--QB Aaron Rodgers is hopeful he won't need surgery in the offseason for a sprained throwing shoulder. Rodgers didn't miss a game because of the injury, which he sustained in Week 4. He finished his first season as the successor to the legendary Brett Favre with 4,038 passing yards, 28 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Rodgers is only the second quarterback in the league since 1970 to reach the 4,000-yard plateau in the same season in which he made his first career start.

--C Scott Wells suffered a sprained ankle late in the first quarter of Sunday's season-ending 31-21 win over the Detroit Lions. Wells didn't return to the game, though he would have been needed to go back in had the Packers lost another lineman to injury after Allen Barbre sustained a game-ending sprained ankle in the third quarter. The losses of Wells and Barbre, who had gone in at left guard with Jason Spitz's moving to center to replace Wells, created a lot of shuffling on the line in the game.

--SS Aaron Rouse left the game in the second quarter with a sprained knee. Charlie Peprah manned the position the rest of the way.

--WR Donald Driver capped a milestone day with a 71-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter - the Packers' longest pass play of the season. That earned Driver a franchise-record sixth season with 1,000 receiving yards - he shared the previous benchmark of five seasons with James Lofton and Sterling Sharpe. Driver also extended his club record to five consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. He finished the season with 1,012 yards.

--DT Justin Harrell ended the season sidelined for three consecutive games because of complications from two back surgeries he underwent in the spring and summer. Harrell, the team's first-round draft pick in 2007, managed to play in only six games this season. Another medical procedure might be warranted in the offseason.

--RB Brandon Jackson was deactivated for the second straight game because of a sprained wrist.

REPORT CARD VS. LIONS

PASSING OFFENSE: A-minus -- Aaron Rodgers finished a mostly solid debut season as a starter with a flurry. His passer rating was a career-best 132.2 on the strength of 21-of-31 accuracy for 308 yards, a personal-high tying three touchdowns and no interceptions. The completion percentage would have been off the charts if not for seven drops, including an uncharacteristic four by top receiver Greg Jennings. Previously under fire for not being able to come through at crunch time of close games, Rodgers shot back with the team's longest pass play of 2008, a laser that traveled 50 yards in the air to Donald Driver, who covered the rest for a 71-yard touchdown that delivered the final knockout to the 0-16 Lions with 7 minutes to play in what was a three-point game at the time. Driver (six catches, 111 yards) and Jennings (five catches, 101 yards) had 100-yard performances. Rookie tight end Jermichael Finley finally let his play do the talking after he had taken issue with his involvement in the offense and questioned Rodgers' throwing abilities earlier in the season. Finley pulled down a 3-yard fade pass for an early touchdown and also had a 26-yard catch on down-field lob later in the game. Rodgers was sacked four times behind a makeshift offensive line that was shuffled around some more on two occasions in the game because of injuries.

RUSHING OFFENSE: A -- Identical 106-yard outputs by Ryan Grant and previously maligned DeShawn Wynn boosted the Packers' struggling run game to a season-high 211 yards, which reflected well on an O-line in a state of flux. Wynn, filling the No. 2 role for the second straight game in place of an injured Brandon Jackson, needed only seven carries to realize his first 100-yard game. In one fell swoop, he broke away for a 73-yard touchdown (Green Bay's longest run of 2008) in the first quarter. Daryn Colledge, the normal starting left guard making his first pro start at right tackle, sprung Wynn by sealing off a defender on the outside in the open field. Wynn received a blocking escort to the end zone from Driver the last few yards. Grant broke out of a mini-rushing slump by averaging 5.6 yards in 19 carries. He made amends for losing a fumble for the first time since Week 4 by turning his next carry in the third quarter into a would-be 80-yard touchdown - the call was overturned when Grant was determined to have hit the ground on a tackle, leaving him with a 21-yard gain.

PASS DEFENSE: C-minus -- Cornerback Al Harris ended this season not unlike how he finished the 2007 campaign trying to defend the New York Giants' Plaxico Burress in the NFC Championship Game - with a troubling thud. In what might have been Harris' last game as a Packer, he was torched to no end by hulking receiver Calvin Johnson (nine catches, 102 yards, two touchdowns) and even John Standeford (three catches, 82 yards), no less imposing for his height but certainly not in the league of Johnson. Harris allowed a 9-yard touchdown catch by Johnson in the second quarter. The results were far worse when Harris was moved to shadow Standeford, who had fourth-quarter receptions of 35, 36 and 11 yards at the expense of the lackadaisical Harris. Covering up Harris' misdeeds were the usual Pro Bowl ball-hawking antagonists of cornerback Charles Woodson and safety Nick Collins, who stayed in step with one another with their seventh interceptions to finish the season tied for the league lead. Collins clinched the victory by picking off a desperation heave from Dan Orlovsky on fourth-and-27 down at the goal line with the Packers ahead 31-21. Defensive end Jason Hunter had the only sack of Orlovsky, who rarely was pressured.

RUSH DEFENSE: B -- Given the heavy diet of carries (28) given to Kevin Smith, the Packers' struggling run defense did a commendable job in holding the explosive rookie to 92 yards for a per-attempt average of 3.3 yards. Smith's longest run was officially 11 yards, reduced by a holding penalty from a 19-yard scamper when he broke a few tackles. Otherwise, Smith, who had 17 runs of no more than 3 yards with four in the negative, was a non-factor until he caught defenders out of position on a wide run to the left and hard cut inside for a 9-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. Defensive ends Aaron Kampman (six tackles) and Michael Montgomery (five) and defensive tackle Johnny Jolly (four) were tenacious up front.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B-minus -- Mason Crosby's powerful right leg nearly connected on what would have been a league-record 69-yard field goal out of the hold of Matt Flynn when the Packers attempted a rare free kick after Will Blackmon's fair catch of a punt at the end of the first half. The football landed below the crossbar between the uprights. Crosby, though, started the second half by hitting his placement kickoff out of bounds. Rookie Jordy Nelson matched the team's season high for a kickoff return with a 45-yard burst on a short kick to start the game. Blackmon, however, averaged only 15.3 yards in his three kickoff returns and allowed himself to be pinned in a corner when he mishandled Jason Hanson's well-placed kick, forcing the Packers to start a futile possession at their 8. Jeremy Kapinos had an off game with his punting, averaging only 37.7 gross yards (same for net) and benefiting from a big-time roll for a long of 55. The Lions didn't have a punt return, and the kickoff-coverage unit was solid, holding Detroit to an average of 17 yards per return.

COACHING: A -- Six days after Mike McCarthy went conservative in taking the ball out of Rodgers' passing hand and settling for three straight runs to set up a blocked Crosby field-goal attempt that wound up costing the Packers in an overtime loss at the Chicago Bears, the head coach
Bob Sanders and special teams coordinator Mike Stock from possibly being cut loose remains to be seen. Avoiding a six-game losing streak to end the season and not allowing Detroit to gain its first victory were a credit to the coaching staff for keeping the players focused on the otherwise meaningless game.