In what was supposed to be a meaningless game before the playoffs, The Packers simply mauled Da Bears 31-14 in the season finale. At first it looked like Chicago would be the victor instead of Green Bay. The Bears took a 7-0 lead only burning up a little over 2 minutes. It seemed that the Packer defense was asleep during that first drive. But, looks can be deceiving. Brett Favre and the offense came alive and scored on a 17 yd.pass to Bubba Franks. Then the defense came alive and kept Da Bears in check for most of the game. Favre Came right back with a quick scoring drive that in essence put Chicago away. He hit 2 big passes. The first, a 48 yarder to Donald Driver and then the 38 yard td by 1st time Pro Bowler William Henderson. And just as soon as you recovered from that td. along comes Darren Sharper with a 43 yd pick for the 21-7 lead. after another great stop by the defense, cue the understudy. Craig Nall came in with 9:02 left in the 2nd quarter and promptly marched the team down the field, capping his first drive of the afternoon with a 25 yd td to another 1st time Pro Bowler, Javon Walker. Nall had a decent day going 7 for 13 for 131 yds and 1 td. After that both teams traded a few punts until Chicago scored their 2nd td mostly against 2nd stringers on defense. Ryan Longwell finished the scoring with a field goal to make the final score 31-14. But the thing that impressed me the most was the way the defense responded after that first Bear td. Thay just shut down Chicago cold. 9 sacks plus the pick by Sharper and a forced fumble. Bear qb Chad Hutchinson must have been begging in the back of his mind that Lovie Smith would put in Jeff George. Face it fans, Hutch took a beating out there. I just hope that the 1st unit gets that fired up against the Vikings so we can look forward to a meeting with the Falcons in Atlanta. It was a shame that it took an injury to Walker to wake up Mike Sherman to get Donald Driver out of the game before he could get hurt. I know that Donald was looking forward to getting his 10th td. of the year so both he and Javon could be in double figures.But with the playoffs starting, you cannot take a chance like that.

Now onto the playoffs and a 1st round match up with Minnesota. The Vikes are limping into the post season with 7 losses in the last 10 games. Had Carolina won, it would have been a longer colder winter in the land of 10,000 lakes. I watched the last of their game against Wahington and could not believe that this was the same team that started out 5-1 this season. And to watch Randy Moss walk off the fieldbefore the onsides kick attempt just floored me. What kind of teammate is that? I know the game was a lost cause but, Moss is supposed to be one of the team leaders. What kind of example is he setting ? Bud Grant or Dennis Green would have had a fit. I know at least Bud would have. If body language tells you something it tells you this. Minnesota is now their own worst enemy. They have the " I wish this was over" look. Hopefully the Pack will not let the Vikes lull them into a false sense of security and take care of business so we can see them in Atlanta in the 2nd round. Until next time Packer fans........................SEEE YAA!!