According to some big names in the national media, the Green Bay Packers got exposed during Monday night’s 43-37 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

"When I watched that game, the thought I had was that the Packers don’t have a championship defense," said Mike Mulligan on 670 The Score’s "Mully and Hanley show" in Chicago.

Guest Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk agreed that the game changed his opinion of the Packers:

"It also changes my opinion of Patriots coach Bill Belichick," Florio said. "Why didn’t the Patriots do at Lambeau field what the Falcons did last night? Why didn’t they just dial it up and fire away?"

Florio also turned his 20/20 hindsight to the future, suggesting that the blueprint for beating the Packers is now clear: "Now we’re going to see teams attack the Pack by throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball."

All this, for the record, coming off a game in which Green Bay led 31-7 at halftime.

Granted, there are valid concerns about the defense in Packer-land. The Falcons pulled off 64 plays for 465 yards on national TV, riding Julio Jones to a career-high 259 yards receiving (woah). Matt "Andy Dalton with a good PR Team" Ryan had a nice day at the office too, completing 24 of 39 passes for 375 yards and four touchdowns.

Regarding the minor inconvenience of Morgan Burnett’s game-changing interception on Atlanta’s 3rd drive of the game: luckily, everyone knows defense doesn’t count in Green Bay, not unless you’re oggling the garbage-time stats opposing teams roll up in the 4th quarter of 20-point blowouts.

Those stats do a better job of spreading myths than telling the whole story. The Packers defense ranks 20th in passing YPG, 25th in rushing YPG, and 26th in total YPG. On the other hand, they are tied for 5th in interceptions and 18th in scoring, which gives a better sense of the unit’s quality in relation to the Packers’ 10-3 record.

Give Dom Capers some credit here. The 64-year-old DC has had an up-and-down track record since joining the team six years ago, including a 51-45 loss to the Arizona Cardinals in the 2009 playoffs and a stout run to the Super Bowl in 2010 featuring pick-sixes by Tramon Williams and Nick Collins. Both plays had huge impacts in their respective games, characteristic of Capers' ability to "tighten the bolts" in crunch time vs. quality teams.

Most of the time, though, his units are left alone to fight in the second half of games that are already over. While Rodgers and McCarthy pull back on the ropes, the other team is just shifting into their most explosive gear.

This can lead to some ugly garbage time performances. Rodgers and co. were only able to put up 11 more points in the second half Monday night, putting Capers' crew in a tough spot against what should be one of the best passing offenses in the league.

Its not fair to judge this defense against a desperate Falcons team playing for their jobs. If needed, the offense could have stepped in to put the game away at any point, and the defense knew that. Scrutinizing how they looked during garbage time is like losing sleep over the color of the brake pads on your brand new Ferrari.

It’s the offense that makes the Green Bay Packers move. The defense just keeps the car on the road.

Hopefully.