A couple of interesting signings by the Packers in the last week.

First was the resigning of restricted free agent safety Corey Fuller. Although he probably is not the Packers first choice to start alongside Darren Sharper, its possible he could be the starting strong safety, so he is someone to watch. However, Fuller might have to compete for his roster spot as backup safety candidate Eric Crouch (could the Packers please cut Crouch and just end this soap opera?).

Second was the hiring of Lindy Infante-era Center James Campen as an assistant offensive line coach. Campen hasn't been on the roster for over 10 years but only two other players, Frank Winters and Mike Flanagan, have been the starting center since Campen played. Not that I'd expect Campen to suit up anytime soon, but its just amazing how little turnover there was at the position and how well Winters played for so many years.

Third was the promotion of Joe Philbin as tight ends coach. The Packers made some noise after the late collapse in Philadelphia by firing the defensive coordinator and tight ends coach, only to fill both positions from internal promotion. These two men might have been the best possible candidates for the job, but they generated zero excitement for the upcoming season. Although with an approximately two millenium long season ticket waiting list, the Packers aren't too concerned with creating some offseason buzz for the season ticket holders.

Fourth is the hiring of Vince Tobin. Tobin hasn't coached in the NFL since 2001, but if that was enough to disqualify him then Washington's hiring of Joe Gibbs was the worst move of the offseason. Tobin knows what good defenses look like, not necessarily from his time with Arizona in the 1990s or with Detroit in 2001, but from his days as a member of Chicago's defensive coaching staff in the 1980s. Tobin's assistance could potentially be very important for the 2004 season and I'm really excited to see the Packers bring someone like him into the coaching team.

The Packers placed the franchise tag on Chad Clifton this week. It surprised me, because I thought it would effect the Packers salary cap immediately, but the Packers have until March 2nd to work Clifton's guaranteed franchise salary figure into the cap. Mark Tauscher restructed his contract this week for some additional room next year, and some more restructuring, along with some releases, are likely to create cap room.

It would be a shock if another team courts Clifton now, because it would cost a team two first round picks. Clifton is a solid and underappreciated player, but it will cost Brett Favre type money to resign him, which seems too steep. If the Packers have a certain amount of money allocated to sign free agents this offseason, however, it might as well be spent resigning Clifton because there are not any top free agents at the positions the Packers might consider upgrading.

Defensive End: The Packers could use a run stopping, pass rushing, every down playing defensive end, like the player they expected when they signed Joe Johnson two years ago. The only top player who fits that profile, another New Orleans defensive end Darren Howard, was given the franchise tag by his team so that effectively makes him unavailable. Miami's Adewale Ogunleye and Tennessee's Jevon Kearse are also free agents, but both are better pass rushers than run stoppers, and Kearse has had numerous injury problems. Ogunleye first got league wide notice this last season, so he might be a one year wonder.

Linebacker: If the Packers wanted to improve at either outside linebacker position, San Francisco's Julian Peterson would be an upgrade to either Nai'l Diggs or Hannibal Navies, but Peterson was tagged by San Francisco instead of Terrell Owens, so he is certainly not going anywhere.

Safety: Only one safety, Jacksonville's Donovin Darius, would be a clear upgrade over Antuan Edwards or Marques Anderson, but (reaccuring theme) Jacksonville placed the franchise tag on him for the second consecutive season. Carolina's Deon Grant is an unrestricted free agent, but he is a free safety and plays more like Darren Sharper than LeRoy Butler. Reggie Tongue is a free agent strong safety from Seattle, but it isn't clear that Tongue is any better than Anderson. Last offseason, two Butler like safeties, Lawyer Malloy and Rodney Harrison, both were free agents after their teams cut them, so maybe a player like them will be cut before March 2nd.

With the franchise tag on Clifton, the only two free agents who may get some early attention are Michael Hawthorne and Edwards. With the tight cap situation, it looks like the Packers are seeing what the market is for those two players and waiting until March to possibly resigning them. The Packers would be better off if both players returned next season, but neither one can afford to be paid starters money.

The NFL announced today that the 2004 salary cap is $80.5 million instead of $78.7 million as it was projected at the end of 2003. Any extra wiggle room under the cap is good news for the Packers. According to John Clayton on espn.com, the Packers were under the cap by $1.1 million as of Feb. 12th, so its likely the Packers are $2.9 million under the cap as of today. The bad news is Chad Clifton will have to be tagged as the franchise player by next Tuesday, and according to Len Pasquarelli of espn.com that would add slightly over $7 million to the Packers cap, unless a long term deal can be worked out. It seems highly unlikely that Clifton will have either the franchise or transition tag (its cap cost is slightly over $6 million) placed on him. Clifton is probably the best free agent offensive lineman available, if Orlando Pace and Walter Jones for the umpteenth years in a row are given the franchise tags by St. Louis and Seattle respectively, and still likely to command a $10 million signing bonus. It seems unlikely that the Packers want to give that amount of money to arguably their 5th best offensive lineman.

It was surprising to read that Mike Sherman, Mark Hatley, Reggie McKenzie, John Schneider, and Tom Rossley all went to see a private workout by Drew Henson. "This isn't necessarily a unique situation", Sherman told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal. Sure it isn't. Henson looked outstanding running the offense during his one year as a starter in Michigan, although he played with an offense loaded with future NFL players. Sherman has ran two drafts and came away with two potential stars in Javon Walker and Nick Barnett, so I would expect any trade for Henson to be a good decision. An article last month on espn.com made the argument that it would be a shock if Henson was traded, instead of drafted in the upcoming April draft, because he could only receive a small signing bonus based on Houston's rookie draft cap for last season, but the Journal-Sentinal had a quote from Houston GM Charley Casserly that made it sound like it was more important for Henson to choose his first NFL team than to receive a huge signing bonus.

It seems unlikely that Henson would choose team over money, but why else would Houston host the workout, and Casserly attend it, if it isn't possible that Henson would consent to a trade? I don't know much about Henson, but maybe his agent, Tom Condon, told Sherman that Henson would consent to a trade to play for the Packers? If it was a workout to showoff for the draft, why weren't the high drafting and quarterback starved teams like Arizona, Cleveland or Pittsburgh in attendance with their head coaches?

I haven't been anxious for Brett Favre to retire and I haven't wanted the Packers to use a high draft choice on a quarterback because then they would have two starting quarterbacks salaries on their salary cap, but a trade for Henson would allow them to have a quarterback with the talent of a high draft choice on the salary cap at a 6th round draft choice price, at least for a season. It is a unique and very interesting opportunity.

The Packers assigned 12 players to NFL Europe, but 10 of the 12 were signed just two weeks ago. Only Erwin Swiney and Derek Combs played any part on last season's team. Swiney might be part of the battle for the 3rd cornerback position, if Michael Hawthorne leaves in free agency, so it appears that Swiney is the only one of the 12 players who might make next season's roster. Certainly this is not as interesting as last season, when QB Craig Nall went to NFL Europe.

Apparently, Hawthorne thinks he is likely to get a big contract this offseason to be someone's starting cornerback. It is unlikely the Packers would sign Hawthorne to be a starter for next season since Mike McKenzie and Al Harris are both under contract for next season. Hawthorne might be right, he is tall (over 6 feet) and played well this season. Atlanta gave Tod McBride a multiyear contract last offseason, after McBride was the Packers 3rd cornerback (when healthy). However, Atlanta's pass defense was a disaster last season and it wouldn't be surprising to see McBride cut. Hawthorne has a few strikes against him because he is relatively slow for a NFL cornerback and he was released by New Orleans supposedly after clashing with coaches. Hopefully he doesn't get much interest from other teams and the Packers can resign him to a one year contract.

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal had an article about Nick Barnett and how he felt guilty about his blown coverage on the 4th and 26 play vs. Philadelphia in the playoffs. Philadelphia had three receivers running routes on the play. Why would the Packers run a defense that required their middle linebacker to cover the slot wide receiver on a play 26 yards from the line of scrimmage? The more I read about that blown play, the more it sounds like that it was entirely the coaches fault.

Last offseason, left tackles Luke Pettigout and Flozell Adams each got around a $10 million signing bonus for a 7 year, $30 million contract. That is Chad Clifton's price for the Packers this offseason, although he might discount it due to his serious hip injury in 2002. Clifton should fire his agent if his agent doesn't ask the Packers for a $10 million signing bonus. I am really torn about resigning Clifton. He is a solid player on the best offensive line in the NFL and he is just a step below a Pro Bowl level, although only one season removed from a career threating injury. Generally, a team cannot let a player of his ability leave in free agency, but he doesn't play a skill position. The Packers could find a replacement for Clifton in free agency or the draft, but it is unlikely that his replacement would be as good as Clifton. If the Packers can afford it, although it would be the the Packers only significant move in free agency, then he should be resigned, but the Packers should not bust their cap just to resign him.

I expected Bob Slowik to be promoted to defensive coordinator, and it finally happened yesterday. I'm not too excited about hiring a guy who worked closely with Dave Wannstedt for 6 season in Chicago, but he wasn't working with a very talented defensive team either. Over those 6 seasons, the best players during it were probably defensive back Mark Carrier and the fumes of Richard Dent's great career. Plus, with the exception of the 1995 season, Chicago didn't provide much support on offense either. Slowik was defensive coordinator for the 1999 expansion Cleveland 2.0 but that season isn't even worth examining, because a 2-14 expansion defense should have the least amount of talent in the NFL. Slowik probably deserves another chance as defensive coordinator, to show what he can do with a more talented defense and more support from an offense.

Kurt Schottenheimer was a nice signing for defensive backs coach. He knows the NFC North since he was the defensive coordinator in Detroit last season, and the defense improved from 31st to 24th this season.

Ron Wolf took a new job as a personnel specialist for Cleveland. It sounds like Wolf will watch some film at home, give his two cents worth of advice regarding personnel, and probably get paid around $1 million per year for it. Its good work if you can get it. I'm wondering if this means Cleveland is determined to solve their quarterback problem, either through the draft or free agency, and want Wolf to help them with it.

A number of players have been signed since the last game of the season. None of the names are familiar to me, so I would consider them all minicamp depth, NFL Europe (if that will be around anymore) candidates, or practice squad possibilities. All signings will probably remain this way until Franchise and Transition players are named in mid-February and free agency begins.

2003 Packers In Review. I'm defenitely not using a letter grade system to review the Packers. That is as arbitrary as real school grades, and itdoesn't tell you all you need to know about someone. No pythagorean (if team X scores A points and allows B points, its record should be C-D) outcomes because it doesn't say much either. I will use rankings from Football Outsiders.com for some statistical analysis in this review and rank the units from best to worst, although the worst unit on the team was still league average.

Overall. The Packers were the 9th best team in the NFL, ranked according to the team's overall DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average). They were 14.9% over average, which doesn't predict anything when you realize the 18th best team in the league with a -5.8% below average team (Carolina) is going to the Super Bowl. Overall they were good enough to make the playoffs, good enough to beat any team in the playoffs (including beating the best team in the NFC, 5th ranked Seattle), but didn't make the plays when they needed it. Carolina and Philadelphia were both inferior teams overall, but both made big plays when it mattered. The Packers got few lucky bounces, it wasn't one of those magical years where everything breaks your way, and it just wasn't their year.

Run Offense. The best offensive line in the NFL was the best at opening holes for the running backs and the 3rd best at preventing negative runs with 80% of all running plays going for positive yards. Ahman Green was the main beneficiary with a 27.5 DPAR (Defense-adjusted Points Above Replacement) and the 4th back RB in the NFL. Overall the rush offense only ranks 12th because of all the fumbles, however, few if any fumbles occured over the last several games. Green, Tony Fisher and Najeh Davenport make up the best set of backs in the NFL. With the return of this entire unit in 2004, with the possible exception of possible free agent Chad Clifton, this unit could be the best run offense in the NFC in 2004 if the fumbles have stopped.

Pass defense. Only St. Louis, Tampa Bay and Dallas had better pass defenses in the NFC than the Packers. Its more impressive when you consider that the Packers pass rush recorded a sack on only 6.1% of pass plays which is only slightly above the league average of 6%. The pass blitz was rarely succesful and better execution on pass blitzes and stunts might greatly improve its success rate. Darren Sharper, Mike McKenzie, Al Harris, and Michael Hawthorne all were consistently solid, but not spectacular, in coverage. The linebackers were solid on coverage of the tight ends and running backs, with an exception in the San Diego game against Antonio Gates and LaDainian Tomlinson. Only Minnesota, St. Louis and San Francisco had more interceptions in the NFC than the Packers. Only Antuan Edwards and Hannibal Navies might leave from this unit, so it should be strong again in 2004 and they could be much improved with better pass blitzing.

Pass Offense. Brett Favre is either loved or hated. I appreciate that on 95% of plays, he is playing as well as any QB in the NFL, however, on the other 5% he takes risks that make him look like a rookie. So many NFL teams run such conservative offensive schemes, attempting perfect execution along with no turnovers, that their offenses are often anemic. Some teams look so much better in a hurry up offense that you wonder why they don't hurry up all the time. Favre is always running a hurry up offense, more often than not he is successful, but sometimes its a fiasco. Favre ended the season with his career best season completion percentage (65.4%), but he is likely to be remember this season for his jump ball interception in OT vs. Philadelphia. Favre's aggressive play created the most touchdown passes in the NFL (32) and the 3rd most interceptions (21). All those turnovers slipped his ranking to 16th among QBs and the pass offense to 11th. The offensive line was excellent in pass defense, allowing a sack only 18 times or 4.1% of their pass plays. There is room for improvement at wide receiver, Donald Driver was tops as the 25th best receiver in the NFL, while Javon Walker and Robert Ferguson were both top 40 and are likely to improve in 2004. The tight ends provided little to nothing all season, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Bubba Franks, David Martin, and Wesley Walls all return in 2004 and hopefully they can improve under a new tight ends coach. This unit should be excellent in 2004, maybe even better with improved receiver play, although Favre is unlikely to throw less than 20 interceptions.

Run defense. This unit only got better as the season went on, due in large part to the signing of Grady Jackson. The Packers were the 5th best run defense on carries under 10 yards, however, they were below average at stopping runs for negative yards (20th) and preventing runs over 10 yards (22nd). Overall they were 11th in the NFL. The Packers were poor run blitzers last year and Edwards had some trouble tackling, the game in Chicago comes to mind. Maybe improvement by Marques Anderson as a run blitzer and a full season for him in run support will improve both areas. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Packers look for a new strong safety, the Packers briefly flirted with Sammy Knight last offseason, but I would be surprised to see wholesale changes on the defensive line and at linebacker.

Special Teams. With the exception of Ryan Longwell, who is perfect from within 45 yards on field goals and perfect on extra points, this entire unit could be revamped. Overall the unit was average and the 12th best unit in the NFL. Josh Bidwell is a free agent and I wouldn't expect him back, unless at a league minimum salary. Antonio Chapman had some moments as a kick and punt returner, but was not a factor. Davenport might be an exciting kick returner in 2004, if he is given the job, after watching him as a kick returner over the last few games. The kick coverage is desperate for a gunner to make an impact.

The most important decision the Packers make this offseason is hiring the team's next defensive coordinator. Dave McGinnis is getting a lot of mention, along with assistant head coach Bob Slowik and linebackers coach Mark Duffner. McGinnis would seem preferred, because he is a former head coach, but his defenses in Arizona were never very good although there were many excuses for it. Is the roster best suited for the type of defense McGinnis perfers to play? I have no idea. It should be a 4-3 defense, because the Packers aren't deep at linebacker, but other than that the defense appears to have the size and speed (although not much speed at cornerback) to play many different defensive schemes. I wouldn't be surprised if Mike Sherman is looking for a coordinator with a past or future plan to generate an improved pass rush. As long as the players listen to and work hard for the new coordinator, he should be successful with the Packers.

It was an ugly game, but Carolina beat Philadelphia with a bit of luck. Carolina's luck was most prominent last week when St. Louis's Jeff Wilkins missed an OT field goal, a kick I would imagine Wilkins makes 49 out of 50 times, but Carolina created their luck this week when they knocked Donovan McNabb out of the game. Philadelphia was a 4th quarter team in 2003 and both times they played the Packers, McNabb led Philadelphia back in the 4th quarter. Without McNabb, Philadelphia didn't come back in the 4th quarter vs. Carolina, although maybe Koy Detmer would have led a late touchdown drive if Duce Staley hadn't run the wrong route near the goal line. With the exception of Dallas, who Carolina clobbered in the first round, all the NFC playoff games were close, and it easily could be the Packers in the Super Bowl. The Packers weren't robbed of a Super Bowl appearance, they deserved to lose to Philadelphia, but they could have won that game on numerous plays. Although I don't know if any NFC team could beat New England right now, and I'm expecting Carolina to get crushed like Atlanta in 1998 or the New York Giants in 2000.

Speaking of Atlanta, Ed Donatell has a new home in Atlanta where he will be the defensive coordinator in 2004 for new head coach Jim Mora, Junior. Donatell has his work cut out for him because Atlanta will switch from a 3-4 to 4-3 defense this offseason and will try to improve from a 30th ranked defense. Donatell is a good coach, but when you coach an average performance out of a talented defense with few injuries, you are likely to be fired. Maybe Donatell is being fired for having a young Packers defense. Comparing the Packers defense to New England's defense, player by player, both defenses have comparable talent, however, New England's defense has far more experience and much better results. However, some teams rely too much on veterans, for example Oakland in 2003, and have bad results. I don't think Mike Sherman needed to fire Donatell, but it might be a good idea to bring in a new coach to get more production out of a solid defense on paper.

I didn't know Jeff Jagodzinski was the tight ends coach until Sherman fired him. Jagodzinski had one thing in common with Donatell this season, he coached an underachieving unit, and both men were fired. Just as with the defense, maybe bringing in a new tight ends coach will make that group more productive.

Packers 17, Philadelphia 20. The most depressing loss in recent memory. Many games have moments when a team could win a game if they had made this play or the other, but this game had several moments when victory could have been snatched from the jaws of defeat. If Mike Wahle hadn't tripped Ahman Green on 4th down on Philadelphia's 1 yard line. If Mike McKenzie and Marques Anderson had covered Todd Pinkston in the end zone. If Javon Walker had stood up and run into the end zone instead of getting up to celebrate. If Mike Sherman had trusted his offense to make a 4th and 1 with 2:30 left in the game, except he was probably shell shocked after Wahle's earlier trip of Green on 4th down, and not had given Donovan McNabb another chance to win the game. If Bhawon Jue had covered Freddie Mitchell instead of leaving him wide open at the first down marker on 4th and 25. If Brett Favre hadn't thrown that awful interception in overtime. Favre's interception will get all of the attention, but if the Packers had executed a single one of these plays correctly, they would have won the game. Except for Wahle being pushed into Green while Wahle was pulling on the play, every other play I mentioned was either poor execution or a poor decision, and not because Philadelphia outplayed the Packers on the play.

So many players had great game for the Packers. Nick Barnett, Ahman Green, Brett Favre (except for the interception), the entire offensive line, Grady Jackson, and of course Robert Ferguson. In the end, all it did was keep Philadelphia from leading in the game until the final play. If the Packers have played Philadelphia for about 125 minutes this season (2 games plus OT), then Philadelphia has led for about 2 of the 125 minutes, but has beaten the Packers both times.

It was a duplicate of Philadelphia's earlier win in Green Bay. The Packers outplayed most of the game, but Philadelphia kept it close, waited for the Packers to make their mistakes and then made big plays when given the opportunity.

In this game, Philadelphia had little production from their running backs and the Packers pass coverage was often excellent. McNabb ended up with big passing numbers and Philadelphia ended up with big rushing numbers, but both are deceiving stats. McNabb had some success passing, but often couldn't find an open receiver and took a sack (8 sacks in the game). The pass coverage was excellent on the plays when McNabb took off and ran too, but the Packers were woefully unprepared to stop McNabb from scrambling on the busted play. The Packers did a lot of stunting, with defensive linemen running parallel to the line of scrimmage and then running at McNabb to try and generate pass pressure, but it created big holes for McNabb to run through. Philadelphia's defensive blitzing was excellent, especially in the 4th quarter and overtime when it forced Favre's interception.

I am hoping that the Packers decide/are able to keep this team together and take another shot at the Super Bowl next year. This team is so close to putting it all together, with three straight playoff appearances, and it finished strong at the end of the season, the loss in Philadelphia ended a 5 game win streak, which is a strong indicator for next season.

Packers 33, Seattle 27. This was a very close game played by two very similar teams. Both teams have great run offenses but struggled to run the ball. Both teams have great a pass offense and a struggling pass defense. The Packers gained 2.4 yards/carry to Seattle’s 2.3 yards/carry. The Packers had 319 yards passing to Seattle’s 300 yards. There were few penalties and no turnovers until the last play of the game. Seattle could have won the game if Maurice Morris or Koren Robinson hadn’t missed/dropped touchdown passes or Ahman Green’s crucial 4th down carry had been ruled a fumble, but any missed opportunity or mistake was amplified by the similar ability of the two teams.

First Quarter: Seattle was hurt by dropped passes all game long, but the Packers had two crucial drops in the first quarter. Robert Ferguson dropped a 2nd down pass after a penalty that effectively ended one drive and Antonio Freeman dropped a 3rd down pass that would have been 1st down yardage in Seattle territory. Seattle had one successful drive, Shawn Alexander actually had a 17 yard carry but only had 28 yards on 19 carries for the rest of the game, and the Packers had a successful goal line stand in the first quarter although Alexander was very effective near the goal line for the rest of the game. Grady Jackson was fantastic getting into Seattle’s backfield and making plays in pursuit up and down the line of scrimmage. Aaron Kampman was excellent holding his position on run plays, and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila did much better on run defense this game instead of pushed out of the way like he did in the first half against Seattle back in October. Packers 0, Seattle 3.

Second Quarter: Both punters struggled because of the cold weather, Josh Bidwell had two early touchbacks and Tom Rouen couldn’t get any distance. William Henderson made an unbelievable catch right off the defender’s hip and it set up a field goal. Seattle’s receivers were able to get separation on the Packers secondary all game and Robinson, Itula Mili, Darrell Jackson and Bobby Ingram were open often. Matt Hasselbeck was very accurate and at least half of his 20 incompletions were drops. There is nothing worse than watching the officials take points off the scoreboard when they ruled Hasselbeck didn’t fumble (tuck rule!) and Nick Barnett, who had a great game, didn’t score a touchdown. Brett Favre and Javon Walker are a great deep pass combination. Favre is never right on target with Walker, few NFL quarterbacks hit their receivers deep in stride, and Walker is excellent at adjusting to the ball. Bubba Franks has caught zero or one pass in 8 of the last 10 games, but he gets behind the safety with no help deep in the end zone for probably his longest catch of the season. I expected Franks to be a serious threat deep over the middle this season, and this was the first time I saw it work. The defense was fired up after the touchdown and got its only real sack on Hasselbeck all game on Seattle’s first play, and it caused a fumble to kill the drive. Packers 13, Seattle 6.

Third Quarter: Mike Holmgren’s Packers teams always made successful adjustments at half time. Seattle’s offense is no different. Seattle had the ball 6 times in the first half and scored 6 points. In the second half, Seattle had the ball 4 times and scored 21 points. All the drives were long, consistent drives and it was a very impressive performance from Hasselbeck considering he did it all without much help rushing from Alexander. Of course he had some luck too when he threw a perfect pass right to Packers linebacker Hannibal Navies, who didn’t catch the ball, allowed it to bounce off of him, and was caught by offensive lineman Steve Hutchinson. Favre threw the ball up for grabs a few times, and I wish he would stop doing that. He threw it up once for David Martin, and Martin should have caught it. Favre has been throwing it up once or twice a game all year and usually it gets picked off, but not today. The Packers secondary fell apart short as receivers keep getting open, but no long touchdown passes. Mike McKenzie is trying to play through his injury, but it is obvious he is a step slower with his injured toe. Packers 13, Seattle 20.

Fourth Quarter: I have no idea how Randall Godfrey failed to tackle Green on 4th and 1 on Seattle’s 3 yard line. My best guess is a combination of strength by Green and bad angle by Godfrey. The next drive the Packers ran and passed the ball to get to Seattle’s 20 yard line, and then proceeded to run the ball 5 times for 20 yards and a touchdown. After this outburst for 4 yards/carry, the announcers reminded everyone that it is obvious that the Packers are built around running the ball with Ahman Green. Uh huh. Green is a top 5 running back in the league, but Favre’s 319 yards passing were much more important than Green’s 66 yards rushing. This team is built around Favre and he is very productive in this offense. Green is the best complimentary player Favre has ever played with, but Green is still the compliment to Favre. Watching the Packers last touchdown drive, I thought it was great that the drive took so much time off the clock, but it didn’t leave the offense enough time to score on its last drive. The Packers secondary never looked worse in the game than the 59 yards it allowed on 4 pass attempts in one minute. With about a minute and a half left, Seattle was down to the Packers 8 yard line. It was a great goal line stand until Barnett committed pass interference in the end zone. Walker made a great reception, but Ryan Longwell hasn’t kicked for distance all year and especially not in cold weather. Packers 27, Seattle 27.

Overtime: Apparently Hasselbeck was wrong, because Seattle didn’t score. Both defenses looked sharper in the overtime, which was really surprising after both defenses allowed a combined 3 touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Both teams had unsuccessful drives until Hasselbeck threw the interception to Al Harris that he returned for a touchdown. Holmgren looked upset in the post-game interview that Hasselbeck called an audible on the play. I remember a game in the mid-90s in Minnesota when backup Packer quarterback T.J. Rubley (he was the third string QB who came in after Favre and Ty Detmer both got hurt) threw a game ending interception on an audible, and Holmgren had him cut the next day. Holmgren won’t cut Hasselbeck, but he might want to in anger and it’s a good thing that Holmgren doesn’t have his GM powers anymore. The Packers corners haven’t jumped too many short routes this season, whether it is conservative play or lack of speed to jump the routes I don’t know, but Harris played that one perfect. Packers 33, Seattle 27.

Annual Ron Wolf rumor alert. Miami is reportedly interested in talking to Ron Wolf about becoming Miami's General Manager or as a consultant. He is finishing up a 3 year consulting contract with the Packers, but I'm not sure what he did. With Mike Sherman, Mark Hatley, and Reggie McKenzie in the front office, I wouldn't imagine Wolf had much input on player personnel decisions over the last 3 years. I read interviews with Wolf over the last 3 years about how he dislikes all the travel a GM is required to do, because airports are more crowded and busier places with too many delays. I wouldn't expect Wolf to come back for another GM position, but maybe he sign on as a who-knows-what-he-is-doing consultant. He lives in Maryland, maybe Dan Snyder would ask him to rebuild Washington's team? I wouldn't mind seeing Ron Wolf back in the NFL as a GM, although I don't think Snyder deserves any favors.

Arizona 18, Minnesota 17. Yes, the Packers played Denver and won 31 to 3, but Arizona needed to win for the Packers to make it due to the NFL's bizarre rules if 3 teams tie for a playoff spot. If Minnesota would have won, then 1 of 4 teams (Dallas, Minnesota, Seattle or the Packers) would have been robbed of a playoff spot, and all three teams were deserving, until Minnesota blew it in Arizona. Ironically, Minnesota, Seattle and the Packers are all very similar teams (great offenses with weak defenses). In the end, defense decided the outcome of the playoff spots because Seattle's defense contained Jeff Garcia on Saturday after San Francisco's offense had looked unstoppable in the previous 2 games and Minnesota's defense couldn't stop Arizona's offense with the game on the line. The Packers defense didn't have much to do with this outcome because Denver played their last regular season game like it was a preseason game.

At this point, no team should be favored to win the NFC playoffs. St. Louis has a championship defense, but Marc Bulger is injured, he commits too many turnovers, and Marshall Faulk is not running the ball well right now. Philadelphia has a good run offense, but Donovan McNabb has not played the best football of his career in the playoffs of the past two seasons and their run defense is very weak. If Philadelphia ends up playing Dallas or St. Louis, they have a good chance, but they would be in trouble vs. Carolina, the Packers, or Seattle. Dallas's offense has really struggled as teams have shut down Terry Glenn and Troy Hambrick. Carolina really reminds me of Atlanta in 1998 (great run offense and solid but not great defense) but their pass offense isn't as good. Carolina's special teams and clock consuming run offense will have to carry them. Seattle looked very bad in Green Bay on October 5th and they were playing better football at that time, while the Packers were really struggling. The 2003 Packers didn't collapse at the end of the season like the 2002 Packers, so I wouldn't expect the same result as last year's playoff game vs. Atlanta. Seattle and the Packers are very similar teams, both well matched to exploit each other's weaknesses although both teams weaknesses, notably their pass defenses, have played much better in recent weaks. Seattle's formerly weak run defense did a great job at San Francisco vs. a quality run offense. This will be a very close game.

First Quarter: Perfect first drive: Brett Favre was 6 for 6 and completed passes to 6 different receivers, although Denver should have intercepted the ball in the end zone. Denver was able to run the ball a little early on, but Jarious Jackson was far too inconsistant. Jackson's early struggles reminded me of the mid-90s Favre who was usually inaccurate in the first quarter because he was so excited. Ed McCaffrey had a horrible first half for Denver as Darren Sharper and Al Harris got in two big hits on him. Packers 7, Denver 0.

Second Quarter: Typical game for the Packers defense: early in the game the defensive line is shoved around, but as the game goes on it gets stronger. This defies most convential thinking, usually the offensive line wears down a defensive line. It is probably due to the quality depth the Packers have at defensive line and a good rotation scheme by the Packers coaches. Extra bonus: Kenny Peterson returned for the first time in a few weeks, and this only improves the line. Jackson is getting better as he calms down, but his horrible pass intercepted by Al Harris on a busted play got him benched. Danny Kanell came in and he isn't horrible, but he doesn't make any big plays either. The only bad plays by Favre in recent weeks is his insistence to get Wesley Walls involved in the offense. Walls has made some big catches, but teams know Favre wants to throw deep to Walls. Favre's first pass after the Jackson interception was a long pass to Walls that was intercepted. After the great first drive, Favre only completed 6 more passes the entire game and the Packers found the rest of their success with the run offense. It was very surprising to see Ryan Longwell miss a field goal within 45 yards, but it happened today. Packers 10, Denver 0.

Third Quarter: Without Jake Plummer at quarterback, Denver's offense is just bad. Kanell didn't commit many turnovers, his only interception was an end of the half hail mary pass in the end zone, but they just can't keep any drive going. With Favre's post first drive struggles in this game, the offense only got going once Denver's defensive line got worn out. Denver gets on the board, but Ahman Green's big 47 yard run sets up an easy touchdown run as the Packers offensive line did a great job setting up a huge running lane over the left tackle. After the long kick return, Denver has a chance to answer right back but...Packers 17, Denver 3.

Fourth Quarter: Denver turns the ball over on downs when the Packers run defense made a great goal line stand, and Kanell couldn't throw it in either. Then Green's huge 98 yard run: the run blocking, especially by Kevin Barry who sealed off the right side for a huge hole was great, solid blocking by the receivers because the Denver pursuit by the secondary was slow to react, and speed by Green to run past the 2 Denver defensive backs who had a shot near the end zone. Adrian Madise had a great kickoff return for Denver in the 3rd quarter but botched catching the ball on the 4th quarter kickoff and the Packers got their first special teams touchdown of the year. The game was on fumes after that point as both teams backups (and backups of backups) entered the game. Packers 31, Denver 3.

Packers 41, Oakland 7. Did Oakland go to the Super Bowl last year? The Packers added an exclaimation point to an awful and disappointing season for Oakland by embarrasing them on national TV. When the Packers don't turnover the ball on offense and their receivers are able to get a step or two on their defenders in coverage, the Packers will destroy lesser teams like Oakland. Brett Favre statistically had the best game of his career, and good luck to him on what is sure to be a difficult week for him after the sudden death of his father Irvin on Sunday night.

The NFL has continued to make the tiebreaker formula a complete screwup. If Seattle wins, Dallas loses, and the Packers win, the Packers could miss the playoffs depending on the outcome of the Baltimore/Pittsburgh game. Huh? I read ESPN's website and the first tiebreaker is head to head and the Packers beat Seattle earlier in the season, so how can Seattle be tied with the Packers under any circumstances and make the playoffs while the Packers sit at home? I am not asking for an interpretation of the rules, but asking under whose twisted logic does that make any sense. How can Seattle overcome the #1 tiebreaker, head-to-head, by beating the Packers or Dallas on the #6 tiebreaker, strength of schedule? Why?

I'd expect the Packers are focused on winning next Sunday, and that job got a little easier with Denver clinching a wild card spot. Denver can't win the division and Clinton Portis is still hurting, so their should be no incentive to play him next weekend.

First Quarter: Oakland was amazingly consistent (bad) the entire game. Rick Mirer proved he can't throw the ball accuarately over 10 yards. Oakland passed on 4 of their first 5 plays, although their run offense is their strength, and after a Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila sack they punted. Favre started off the game by immediately abusing Oakland's secondary, who was the worst secondary I have seen this season. Oakland was blitzing, keeping their linebackers and strong safety close to the line of scrimmage to stop the run, and Favre picked their secondary apart. Oakland's secondary was only credited for 2 pass defenses the entire game. Favre completes a long pass to Robert Ferguson who just ran by Philip Buchanon who gave a five yard cushion to any receiver he faced all game. Buchanon is having a terrible season, and his confidence must be shot by this point. Wesley Walls made a great touchdown grab, but I have no idea how Oakland's strong safety Derrick Gibson missed intercepting or knocking the ball down. Oakland 3 and out; the Packers defensive line got a great push on the line of scrimmage all game long and Grady Jackson was great in the first quarter. Antonio Chapman had a nifty return, spinning out of a tackle and gaining some yardage. Chapman had a promising game, he even had a punt return for a touchdown although it was called back because of two illegal blocks that sprung him on the return. The Packers had a lot of penalties on offense in the first quarter, but none of them mattered including a holding penalty that set up a 3rd and 12. Tony Fisher and the offensive line ran a perfectly executed screen pass to convert on it, and the next play was Javon Walker's first touchdown pass as he ran by Buchanon (again) for the catch. Oakland answers with a touchdown drive by running on 5 of their next 6 plays including the long touchdown run by Charlie Garner. John Madden started talking in general about the poor tackling in the NFL after watching Garner's run, and Madden was right, the Packers tackling was awful on the play because Darren Sharper, Al Harris and Marques Anderson all missed tackles. It was one of the few bad plays by the defense all game. Packers 14, Oakland 7.

Second Quarter: The Packers move the ball easily over 50 yards on their next drive, but it stalls on a 3rd and 4 on a rare Favre incompletion and leads to an easy Ryan Longwell field goal. Oakland 3 and out. Mirer isn't accurate enough to sustain drives by passing, so without an effective running game or big plays on offense, Oakland can't go anywhere. Oakland had some success running the ball in previous games, with a league average 17th ranked run offense, but they were so far behind they had no opportunity after the 1st quarter to exploit it. Oakland doesn't have much speed at receiver, and except for all the passes Jerry Rice caught in garbage time in the 4th quarter, the Packers secondary did a great job keeping with Oakland's receivers. Ferguson makes a great catch on 3rd and 9 while he was falling out of bounds. Then the long underthrown bomb to Walker, where the two Oakland defenders (including Buchanon again) ran past the play while Walker had great ball awareness. Oakland 3 and out. Ho-hum, another long pass to Walker sets up David Martin's first touchdown catch since September. Oakland gets the home crowd excited by making their first 1st down of the quarter on a long pass to Rice, but Mirer is sacked twice in the next 4 plays for a turnover on downs. A hail mary to the end zone is actually defended by Oakland (probably one of their two pass defenses in the game) to deny Favre his 5th touchdown pass of the half. Packers 31, Oakland 7.

Half time: Shaq! Oh that ABC synergy!

Third Quarter: Any hope Oakland had for a better second half was immediately crushed on a long kickoff return by Najeh Davenport. Great burst of speed by Davenport, but a great job for the kick blocking with a huge hole for him to run through. Favre throws 3 of his 8 incompletions on the drive and Longwell kicks another easy field goal. After Rice's long catch and fumble, I missed most of this quarter, but Mirer's interception to Michael Hawthorne (who has been a fantastic early season pickup) ended his game as he was replaced by Rob Johnson. By this point, the Packers are handing the ball off a lot with an occasional Favre pass to keep Oakland honest. Packers 34, Oakland 7.

Fourth Quarter: I watched all their was to watch in this quarter, which was a lot of passes by Johnson, eventually replaced by Tee Martin, and a lot of Packers runs. Johnson looked awful, and it is appropriate that Johnson is sacked (he is the NFL all time leader in sacks/attempts) on the first successful cornerback blitz I can remember the Packers executing in weeks. Apparently the cornerback blitz is only successful against sack magnets like Johnson. Favre throws a 40 yard bomb to Donald Driver, who I can't imagine was the first option on a pass play in a blowout. Antonio Freeman gets a catch on 3rd down to convert, and on the next play Ahman Green has his easiest run of the game on an untouched touchdown run. Finally Oakland gets sick of watching Johnson after he throws one of the worst interceptions I have seen all year. Johnson is trying to throw to Jerry Rice on a quick slant, but he double clutches as he sees Hawthorne standing 5 yards deep right in the path of the pass, then Johnson throws it anyway right to Hawthorne! Johnson should not have been cut after the game, but immediately after he threw that pass. Martin has some success for Oakland at quarterback, like it matters, but Aaron Kampman gets a highlight reel moment when he sacks Martin, forces a fumble, and recovers it himself. Packers 41, Oakland 7.

I am not a big fan of the Pro Bowl. It is an afterthought to the NFL season and it seems even more irrelevant than the other professional sports league's All Star games if that is possible. I'm sure the league makes money off of it, but its sure to cost good teams money too when it comes time for a team's Pro Bowl players to negotiate their next contract. Nonetheless, its a good way for the league to give some congrads to the players who had excellent seasons, and to some deserving Packers.

Ahman Green was an easy selection. The top 3 NFC rushing leaders to this point were selected and Green is #2. Maybe Brett Favre was a surprise selection for some, but I think it was obvious. Favre is having a great season and he is playing as well as he ever has ever played. Marco Rivera might have gotten the nod because once an offensive lineman gets selected, it seems like he is selected ever year, but it also is a selection to respect a great offensive line.

The choice of Pro Bowl alternates was a little strange. Mike Flanagan was selected, but the NFL could have just as easily selected all the non-Rivera starting offensive lineman as alternates. Nick Barnett was a surprise, but he has played great and deserves it. Bubba Franks has been a forgotten man the last few weeks, and has not made an impact this season, but he was selected. William Henderson has been great and could have been named starter, although I don't have any objection to naming Fred Beasley as the starting fullback. Ryan Longwell has been automatic all year within 45 yards and deserves the selection. Mike McKenzie and Darren Sharper have been the two best players in the Packers secondary, but it is unusual to see two members of a secondary ranked #26 in the NFL be selected as alternates. Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila is a surprise since he hasn't been very good against the run, he was so much better last year at consistently speed rushing on passing plays, and he is tied for 8th among NFC defensive ends with 7 sacks.

I read on packersnews.com that Mike Wahle was upset that he didn't get select, even as an alternate. All starting five (Chad Clifton, Wahle, Flanagan, Rivera, and Mark Tauscher) offensive lineman have been excellent this year, all of them deserve recognition, but I do agree that Wahle has stood out among the starting five. Primarily on running plays where he pulls to lead block, because he always makes a great block and it is intimidating for a linebacker/cornerback/safety to see a giant 6'6" 307 lbs. lineman bearing down on you. If you wanted to single out a game for Wahle (although it was a group effort along with Flanagan and Rivera) it would be the Tampa Bay game, when he was dominated Tampa Bay's high paid defensive tackles (Warren Sapp and Anthony McFarland) and opened huge running lanes.

Overall it was great to see so many Packers get recognition. Now I just want to see them win their last two games.

Packers 38, San Diego 21. This was the biggest win for the Packers all season, because it came the same day as a Seattle loss and a Minnesota loss. For the first time since early in the season the Packers control their own playoff chances because if they win out they have the wild card at least, and are tied for the NFC Central lead. Its a mixed blessing, because the Packers run offense is regressing and it hasn't looked dominant the last three weeks. The first 4 games after the bye week, the run offense looked like the best in the NFL, but defenses appear committed to stopping the run and they are hoping for a Brett Favre interception or two (or three...). The Packers offense seems to stall, and turn the ball over, anytime it calls too many pass plays in a row. San Diego is a bad team, they appear to have several players on their lines and their defensive secondary who shouldn't be starting in the NFL, but LaDainian Tomlinson is the most impressive and dangerous player I have seen in the NFL this season.

First Quarter: I missed the first touchdown drive, but Donald Driver caught 2 passes on the way to his best game of the season and Ahman Green had his 2nd longest run of the game (9 yards) on his way to the touchdown run. Green broke Jim Taylor's single season rushing record, but it took him many rushes to get the 40 or so yards he needed for it. San Diego had a great opening drive thanks mostly to Packers' penalties. This was the second game in three weeks, the Detroit game on Thanksgiving is the other one, where the refs made questionable calls for big yardage for the Packers opponents. The pass interference call against Mike McKenzie was especially weak because both players were going for the ball. But the defense held near the goal line and started the bend but don't break theme it played with most of the game. Penalties were a big part of the quarter, keeping the first San Diego drive alive and killing a subsequent Packer drive. Packers 7, San Diego 3.

Second Quarter: The penalties continued into the 2nd quarter as the refs were working on a quota or something. Someone named Antonio Gates started catching a bunch of passes. Gates caught passes in each quarter and probably had his first 100 yard receiving game of his career. The good news is that Gates and Tomlinson were the only productive offensive players in the game for San Diego. San Diego's big and expensive wide receiver, David Boston, had an unimpressive game and made his biggest contribution in the game on a fumble off his knee that Marques Anderson recovered. Anderson always seems around the ball. San Diego pins the Packers down at their 3 yard line, but Green runs them out of the tight spot and a San Diego penalty helps on a 3rd down play. Wesley Walls catches a pass on 3rd down that is just short of the 1st down marker and forces a punt. Walls has seemed to have a catch in each of the last couple of weeks that is just short of a 1st down. San Diego should have scored on their next drive, but Darren Sharper has a great leaping interception while on a blitz that stops it. With only 1:25 left in the quarter, Favre runs a great 2 minute drill and throws a perfect touchdown pass to Driver, diving towards the front end zone marker, and it is thrown to a place that only Driver could catch it. Packers 17, San Diego 3.

Third Quarter: The defense couldn't get off the field, and Favre didn't help matters by going 0 for 5 with 1 interception for the quarter. The run offense wasn't much better with 1 carry by Green for -2 yards. Although with all this time, San Diego only scores once in the quarter with a field goal. San Diego, however, has the ball for 3 drives in the 3rd quarter and 2 of the drives end by the Packers goal line (including a touchdown scored just after the start of the 4th quarter) and 1 drive ended when Chukie Nwokorie forces a fumble on a sack. Nwokorie did a great speed rush move around the left tackle and it was the only play that stopped San Diego in the quarter. The secret to San Diego's offense is to make sure Tomlinson has the ball a lot. Its a pretty good strategy. If Tomlinson got better blocking and wasn't hit so much at the line of scrimmage, he would be lethal with his speed and strength in the open field. Packers 17, San Diego 6.

Fourth Quarter: In the first 3 minutes of the 4th quarter, San Diego scores 2 touchdowns and takes the lead. Tomlinson scores both touchdowns. San Diego runs a great play with Tomlinson motioning out of the backfield, he moves into the slot, and forces some poor linebacker to try and keep up with him. On the 2nd touchdown of the quarter, Tomlinson is in the slot, gets about 3 yards of cushion (you can't give him any cushion but if you don't he'll blow by you so its a lose or lose situation), and runs right through and by the entire Packers secondary. The Packers are quick to respond with a great kickoff return by Najeh Davenport, running past and through a couple of players, and Favre throws a great deep pass down the field to Robert Ferguson. Unfortunately, by this point the Packers defense has spent most of the 2nd half on the field, but it doesn't hurt their play. I have been critical of blitzing by the Packers, but it worked perfectly on the next fumble by Drew Brees. LB Hannibal Navies blitzed, while NT Grady Jackson busted up the middle right by the offensive guard and forced the fumble. Then Navies, who was in the backfield because he blitzed, fell on the ball at the 1 yard line of San Diego. Green caught a pass in the flat for a touchdown on the next play. This was the best blitz play of the season, and the blitzer didn't even force the pressure (directly) or got a sack. San Diego scores 2 touchdowns in 3 minutes, and the Packers answer back with 2 touchdowns in 3 minutes. San Diego's next drive is killed by a holding penalty on 1st down. Then Green has his longest run of the game, 33 yards, and Favre finds Ferguson for his 2nd touchdown and Favre's 4th. San Diego drives down to the Packers goal line again, but they can't punch it in. For the game, San Diego was at the Packers 15 yard line or closer on 5 drives and only scored 13 points. Packers 38, San Diego 21.

It is ironic that Brett Favre isn't getting any MVP press this year like he did last year, although I think he is having the best season of his career this year. He is tied for the lead in touchdown passes and has the best completion percentage of his career, although he is without a Pro Bowl caliber receiver and he has played much of the season with a broken thumb on his passing hand. He just broke Cecil Isbell's record set in 1942 with his 23rd consecutive game with a touchdown pass (thanks Jeff Sanford for pointing that out to me). He is running the offense as well as he has ever done, and is spreading the ball out to every eligible receiver, except backup tackle Kevin Barry, in the passing game.

