It was a night of traditional NFL franchises: the Green Bay Packers, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Super Bowl commercials featuring blunt-force trauma.

Fans winced as pop cans struck heads, tree trunks slammed into solar plexuses and all sorts of objects impacted the groin area.

Mix in celebrities, beer and animals and it was another year of advertisers trying to grab us with cheap laughs and raw emotion.

"I'd give it a C, at best," said David Moore, managing partner and president and Cleveland ad agency Liggett Stashower. "Most of the spots were not up to past years. A couple were good, but I don't think there will be anything we'll be talking about next year."

Volkswagen -- one of at least eight carmakers to advertise during Sunday night's game – was a big winner.

Moore loved the ad for VW's Passat, which featured a child inside a Darth Vader costume trying to use "the Force."

The GoDaddy.com ads? "Beyond bad," said Moore.

(Of course, the real winner was Fox, which collected an estimated $300 million for commercials before, during and after the game. For ads that aired during the championship game, the network charged between $2.8 million and $3 million.)

Here are The Plain Dealer's 10 best and 10 worst commercials:

THE BEST

1. Chrysler

The automaker rolled the dice with an unprecedented two-minute ode to Detroit, featuring uplifting scenes from the struggling city, the starpower of Eminem and the line, "It's the hottest fires that make the hardest steel." Powerful and uplifting.

2. Doritos

Roommate, munching on Doritos, is left with a simple house-sitting job: water a plant and feed the goldfish. He slacks off and, by doing so, kills them both. In a panic, he sprinkles Doritos crumbs in the fish bowl and on the plant, bringing both back to life. He then knocks over Grandpa's urn. Ashes all over the floor. We then see the roommate walk in ... to find Gramps alive. Brilliant!

3. Coca-Cola

Two border guards, a lonely outpost and loads of tension. Can anything thaw the relations? An ice-cold Coke, of course. Feels timeless.

4. Volkswagen Passat

A child in a Darth Vader costume does his best to use "the Force" around the house, and fails. At least until the new VW pulls up and Dad presses the remote. Brilliantly simple. Leaves viewers with tingles. A longer, and better, version of the spot – which was released early – garnered 13 million views on YouTube before kickoff.

5. Volkswagen Beetle

With the classic "Black Betty" playing in the background, a high-octane black beetle scurries past marching roaches, millipedes, ants and mantises turning the forest floor into a kind of test track. Way cool.

6. Chevy Cruze

After a first-date goodnight kiss, a guy uses the gadgetry in his Chevy Cruze to check his Facebook newsfeed to find out she had "the best first date ever." Innocent and sweet, even if we can now look forward to a new violation: FWD -- Facebooking while driving.

7. NFL

This commercial for the league features a mashup of classic TV sitcom characters preparing Super Bowl parties. Loads of nostalgia. We'll have to remember that during next season's lockout.

8. Snickers

The ad concept that scored big last year with Betty White returned, this time with Richard Lewis and Roseanne starring as whining loggers in need a snack to transform back into their "normal" selves. Millions surely cheered when Roseanne met the business end of a tree trunk.

9. Bridgestone

A cubicle dweller panics when he's told he hit "reply all" to an e-mail. He then burns rubber all over town to smash, steal and dump coffee on all his coworkers' computers and phones.

10. Audi

Inmates in a luxury prison escape – despite the lure of Kenny G music. And only one is smart enough to choose an Audi as a getaway car. Light and funny, although you have to wonder how many cars it will sell.

THE WORST

1. Groupon

The online coupon company somehow uses actor Timothy Hutton to trivialize the struggle in Tibet. "The people of Tibet are in trouble . . . but they still whip up an amazing fish curry." Shockingly tasteless.

2. GoDaddy

The Web domain-name giant continued its ham-handed series of sexed-up ads, but with a twist. The new GoDaddy girl is 77-year-old Joan Rivers, whose head has obviously been placed on a body double. Go online to see more! Uh, no thanks.

3. CareerBuilder.com

The employment website used chimpanzees in Super Bowls past and got rave reviews. This time, the chimps, driving cars, pin a guy in a parking spot. PETA is reportedly outraged at the spot. Probably not as much as CareerBuilder's execs, who just wasted $3 million.

4. Doritos

A creepy guy licks the fingers of a coworker to taste Doritos powder. He then rips the trousers off another coworker who had just rubbed his crumb-covered fingers on his pants. Perhaps the only chip commercial ever to make you want to stop snacking.

5. HomeAway.com

Just when we're trying to figure out what this site actually provides, we get treated to the evening's worst "let's be outrageous" moment: We see a baby – we're informed immediately it's a "test baby" -- get launched into a glass wall. It's memorable, yes, but so is falling down the steps.

6. Kia

We watch a couple's car stolen by a cop, then a tycoon, then the Greek god Poseidon and finally aliens. Then the Kia gets sucked into a space-time vortex and arrives in the middle of an ancient Mayan civilization. Viewers' scalps are bleeding from so much head-scratching.

7. Teleflora

Faith Hill helps a guy write the card on the flowers he's sending to his sweetie. "Write what's in your heart," she advises. He does, in four words: "Your rack is unreal." Funny? Perhaps. Wrong spot for something juvenile? Absolutely.

8. Stella Artois

A down night for beer ads is capped by a 60-second spot featuring Oscar-winning actor Adrien Brody serenading beautiful weeping French women. Even though he's singing to the beer, not the girls, it's unfunny -- and flat.

9. Cars.com

Inside a showroom, new cars chat away about this site's ratings. Lame sexual innuendo and a car burping are supposed to provide humor. About as much fun as bargaining with a car salesman.

10. Chevy Cruze Eco

A group of bickering golden-agers misunderstand a Chevy commercial. Is it "42 miles per gallon" or "42 wild Italians"? Nursing home food has left a better taste.