FanHouse

Last week, we reported that the Packers were being investigated by the NFL. Turns out that defensive backs were offering incentive pay to defensive linemen for meeting certain performance goals. While it was clearly done in good fun, this was a violation of NFL rules.

The Packers played dumb at the time, with general manager Ted Thompson hypothesizing that his players weren't aware that they were breaking rules. The players themselves then denied anything shady was going on, downplaying the issue a bit. Lions QB Jon Kitna didn't seem to have a problem with it when asked about it last week in advance of the teams' Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit.

Now, Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press Gazette reports (via Pro Football Talk) that the Packers will not be punished by the league for these "incentives" or "bounties", whatever you want to call them.

"The club has handled the matter with the players, and the incentive pool has been discontinued," said Greg Aiello, the NFL's senior vice president of public relations.

In other words, move along. Nothing to see here.

It's the right move by the NFL. No one was harmed by any of this. The Packers were simply having some fun within their own locker room, and the league shut them down because, in this instance, the fun crossed the line and was technically against the rules.

(No, Viking fans, this isn't why Adrian Peterson was injured. Adrian Peterson was injured because Al Harris hit him very hard, and clean. It happens in this here game of football, though fans of any team with Darren Sharper on it may not fully recognize physical play from defensive backs when they see it, especially when Antoine Winfield is still absent from the lineup.)