This year is different from 2002 because the Packers aren't running away with their division and Favre has thrown a bunch of interceptions. Quarterbacks such as Peyton Manning and Steve McNair are more deserving of the actual award, but Favre deserves to be part of the discussion. He isn't going to pile up the big touchdown number he had in his MVP seasons, but the Packers running game is so much better this year then it was in 1995-1997 that Mike Sherman isn't calling all those short touchdown passes to the tight ends this season like Mike Holmgren used to call, and Sherman is letting Ahman Green run the ball in. His total passing yards are down (for his standards) but that too is a consequence of the great run offense. Here is to hoping Favre hears a lot of praise in the off season for his outstanding performances in 2003.

Packers 34, Chicago 21. This was not a game I was ever worried about. The Packers record against Chicago over the last 10 years is heavily in the Packers favor. Even when Chicago went 13-3 in 2001, 2 of their 3 losses were against the Packers. The Packers offense never got on track, especially the running game, but the Packers defense forced multiple big turnovers that killed Chicago.

The bigger news was the resurrection of Minnesota, with an impressive victory over Seattle. Minnesota dominated Seattle, Minnesota had no turnovers while forcing 3 Seattle turnovers, and Minnesota looked like the team that started the year 6-0. Minnesota is a streaky team, and I wouldn't be surprised if they won out despite one of their remaining games is against Kansas City. With Seattle's loss, however, Seattle has proven they can't win on the road, 1-5 so far, with two away games at St. Louis and at San Francisco, that I can't imagine them winning. With a probable win at home against Arizona, Seattle would finish 9-7, and the Packers won their game against them this season. So I think the division title is out of reach, and the goal is taking the wild card from Seattle or slumping Dallas. Dallas failed to complete a single pass to any wide receiver the entire game last Sunday, which is unbelievable. Dallas's remaining schedule isn't a killer (at Washington, home against the Giants, and at New Orleans), but they have lost 3 of their last 4 and have lost ugly the last 2 weeks. With both projected NFC wild card teams slumping, the wild card should be the Packers goal.

First Quarter: Najeh Davenport has become my favorite kick returner. He is strong and can't be taken down by an arm tackle, but he has enough speed to break a long return if he can get past the initial wave of coverage. The first possessions of the game for both teams were anemic, with 5 rushes and 1 incomplete pass between them, no first downs, and 2 punts. The next Packer possession was a typical scoring drive for them this year; a couple of runs, Brett Favre completing passes to multiple receivers (4 different receivers on this drive alone), but Wesley Walls came up just short on a 3rd down pass. I was hoping Mike Sherman would go for it, because I was expecting a Josh Bidwell touchback punt and only a 25 yard net advantage, but Sherman elected for the touchback. This is the second game in a row where the offensive line didn't dominate and the Packers had trouble running the ball. I don't know if teams are doing a better job of scheming against the Packers run offense or this is a drop off in play, but this isn't the same team running the football. The pass completion to David Terrell on 3rd and 9 was disappointing, but its unusual for Chicago to throw passes downfield. The 61 yard touchdown pass to Marty Booker on the next play was very unusual. Mike McKenzie personally took responsiblity for the play, but he was in a really tight spot; he was trying to cover a receiver known for catching passes short and he had no deep help. Unfortunately, Favre answered Chicago's long touchdown by handing them another long touchdown on a pass interception returned for a touchdown. It looked like Favre was trying to throw the ball away out of bounds, but he should have known he was still between the tackles and it would have been grounding even if his pass had made it there. He was probably frustrated by the lack of success the offense had in the quarter. Speaking of Monday Morning Quarterbacks, Favre's commercial where he walks around and second guesses everyone on the street for Mastercard is hilarious. Packers 0, Chicago 14.

Second Quarter: The Packers do get on track during their next drive. Ahman Green finally has some success (5 carries for 22 yards on the drive) and Favre completes passes to 3 different receivers. The drive stalls at Chicago's 6 yard line, but the field goal is the start of 34 unanswered points by the Packers. After a 1st quarter where Chicago didn't play like Chicago (forcing turnovers, pushing the ball down the field with long passes), Chicago reverts to form with a fumble on the kick return. The Packers' drive stalls immediately but now its 14 to 6. Actually, Chicago doesn't stop throwing long passes, Booker catches a long pass and later in the quarter Justin Gage should have had two long receptions, but one was called back on a gift offensive pass interference call against Gage and Gage dropped one in the end zone. If Gage had caught a long touchdown pass at the end of the 1st half, who knows how this game might have turned out. After Booker's last long catch of the game, however, Chicago stalls on 3rd down as Cletidus Hunt gets a sack. Hunt has been great the last few games, providing the interior pass rush that the Packers had expected from him all year long. Right now, teams cannot single team Hunt on passing downs and expect to contain him. Robert Ferguson caught 7 passes in the game, but his first catch wasn't until the middle of the 2nd quarter. Ferguson caught a 20 yard pass on a 1st and 15 for the Packers on their 22 yard line, which must have been a soul crusher for Chicago's defense. Javon Walker got his first catch on the drive too, with a touchdown catch that was very similar to Booker's touchdown catch because Walker ran by the cornerback, Charles Tillman, down the side line and Tillman's deep help was late. It was great that this catch came against Tillman, because Moose Johnson had been doing the commentating and he had been talking about how soft the Packers were playing and how tough Chicago was hitting. He had been especially fond of Tillman up to this point, and I don't remember Moose mentioning Tillman's name the rest of the game. Darren Sharper says thanks to Chicago for a hail mary interception at the end of the half, and he returned it to the 50 yard line, and he was probably only one or two players away from breaking it for a touchdown. Packers 13, Chicago 14.

Third Quarter: Another bad kickoff coverage by the Packers. Jerry Azumah, although unable to make a tackle on defense and fumbled an earlier kickoff, returns it to the Chicago 43 yard line. After one 1st down conversion, Chicago is already in Packer territory. Its like the special teams is missing that one great special team tackler who seems to be in on every play. Ferguson and Torrence Marshall have had good individual games on special teams, but not consistently. Luckily, McKenzie gets his first interception of the game to end the drive. The Packers have had so much success on offense this season because they can move down the field consistently by running or passing the ball. In this game, and last week in Detroit, the Packers have been unable to move the ball by running. This next drive stalls because the running game doesn't provide anything (3 carries for 5 yards), but the Ryan Longwell field goal gives the Packers their first lead. Chicago does nothing on their next drive, and the Packers next drive does little but the stupid late hit by Michael Haynes on Favre is the big play and sets up a 45 yard Longwell field goal. Longwell has been very valuable this season, because any kick by him within 45 yards of the goal posts has been automatic. He is one of the most accurate kicker in the NFL, although his leg isn't very strong. Packers 19, Chicago 14.

