In Week 16, the Packers sealed the #1 seed in the NFC Playoffs and home-field advantage through the playoffs with a 35-21 win over the Chicago Bears , which sealed a season sweep of the Bears and moved the Packers to 5-0 in the NFC North. Aaron Rodgers bombed the Chicago secondary for 5 TD passes without an interception,

This was not the first time that a team from the NFC North has started off 5-0 in division play. After all, the Chicago Bears were 5-0 in the NFC North going into Week 17 in 2005, 2006 and 2010.The Minnesota Vikings were 5-0 in the NFC North going into Week 16 of 2009. However, in 2005, the Bears lost 34-10 to the Minnesota Vikings to close out the year (Mike Tice was still fired). The 2006 and 2010 Bears both lost to the Packers in Week 17, while the 2009 Bears knocked off the 2009 Vikings in Week 16.

With a 45-41 win over the Detroit Lions in Week 17, the Packers became the first team to ever sweep the NFC North, adding an exclamation point to their season and extending their win streak over divisional opponents to 8 games (the last loss having come at the hands of the Lions in Week 14 of 2010).

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As first reported by Jay Glazer, Lions defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh has been suspended for two games without pay for his stomping of Evan Dietrich-Smith's arm on Thanksgiving.

Suh will, if there is no appeal, miss the Lions' next two games, which are at New Orleans and at Detroit against the Vikings.

Suh has also been barred from any Lions practice facilities during the suspension.  I will update this as details get added, in case there's an appeal.  The suspension will cost Suh $164,000.  The Lions are also expected to fine Suh $25,000 as well.

At 7-0 and with a 2 game lead over...well, the entire NFC, the Green Bay Packers are coming off of a matchup against the undefeated (but also winless) BYE WEEK. The Packers will take on the 4-3 San Diego Chargers this weekend in Qualcomm Stadium.

Since starting off 4-1, the Chargers have quite literally thrown away their last two games, an ugly 27-21 loss to the New York Jest and an even more devastating 23-20 overtime loss to the division rival Kansas City Chiefs. Philip Rivers is 2 interceptions (11) from eclipsing his total through 16 games last year (13), which is anything but good. In other news, Ryan Mathews cannot stay healthy, and Vincent Jackson has all but vanished over the course of San Diego's last three games (recording a grand total of 7 receptions for 98 yards and 0 touchdowns).

In other news, Marcus McNeill had possibly the worst performance by a supposed Pro Bowl tackle in the last 10 years, committing seven penalties (SEVEN!) and giving up two sacks to Tamba Hali. San Diego's first round pick from the 2009 NFL Draft (Larry English) landed on Injured Reserve just this past week with a broken foot. Kris Dielman is out at least two weeks after suffering a post-concussion seizure. This does NOT bode well for San Diego's offensive line, which has allowed 9 sacks in the past three weeks (5 of which came in a 29-24 win over Denver).

After the jump: the future and past opponents from previous weeks.

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