So did you happen to catch Drew Brees' act down by the Bayou last night?

It certainly caught my attention.

Not that long ago, I ranted that Aaron Rodgers was performing under center as well as any quarterback I had ever seen in the NFL. I still think he is having one of the all-time great seasons, bouncing back from an off performance in the Packers' lone loss in Kansas City with a magnificent five-TD effort vs. the Bears on Christmas night that showed off both his arm and legs.

But all of a sudden, I must admit, I'm starting to wonder whether Brees deserves to be in the conversation for league MVP honors with Rodgers, who seemed like such a lock for the award until just recently.

One night after A-Rod put on a terrific prime-time show, Brees followed in the Packer QB's footsteps, slinging four TDs to four different receivers in the 45-16 win over Atlanta, the last of which (a nine-yard strike to Darren Sproles with 2:51 remaining in the game) broke the record for passing yards in a season set by Miami's Dan Marino way back in 1984.

In addition to compiling 5,087 passing yards with one regular-season game remaining (three more yards than Marino's total in '84), Brees surpassed 300 yards passing in a game for an NFL-record 12th time. The numbers don't lie.

It's also worth considering Brees' sparkling clean image, which is on a par with that of Rodgers. Did you see the genuine way his teammates fawned over him after he broke Marino's mark? Good stuff indeed.

Who's more valuable to his team? I must confess that I'm not really sure at the moment.

What I do know is that Rodgers is quite likely to make a token appearance at the very most against the Lions on Sunday. Brees, meanwhile, will hardly be shooting the breeze, as he will be squaring off against up-and-comer Cam Newton in a game with a lot more potential meaning than the Lions-Packers game.

If Rodgers sits out much of the game vs. Detroit, and Brees picks up where he left off last night vs. Atlanta, I would have a real difficult time picking between the two for league MVP honors.

In any event, there is the very real possibility that they could be staging a repeat of their scintillating Week One showdown in the playoffs — a potential heavyweight attraction of the highest order.

Could there possibly be a better way to determine who's better?

I think not.