go with the prison."

Hair-raising tale

It is with great pleasure that Vikings defensive end Jared Allen brags about his mullet.

So he's a couple knocks to the head from greatness.

"Think of all the bad (expletive); I bet 99% have mullets," Allen said.

"Steven Seagal, Rick Springfield, John Stamos, Hacksaw Jim Dugan, A.C. Slater and Billy Ray Cyrus."

Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press managed to put the mullet mania into perspective.

Schrader said, "So besides Seagal and Hacksaw, a wrestler, you have the guy who sang 'Jessie's Girl,' two dudes from 'Full House' and 'Saved by the Bell,' and Miley Cyrus' dad.

"Does that say more about Allen's definition of a tough guy or his taste in entertainment?"

VineLines

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: "New York Giants are NFL's best team. Now, thanks to Plaxico Burress, they're No. 1 with a bullet." . . .

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle: "I guess Plaxico Burress wasn't wearing Under Armour." . . .

Steve Rosenbloom on his Chicago Tribune blog: "Jacksonville did the Bears a favor by kicking away from Devin Hester. Maybe word travels slowly to the south that Hester isn't HESTER and hasn't been for a long time. Return a punt for a score? Goodness, the guy can't even catch a punt anymore." . . .

Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon Star Phoenix: "Speaking of Twinkies, University of Montana fans break out boxes of the fattening treat and throw them into the stands whenever their team scores a touchdown. In a related story, John Madden has asked NBC if he can cover University of Montana games." . . .

Fox sideline reporter Tony Siragusa, after the St. Louis Rams lost an early-game fumble deep in their own end: "Talk about adversity. It don't get more adversity than that." . . .

Steelers running back Mewelde Moore defending two former Vikings teammates accused of taking a diuretic: "Look how big Kevin and Pat Williams are. . . . Those guys are naturally big, man. Them guys are cornbread-fed!" . . .

Headline at Onion.com: "Paranoid kicker thinks team purposely scored touchdown so he couldn't mess up field goal." . . .

Jacksonville Jaguars running back and former UCLA star Maurice Jones-Drew on the difference between Los Angeles and Jacksonville: "In L.A. you have the high life and Hollywood. In Jacksonville, you have alligators."

From Packer Plus wire, Internet reports and other news sources. Send e-mail to mhart@journalsentinel.com

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