The Packers and Steelers weren’t the only folks who had to win their way to Dallas this weekend.

Navy intelligence specialist JT Freels topped a fantasy football field of fellow military folks to win a trip there courtesy of MWRFantasySports.com.

Freels grabbed a lead shortly after the playoff portion of the RapidDraft.com-powered contest started and managed to hold on despite Peyton Hillis’ end-of-season drought.

“I had a huge Week 12, which vaulted me to first, and I was fortunate to hold on,” Freels said of his squad that ranked 37th heading into Week 12. “My point total dropped each playoff week, and I knew if another team had a huge week they could pass me.”

Fortunately for Freels, no team did, although he couldn’t rest easy until the Eagles-Vikings Tuesday night affair of Week 16 got to halftime. With a 30-point lead on his nearest competitor and Michael Vick and Percy Harvin to that team’s DeSean Jackson, he could finally relax and start making mental plans for North Texas.

Freels took his wife and 14-year-old son with him to enjoy the Super Bowl week festivities, which the Chargers fan called a “once in a lifetime” experience.

“We plan on taking in as much a possible, VIP tour of Cowboy Stadium, NFL experience, JFK Museum, Coors Light Party and I’m sure we’ll add to this,” he said before arriving in big D.

Although his job keeps him too busy to allow for much more fantasy competition these days, Freels said he’d love to expand his participation after retirement. As for next season alone, he says he’ll take Arian Foster at the top of the draft board — which shouldn’t surprise based on the help the Texans back lent to his 2010 title run.

When the NFL moved the Eagles and Vikings away from Sunday night, there’s no reason to doubt safety as the motive. The unintended consequence: fantasy aggravation.

You can call it ramping up the excitement if you want, but the point is that fantasy players around the country are waiting at least a day longer to find out who wins — a situation only magnified by the inclusion of the Eagles and their multitude of fantasy resources. In many cases, significant money hangs in the balance.

The World Championship of Fantasy Football, for instance, had six teams among the top 10 entering Week 16 that await Eagles-Vikings results. Leader Jeff Schinker may need some help from Philly receiver Jeremy Maclin to hold off a second-place squad relying on Vick and Adrian Peterson. Holding on will mean a difference of $250,000 in prize money.

At RapidDraft.com, Week 16 began with Michael Vick quarterbacking eight of the top 10 teams in the race for $100,000 and a few others such as Eagles kicker David Akers and the Philadelphia defense in position to come into play. With only the Tuesday night game to go, however, it appears that leader Jeff James — with Vick at quarterback — is safe.

The inaugural season of the Footballguys Players Championship also sports a $100K grand prize and plenty of Vick, as seven of the top 10 entering the final week employed the Philly passer. As it stands, Ryan Strickler’s second-place team can claim victory with just 13 points from Vick, well below the quarterback’s per-game average this season.

Similarly, the Fantasy Football Players Championship — the main event put on by the company that partners with Footballguys on their contest — has Tuesday night players breathing down the neck of the current leader. Richard Risinger clings to a mere 7-point lead, with the second-place HOGS sporting Maclin and the Philadelphia defense and the third-place Syracuse Slappers running out Vick and Peterson. The winner there takes $100,000 as well.

The National Fantasy Football Championship has to look a little further down the leaderboard but finds Tuesday-night intrigue nonetheless. As pointed out by founder Greg Ambrosius on the site’s message board (with help from some other members), the sixth-place team could overtake the current leader with a big combined performance from Vick and LeSean McCoy. On top of that, the ninth-place team remains alive despite a 75.38-point deficit because it has Vick, DeSean Jackson and Percy Harvin yet to go.

With another $100,000 targeted for the NFFC winner, that’s a total of $700,000 in fantasy winnings with at least some tie to tonight’s game … and that’s only a snapshot of first-place money for five national contests. Imagine the scenarios when you extend to all paying spots in these competitions and the rest of the leagues and contests out there.

Whether the NFL realized it or not, moving the Eagles-Vikings primetime game two days back promised to make the finish to this fantasy football season more interesting and memorable.

One could excuse JT Freels for thinking ahead to the end of football season right now. After all, for this Navy intelligence specialist, the end could mean a trip to the Super Bowl in Dallas.

