ATLANTA For weeks, their brimming-with-confidence head coach has talked about how good they are capable of being. And from winning back-to-back de facto playoff games in the final two weeks of the regular season to an impressive victory on the road six days earlier in Philadelphia, his team had backed up his rhetoric with winning football.

But nothing like Saturday night.

Thoroughly dominating the NFCs No. 1 seed and serving notice that they are indeed a force to be reckoned with, the sixth-seeded Green Bay Packers could not have been clearer in the message their 48-21 NFC Divisional Playoff victory over the Atlanta Falcons: They are the team to beat in the NFC.

"We're a championship-caliber football team, McCarthy said, reiterating a talking point he unveiled the day after the teams NFC Wild Card victory in Philadelphia. We feel very good about who we are, the way we play, our brand of football in all three areas. And that's what we're sticking to."

While their season has taken some unexpected turns since quarterback Aaron Rodgers and his merry band of Old West-clad teammates showed up at the annual Welcome Back Luncheon wearing cowboy hats and bolo ties, their destination remains suburban Dallas and Super Bowl XLV. And they dare anybody to try and stop them, whether its the surprising Seattle Seahawks (8-9) or their NFC North archrivals, the Chicago Bears (11-5).

Theyll learn their opponent Sunday afternoon, with the Seahawks-Bears winner playing host to the Packers (12-6) next Sunday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m. CST.

At this point, I dont think it matters, safety Charlie Peprah said. I think we feel like if we can just go in and do what we can do, it doesnt matter who we play. Thats how we feel. We just worry about us. I dont think it matters who our opponent is if we play our brand of football.

That brand of football was absolutely astonishing Saturday night, when they played virtually mistake-free football in scoring the most points in the franchises storied history for a playoff game. They basically had two gaffes: A Greg Jennings fumble on the opening possession after a 30-yard gain to set up the games first touchdown, and an NFL playoff-record 102-yard kickoff return by Eric Weems that gave Atlanta (13-4) a brief 14-7 lead.

It was all Green Bay after that, with Rodgers orchestrating the offense on 81-, 92-, 80- and 80-yard touchdown drives and cornerback Tramon Williams (two interceptions, including his 70-yard return for a touchdown as the first half expired) leading the defense.

This is the type of performance that we were kind of waiting for. We had a similar performance against the Giants, but this was defintitely the way we've been practicing all week, said Rodgers, who completed 31 of 36 passes for 366 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions and two sacks (136.8 passer rating) while also running for a fourth score. The way that I prepare and the way that our coaches prepare us, we expect to play well. Maybe not this well.

It was a special night."

And, its turning into a special season.

Yeah, were championship caliber, but championship caliber to us isnt getting to the NFC Championship Game, veteran linebacker A.J. Hawk said. We have a lot higher goals than that. Were where we want to be. Weve been saying all year, Just give us a chance to get here. Now, its up to us.

Taking over at the Packers 48-yard line after Jennings fumble, Matt Ryan hit Mike Jenkins to get the drive going on a 22-yard pick-up. Then, after a third-and-13 completion to Roddy White came up a yard short, Falcons coach Mike Smith went for it on fourth down and fullback Ovie Mughelli delivered, keeping the drive alive. On the next play, running back Michael Turner ran through attempted tackles by A.J. Hawk and Erik Walden before pushing his way through Charles Woodson at the goal line for a 7-0 lead.

The Packers coolly answered with a methodical 13-play, 81-yard drive that chewed up 7:56 of clock and included a crucial third-and-7 throw by Aaron Rodgers to Jennings that went for 18 yards. Rodgers stepped up and stood in under heavy pressure on the throw, absorbing a hard hit from Kroy Biermann as he delivered.

Rodgers then hit Jordy Nelson for an 8-yard gain to convert a third-and-3 from the Atlanta 16. Two plays later, he hooked up with Nelson again, as Nelson made a nifty move on the right side and got the pylon with the ball for a 6-yard TD that tied the score at 7-7.

