10/4/2007
Packers Expecting Bears' Best Shot
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 10/03/2007
Despite the Chicago Bears' 1-3 start, none of the Green Bay Packers is about to write off the arch-rival just yet. At 4-0, the Packers on Sunday night will have a chance to put the Bears four games out in the NFC North race with 11 to play. It's a huge opportunity for Green Bay against the defending conference champions, but it's also exactly why the Packers are expecting the Bears' best game. "They're looking at this as the game to rebound," linebacker Brady Poppinga said. "If there is a game, this is the best one to do it." The first thing Chicago needs to do to rebound is get healthy, and it's unclear how much progress will be made on that front this week. Safety Mike Brown and defensive tackle Dusty Dvorachek were lost for the season in Week 1, and several other starters on their vaunted defense have missed time due to injuries. On Wednesday, linebacker Lance Briggs (hamstring), defensive tackle Tommie Harris (knee) and cornerbacks Charles Tillman (ankle) and Nathan Vasher (groin) all missed practice entirely, so their availability for Sunday is in question. The Packers aren't going to spend the week wondering who's going to play, however. The game will still come down to execution, no matter who takes the field. "It's their scheme you have to beat," tight end Bubba Franks said. "They play their scheme pretty good, as good as any other team who plays that same scheme. We're going to have to be pretty sharp this week and get ready to play. I expect them to come out fired up. They've been down, they're 1-3 right now. I see them looking at this game as a stepping stone to get back on track." More >>
A change in the count
Packers out to backup victory late last year
By GREG A. BEDARD / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 3, 2007
Green Bay - The last time the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears met, the Packers left Soldier Field with a 26-7 victory. Sort of. By the time the finale was played last season, the Packers had been eliminated from post-season contention and the Bears had long since clinched home-field advantage as the NFC's top-seeded team. Plus, Bears quarterback Rex Grossman said he was distracted because it was New Year's Eve. So after the Packers had finished off the Bears, not even Packers general manager Ted Thompson knew what to make of his team's victory. "They know this didn't mean anything," Thompson said of the Bears at the time. "So I don't know if it's a true test." When the Bears come to Lambeau Field on Sunday night, there will be no ambivalence about the meaning of this game. More >>McCarthy's anger no motivational ploy
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
GREEN BAY — Since Mike McCarthy made it clear earlier this week that he won't do anything just for effect in an effort to keep his young team from becoming full of itself following its 4-0 start, the coach legitimately must have been ticked off during practice Wednesday morning. During the 11-on-11 team screen period, McCarthy yelled at the offensive line — it appeared left guard Daryn Colledge was his primary target — as well as halfback DeShawn Wynn for botching one play, and McCarthy later said that he repeated an entire drill later in practice. "We just didn't start off very good," McCarthy said. "I know they're a little bit sore from the game — it was a physical game Sunday — but Wednesday is an important practice, (and) it didn't look the way it needed to look. Then we got it going." Asked if he yelled at his team to guard against overconfidence, McCarthy replied, "The record has nothing to do with it in my view. We had things that we needed to get done today and we got it done." More >>Packers' 4-0 start
validates conservative GM Thompson
By Chris Jenkins / Associated Press
MILWAUKEE -- Grabbing a microphone and bellowing "I told you so" to his critics would be out of character for Ted Thompson, the Green Bay Packers' quiet man. Which is fine, because the 4-0 team he has assembled is doing it for him. Since taking over the Superfund-eligible roster left over from Mike Sherman's stint as Packers' general manager in 2005, Thompson has been treated harshly by fans who consider him a conservative cheapskate, unwilling to spend a salary cap surplus on big-name players. However, Thompson knows treating the free agent market like a fantasy football draft is no way to build a real team -- hello, Washington Redskins -- so he quietly ignored the angry advice of Frank on a Car Phone and stuck to his plan: build through the draft and keep key players happy with contract extensions. Now Thompson and the unknown first-time head coach he hired, Mike McCarthy, have delivered a team that so far has been the most pleasant surprise of the season. Thompson was a certified tough guy in his former life, outworking more talented players to stick in the league for 10 years as backup linebacker for the Houston Oilers. But he comes off as somewhat shy in public, preferring to work quietly in the background. Never did he seem to feel the need to defend his conservative approach in public. More >>Early rewards for Favre
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
GREEN BAY — Mike McCarthy still hasn't seen the entire interview, largely because the following morning, in his Lambeau Field office, his quarterback's mood was decidedly different. So what was the point, really? Sure, the Green Bay Packers coach knew about Brett Favre's teary-eyed, post-game blubbering on New Year's Eve in Chicago, but there Favre was, sitting right there in front of him on New Year's Day in Green Bay. "Talking to him the next day, I felt comfortable he probably was going to come back," McCarthy recalled Wednesday. "He just needed to go home and sort through it." Yet McCarthy could understand why most folks who did see it — and who didn't speak with Favre afterward — were convinced they'd just watched the final game of Favre's illustrious NFL career. "Based on his emotion," said McCarthy, who had only seen "bits and pieces" of the interview, "I think that would have been natural to say he's not coming back." More >>
This is video of Favre's record breaking touchdown pass to Greg Jennings, plus celebration. Running time 4:32
Published by PackerPundit On Thursday, October 04, 2007 at 5:44 AM.
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