“It’s hard not to think about going to the Super Bowl — every man’s dream,” Freels told FSB.com this week. “I’ve been to two World Series and Game 7 of last year’s NBA Championship but have not been to a Super Bowl yet. I’d love to be able to take my 14-year-old son. ”

Freels’ thoughts aren’t at all unrealistic, because he heads into the second-to-last week of play for most fantasy football leagues with three of the top five teams in the national competition at MWRFantasySports.com.

The contest there — supported by RapidDraft.com and sponsored by Coors Light — is open to all active or retired military personnel from any branch and their immediate families. It will send one winner and guest to the Super Bowl in February, and entrants are also eligible for the $100,000 grand prize in the overall RapidDraft contest.

John Prue, installation program director for MWR, says that there is no shortage of enthusiasm for fantasy among the military. He adds that even though prizes are great for attracting the attention of the thousands of soldiers who play, fantasy sports carry benefits even for those who don’t win.

“Really its Morale: the ability to have bragging rights with your fellow sailors/soldiers or bragging rights to the next command or buddies that are now located at another duty station — sometimes half way around the world,” Prue said. “Fantasy football is a slice of Americana. Being able to play it in place like Afghanistan or on a ship in the Persian Gulf just makes ‘home’ a little closer to reality.”

Of course, even though fantasy football can serve that purpose, it still centers on a competition, one that can draw new players as well as fantasy veterans. Matt Keifling is an active member of the Navy deployed on the U.S.S. Carl Vinson and greets Week 15 with the second-place team. He has been playing fantasy football since about 1994 but says he was drawn into national competition for the first time by this free MWR offering.

Keifling says that playing while on deployment has brought challenges, from difficulties setting his weekly lineup to sheer Web-surfing limitations keeping him from tracking player news as closely as he might at home. Nevertheless, he takes a Michael Vick-led team into the final two weeks with his eyes on the big prize — whether he’d be able to attend or not.

“I am on deployment, so even if I were to win the trip to the super bowl, I am not sure I would be able to attend,” Keifling said. “I do have to admit that winning the trip to the Super Bowl would be pretty great, even if just for bragging rights.”

In addition to Vick, Keifling credits Arian Foster as a key ingredient to his success so far. Middle-of-the-draft pickup Darren McFadden has no doubt helped, too, along with waiver-wire wonder Steve Johnson of the Bills.

Freels also owns Foster and Vick and has been among those riding the surprise Peyton Hillis train all year. Of course, he points out that the presence of more obvious fantasy factors Andre Johnson and Greg Jennings in his receiver corps haven’t hurt things. Although Foster and Hillis figure to rank among the top Week 15 scorers at their position, the fact that they appear on many an upper-level roster in this contest means that the title could come down to more peripheral players such as Giants tight end Kevin Boss or … (at least for this week) … Adrian Peterson. (That’s fantasy for ya.)

Despite not drawing any points from the Thursday night blowout by his beloved Chargers, Freels — who is currently stationed in Hawaii — certainly feels good about his position. His MWR-leading squad ranks fifth in the overall competition, while Keifling’s top entry ranks 17th.

“I’m not counting on anything until the final game seconds tick off,” Freels said about his title hopes. “Lot’s of football left, but I like my chances.”

What’s going on with the retirees you know? Mall walking? Traveling? Perhaps some greeting at Wal-Mart? How many of them are embracing new media and the changing landscape of the industry in which they made their living?

Jets great Joe Namath is doing just that, and two of the most visible newspapers in the country have taken notice — including his involvement with fantasy football.

In a Friday story, Newsday dubbed Namath a “multimedia maven,” pointing to his ever-growing presence on Twitter and Facebook, his weekly appearances on Sirius XM and 1050 ESPN Radio in New York, his partnership with and role in RapidDraft Fantasy Football and, of course, his own site BroadwayJoe.tv. That outlet provides a fan environment with video messages from Namath and opportunities for the public to connect with a guy who ranked among NFL Network’s recently revealed Top 100 players of all time.

“Accepting that change is constant,” he told Newsday. “We need to understand that and not be surprised or whiny about it and say, ‘Oh, I wish it was the way it used to be. We didn’t do that. We didn’t have that.’ C’mon, get up to speed!”

Also this weekend, The Wall Street Journal will run a longer, more comprehensive piece on what Namath is up to these days — still centering on his multimedia involvement (again including fantasy).

One thing that each story points out is how much Namath is enjoying himself. As he told WSJ: “Communicating with the fans, seeing what I see and being able to say it, almost instantaneously? It’s been a lot of fun.”