The momemtum shift was short-lived, however, as Weems took the ensuing kickoff up the middle and, with the coverage unit laying nary a hand on him, was gone. At 14-7, it looked like it would be a classic.

Instead, it turned into a rout.

We thought the first quarter of the game went fairly well, said Falcons coach Mike Smith, whose team beat the Packers, 20-17, on Nov. 28. Then when we got to the second quarter, it kind of started to go away from us.

After James Starks mishandled the kickoff following Weems touchdown, Rodgers hit Jennings (6 yards), Donald Driver (24 yards) and Jennings again (12 yards) to move from his own 8-yard line to midfield. Then, on second-and-10 from the 50, Rodgers eluded blitzing safety William Moore and fired a strike to Driver for a 34-yard gain.

The drive appeared to die when Rodgers was sacked on a third-and-3 drop-back from the Falcons 9, but an illegal contact penalty on cornerback Chris Owens forced into duty when nickel back Brian Williams (knee) was inactive was flagged for illegal contact on Jennings. Four snaps later, fullback John Kuhn plowed in from 1 yard out to re-tie the game at 14-14.

"I think the second drive was probably the most important drive, Rodgers said. To go 90-plus yards and score really wore their defense down."

The Packers were only getting warmed up. The Falcons responded by driving to the Packers 14-yard line on the ensuing drive, but after a false start penalty and a sack by cornerback Charles Woodson, Ryan faced a third-and-21 from the Packers 26. Despite having White down the left sideline against rookie nickel back Sam Shields, Ryan tried to go to Jenkins in the end zone, only to see Williams rise up and snatch the pass for his first interception with 2:22 left until halftime.

Rodgers took the turnover and completed big passes to Jennings (20 yards on second-and-9) and Driver (20 yards on third-and-2) before throwing a 20-yard touchdown strike to No. 3 receiver James Jones for a 21-14 lead with 42 seconds left until the break.

But the Packers werent done. Facing a second-and-19 from the Packers 35 with 10 seconds left, Ryan thought he had White on an out route on the left sideline. Instead, Williams broke on the ball, snared it and raced 70 yards the other way as time expired for a 28-14 lead.

Just the situation, I knew they were trying to get in field-goal range. I played outside leverage a little bit and let the receiver get outside of me and once he made the out cut, I broke underneath it and made the play, Williams explained. The formation they were in, I recognized that (they were going to) try to get out of bounds and into field goal range. That was my process of it. And thats exactly what they did.

Said Ryan, who threw only eight regular-season INTs: It was not a very good decision on my part. In that situation, knowing we are in field-goal range, I needed to throw the ball away.

The Packers then took the second-half kickoff after winning the coin toss on Woodsons call of heads, the Packers deferred and marched 80 yards in 10 plays en route to Rodgers 7-yard TD scramble for a 35-14 lead. After the defense forced a three-and-out punt with the help of a correct replay challenge by McCarthy Rodgers took them 50 yards in eight plays (a 22-yard strike to Driver on third-and-5 being the key play) en route to a 7-yard touchdown pass to Kuhn.

That was huge. We knew we got the ball coming out after halftime and they couldnt stop our offense. We felt they would go down and score, and they did, Woodson said. You go up by three touchdowns and at that point, were not going to let a team back in the game. It was a done deal.

The stadium began emptying shortly thereafter, and by games end, the only people left in the building were clad in green-and-gold and chanting Go Pack Go! Next week, the Packers will play in their fourth conference championship game since the franchises 1992 rebirth and first since losing at home to the eventual Super Bowl XLII-champion New York Giants following the 2007 season.

Were close, said Woodson, a 13-year veteran with more NFL experience than any other player on the roster but no ring. That 2007 game is neither here nor there. We lost that game, but that was then. This is a totally different team now. Were playing good football at a good time. We look forward to taking that into next week.

"We have what it takes. Make no mistake about that. Its just about going out and executing. We continue to do that the next couple weeks, well be good.

"JASON WILDE" wrote: