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Name: BigE
Email: BigE@idatasports.com
Date: Wed Oct 9 23:49:44 2002

Headline: Packers Blast the Bears
Game MVP: Brett Favre - 22 of 33 Attempts for 359 Yards!
Offensive Player of the Game: Brett Favre - 133.3 QB Passer Rating
Defensive Player of the Game: Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila - 2 QB Sacks & 72-Yard Interception Return

Just when you start to write off the Packers they come out and surprise the Chicago Bears, the team who won the division last season, with a convincing 34-21 victory in Champaign. Brett Favre had a game that will only add to his legend, passing for 287 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone, staking the Packers to a 24-14 lead.

Favre was unstoppable, which is a testament to the performance of the receiving corps and the offensive line. First of all the offensive line gave Favre all day to throw, and it was obvious that the receivers were getting major separation. That became clear from the second series as Favre hit Donald Driver for an 85-yard bomb that made it 7-0.

After stopping the Bears the Packers offense went right back to work, going 76 yards on 9 plays, finishing with a 19-yard pass from Favre to Tyrone Davis to make it 14-0. Early in this drive the Packers faced a 3rd and 13, when Favre hit Ahman Green who ran right through a defender to get the first down. After Driver took a reverse for 13 yards, Favre hit Terry Glenn on a quick in for 14 yards. Green then blasted off the left side for 28 yards, but the play was called back because of a holding call. The next play Favre hit a wide-open Driver across the middle for 17 yards, before Davis finished the drive with his touchdown catch.

It should be noted that left tackle Chad Clifton was hurt on the first touchdown drive and was replaced by Mike Flanagan. With Frank Winters going in at and Earl Dotson already filling in for the injured Mark Tauscher, the Packers had three linemen out of position. That's what made their performance even more spectacular.

The Bears answered with a touchdown drive of their own after a taunting penalty forced the Packers to kick from the 20-yard line. That gave Chicago great field position at the Packers 37-yard line after a 35-yard return. With the short field the Bears needed only three plays to score, with Jim Miller hitting Marty Booker for the 4-yard touchdown to make it 14-7.

The Packers followed with an 8 play, 74-yard drive, finishing with a 5-yard touchdown pass from Favre to Bubba Franks. Glenn was on fire on this drive; hauling in a 21-yard reception on the second play of the series, and making a 26-yard fingertip catch at the 6-yard line. That 26-yard catch was nothing short of spectacular, and Glenn finished the game with 8 receptions for 154 yards, showing that he was worth everything the Packers gave up for him.

On the Packers next offensive series Favre hit Driver on a sideline pattern, and when the speedy receiver turned inside for what looked to be a sizable gain, the ball popped out. The Bears Mike Brown, who's always in the right place at the right time, scooped it up and returned it 35 yards to the Packer 4-yard line. From there Jim Miller hit tight end John Davis for the touchdown to make it 21-14. The Packers added a field goal to make it 24-14 at the half.

In the third quarter was when the Packer defense put the game away. After the Bears drove 66 yards to the Packer 14-yard line, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila turned his game up to the next level. He sacked Miller on first down, and when Joe Johnson flattened Miller on the next play, the ball floated into KGB's hands and he took it 72 yards to the house to make it 31-14.

The game was all but over at this point, and that's because of the emergence of several players on defense. Gilbert Brown had a monster game, and Tod McBride filled in admirably for the injured Mike McKenzie. But the emergence of KGB was what the Packers sorely missed the first four weeks of the season. With the Packers leading by a sizable margin in the second half, the pass rush came alive, and KGB was able to pin his ears back and get after the quarterback. He even managed to explode around the corner on James "Big Cat" Williams, and Williams didn't get that nickname because he's a wuss.

I don't know where this performance came from; it looked like a completely different team from the one I watched the first four weeks. The Packers improved a great deal in that one-week span, but can they continue to build on this performance with the amount of players that are injured. In the NFL, every team will face adversity from injuries, but the good teams plug someone in who steps up and makes plays.

The Packers will have their work cut out for them this week when they hit the road to face the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. With the injuries in the secondary it will be surprising if the Patriot receivers don't scorch the Packers. But I said the Packers would lose to Chicago, so what do I know!!!

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