Fourth Quarter: It really surprised me that Chicago never dedicated themselves to running the football. The Packers have had problems stopping the run early in games and have not been a great run defense in general. Chicago's only success vs. the Packers in Chicago earlier this season was when Anthony Thomas ran the ball, but he only got 9 carries in this game and Chicago threw twice as much they ran (40 to 20). Unless Thomas has a fumbling problem, Chicago is just asking for trouble because it is inevitable that Stewart will make a bad play throwing the ball and they should want to keep those mistakes down to a minimum. Although Chicago is only down by 5 points, their first drive of the 4th quarter is primarily passes by Stewart. Chicago has success on this drive passing, Stewart is 5 of 7 for 63 yards with a 3rd and 8 at the Packers 16 yard line, but on his 8th attempt McKenzie jumps the short route on the sideline and intercepts the ball for a 90 yard touchdown return. This effectively ends the game, and Favre throws a 2 point conversion to Bubba Franks for an exclaimation point to the turn of events. After this play, Chicago doesn't call another running play the rest of the game, although over 9 minutes remain. I don't know why, but Chicago drives into Packer territory on the next drive but decide to punt instead of going for it on 4th and long. Maybe they are hoping the Packers turn it back over quickly and fortunately for Chicago this happens after two runs and an incompletion followed by a weak punt by Bidwell. Desmond Clark had a couple of nice catches in this game for Chicago, however, his fumble on the second play of their next drive kills it. The Packers just continue to run the ball and the clock, Green hasn't fumbled the ball since his disaster a few weeks ago vs. Philadelphia, so this is a pretty safe strategy. Bidwell has a nice punt to pin Chicago down to their 10 yard line, which leads to a three incompletions by Stewart, and a 4th down attempt that ends in a Stewart sack on his 1 yard line for a turnover on downs. Grady Jackson got the sack, and he has been a great pick up for the Packers. He isn't dominanting, but he gets some pressure up the middle and has held the middle of the line well against the run. With all the defensive line injuries, if they didn't have Jackson for the defensive line rotation, the run defense might be a lot worse at this point. Green easily runs the ball in on his second attempt and the game is a blowout. Azumah has a little redemption for his earlier fumble and poor tackling in the game with a long kickoff return for a touchdown, to cap off a poor game for the Packers special teams, but its too little too late for Chicago. With under 2 minutes left, the Packers go for it on 4th down to try and run out the clock but fail to convert it. Two weeks ago, this would have been a gimme but it isn't today. Chicago's last drive is a turnover on downs again, as Stewart fails again to get anything going. Chicago should turn to Rex Grossman next week to see what he can do. Packers 34, Chicago 21.

Packers 14, Detroit 22. Ugh. 3rd down conversions and turnovers. In the first half, the Packers defense couldn't get off the filed and Detroit was 4 for 7 on third down. In the second half, especially in the 4th quarter when the Packers had 2 fumbles and 2 interceptions, the Packers offense couldn't stop turning the ball over. The only good news was that Minnesota got crushed in St. Louis and their remaining schedule is tough; home against playoff bound Seattle (although Seattle can't win on the road), at Chicago (winners of their last two games), home against 11-1 Kansas City, at Arizona (Arizona sucks, but they are 3-2 at home and almost beat St. Louis in Arizona). All of those games will be tough for Minnesota, so an 8-8 record for them to end the season is very possible. The Packers would have to win 3 of their last 4 to finish 9-7 and win the division, and considering they had won 3 of 4 prior to the Detroit loss, it is very possible too.

First Quarter: The first (and only) touchdown drive by Detroit was very discouraging, Detroit was able to run and complete several short passes to move down the field, but the Packers defense only got better as the game went on. Najeh Davenport has become my favorite kickoff returner; he has speed in the open field and he has size to run through arm tackles that smaller returners, like Antonio Chapman, might get stopped by. The Packers drive to the Detroit 40 yard line, but they are forced to punt. The next Detroit drive looks stalled until Mike McKenzie gets an personal foul for shoving the Detroit receiver after the play out of bounds. It was a weak call, but McKenzie did slightly shove the receiver in the back. The Packers had 3 personal fouls (one on Aaron Kampman was offset by one on the same play by Stockar McDougle, although Kampman did nothing to deserve it while McDougle did) and this one made a big difference. Detroit was able to end the quarter with a nice field goal drive. Packers 0, Detroit 10.

Second Quarter: The rushing stats for the Packers look feeble in this game (16 carries for 52 yards) but the Packers did have some success running the ball in the first half, before abandoning it in the second half. A nice Ahman Green run, along with a rare downfield pass to Wesley Walls, led to a great grab by a Bubba Franks for the touchdown. After Franks had a bad game vs. San Francisco, it was good to see him have a solid game against Detroit. Unfortunately, Detroit answers with a long 8 minute drive. Joey Harrington had a very good first half, completing 11 of 12 passes (many on this drive). The ball is not bouncing the Packers way this season, and it is a big reason the Packers are 6-6. All the teams with winning records this season can probably point to a couple plays this year when the ball bounced just right and won them a game here or there. In this game, the Packers had 2 huge 4th quarter fumbles that Detroit recovered, while Detroit had 3 fumbles (including 2 on this drive alone) that easily could have been recovered had a Packer been in the right place at the right time, but the ball just didn't bounce their way. This drive also had another stupid personal foul (plus the phantom foul on Kampman) and led to a field goal. This was the last drive of the game where Detroit looked competant on offense, and had it led to zero points and the Packers could have recovered either fumble and turned it into any points, the entire game would have been different. The Packers try to answer but the first drive with 2:30 left in the half leads to a rare Brett Favre sack when he looked confused and ran into a sack, and a second drive that just ran out of time. Packers 7, Detroit 13.

Third Quarter: My mistake, Detroit had another competant drive in the game, this one to start the 2nd half, but a holding penalty killed it in Packer territory, and Detroit punted. Now the Packers start to go pass happy. Detroit's defensive line was tough on the day, and the Packers offensive line probably had its worst game of the season, but after several great rushing games in a row, the Packers only ran 2 times for 5 yards in the quarter. Favre completes 4 out of 5 passes before Dre Bly intercepts the ball at Detroit's 32. This was the second week in a row where a defensive back just muscles a receiver out of his way for an interception. The receivers can't be this passive and have to fight for the ball. This was the 1st of 5 turnovers in the half, and 4 of the turnovers were in Detroit territory. The Packers had several opportunities but the constant turnovers killed them. Fortunately, Detroit's offense begins to struggle and on the next drive Favre connects with Javon Walker for Walker's second big touchdown catch in 2 weeks. The Packers are leading for the first and last time in the game. The next three drives are 3 and outs followed by punts, including another lucky fumble for Detroit when Harrington has the ball slapped out of his hand but Detroit recovers it. Packers 14, Detroit 13.

Fourth Quarter: If the Packers never turned the ball over in the 4th quarter, Detroit would have never scored again, as 3 turnovers led to 3 Detroit field goals, and the Packers would have won a field position battle. Also the running game went MIA as they only rushed 3 times for minus 3 yards in the quarter. The quarter starts with a Walker fumble and Detroit recovery, which leads to a long field goal after a Detroit 3 and out possession. After a Packer punt, McKenzie intercepts Harrington for Detroit's only turnover of the game, but on the very next play Favre fumbles the ball and Detroit recovers. Detroit gets a nice Shawn Bryson run to get in field goal range for another long made field goal. Davenport has another great kickoff return, but then for the 3rd time in 4 drives, the Packers turn the ball over when Bly makes a great jump on an out route. Bly went for the interception, he would have been burned badly on an out and up, but he gambled and won on the play. Detroit has some success on the next drive, enough to get into field goal range, but everything Harrington throws is short, there is no chance at a big play, and as soon as Harrington throws a couple of incompletions (which is inevitable) the drive is dead. Harrington slumped badly in the second half, and if he can't complete over 60% of his passes he will never be successful in Steve Marucci's offense. But the drive leads to another Detroit field goal. After all these turnovers, and 3 Detroit scores in the 4th quarter, the Packers are still only down by one score (touchdown and 2 point conversion). The Packers get another drive going and they are in Detroit territory with over a minute left in the game, but a defensive player rushes untouched to Favre on a blitz, Favre throws up a prayer, and Robert Ferguson misplays the jump ball and Detroit's Doug Evans turns around at the last second for a gift interception. Evans was beat but Ferguson completely missed the jump ball. There was no reason Ferguson shouldn't catch that ball. The Packers are able to get the ball back because they used all 3 of their timeouts on Detroit's last possession, but there just isn't enough time, although on the hail mary, the ball was slapped down in the end zone, and it almost bounced right into Tony Fisher's hands at Detroit's 5 yard line (he was just a step too late), where he could have walked in for an easy touchdown. But nothing bounced the Packers way in this game. Packers 14, Detroit 22.