Chris Johnson is Really Good … and Other Notes From Week 17

All the talk entering Week 17 of the NFL season was about playoff scenarios and top teams sitting their starters. But following a Sunday of exciting finishes and big-time performances, there were plenty of other story lines worth discussing around your company's water cooler on Monday.

— Major kudos to Chris Johnson of the Tennessee Titans. With 36 carries for 134 yards on Sunday, the 24-year-old from East Carolina became just the sixth running back in league history to top the 2,000-yard mark, finishing with 2,006. Not bad, especially considering that he could have had a lot more: A 62-yard touchdown jaunt was called back for holding several plays before his barrier-breaking run.

Oh, but that's not enough, you say? In the second quarter, Johnson broke the NFL record for yards from scrimmage in a season, topping Marshall Faulk's 1999 mark with 2,509 total.

Lost in Johnson's milestone chase is the fact that the Titans rebounded admirably from an 0-6 start — thanks in large part to a vastly improved Vince Young — to finish 8-8 and within spitting distance of a playoff spot in the AFC.

— How weird is this? The Ravens-Patriots wild-card game next Sunday will be the only one of the four wild-card-weekend matchups that isn't a repeat of a Week 17 matchup.

In Saturday's action, we'll see the Jets travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengals — the team they pounded 37-0 to reach the postseason — and the Eagles will once again play the Cowboys in Dallas — less than a week after getting shut out 24-0 in the monstrosity that Jerry Jones built.

On Sunday, following the rematch of a Week 4 game in Foxborough, the Cardinals will host the Packers in Arizona hoping to fare a bit better than they did on Sunday, when they fell 33-7 at home.

— With Sunday's 28-6 loss to the 49ers, the 1-15 Rams clinched the first overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft, otherwise known as the Ndamukong Suh sweepstakes.

Of course, having compiled a pathetic 109 net yards of offense on Sunday, maybe St. Louis would be better served going after a quarterback … or an offensive coordinator.

Earning the second pick were the 2-14 Detroit Lions. You know your franchise is struggling when 2-14 is considered a major improvement over last season.

— Say what you will about Brett Favre, but the dude had an amazing regular season. After his 25-for-31 day for 316 yards and four scores against the Giants on Sunday, the 40-year-old quarterback finished the campaign with 4,202 yards, 33 touchdowns and just seven interceptions, the fewest he's ever posted as a starter. The Vikings finished 12-4, earned the second seed in the NFC and will host a playoff game two weeks from now.

— Holy Jamaal Charles, Batman! The Chiefs back ran for 259 yards in Sunday's victory over the Broncos, finishing with 1,120 on the season. Not bad for a guy who didn't top 10 rushes or 36 yards in a game until Week 10.

— What about Jerome Harrison of the Browns? His 127 yards on Sunday in Cleveland's win over Jacksonville brought his three-game total to 561 yards. Of course, he put up 286 yards on the ground two weeks ago in Kansas City. That total in one game topped his previous career high of 246 yards — in a season.

— Speaking of the Broncos, remember when they were 6-0 and Josh McDaniels was the toast of the NFL? No? They probably don't either, now that they finished 8-8 and out of the AFC playoff hunt.

— Remember when everyone and their mothers made the Steelers their preseason picks to return to the Super Bowl? Shows you how much we all knew.

— With his 125-yard performance in Carolina's win Sunday over New Orleans' reserves, Jonathan Stewart upped his season total to 1,133 yards, becoming — with injured Pro Bowler DeAngelo Williams (1,117) — the first backs from the same team to both top 1,100 rushing yards in the same season since the AFL-NFL merger.

— Despite claiming home-field advantage in the NFC, the Saints — once 13-0 — lost their final three games of the regular season. No team has ever lost its last three games of the regular season and won the Super Bowl.

— With the Raiders' 21-13 loss to the playoff-bound Ravens on Sunday, Oakland finished 5-11, the franchise's seventh straight season with at least 11 defeats. Sorry to bring it up, Mr. Davis, but it's the worst run in NFL history.

And sorry to bring this up, too, but JaMarcus Russell is not a good NFL quarterback. 

It's your future, Tom Cable. I see … HotJobs.com.

— The Giants won their first five games of the season and looked nearly unbeatable in doing so. They went 3-8 from that point on, missing out on the playoffs and losing their last two games by a combined score of 85-16. Ouch.

— Remember when the Colts were 14-0 and people were talking about them running the table?

After two straight losses to end the season in which Peyton Manning and the other difference-makers hardly saw the field, is Indianapolis really in the best position possible for a long playoff run? I guess we'll find out.