Brett Favre completed 31 of 48 passes for 333 yards, including 3 touchdowns this past Sunday against the Chicago Bears. Statistically a great day for any quarterback, but the statistics can be very deceiving. There were a few drops and a few good catches that won’t appear in Favre’s statistics, but don’t be deceived by the good numbers. There has been no consistency from Favre in last three years, so Sherman, take the skirt off and bench him before it is too late. You were hired as a take-charge kind of coach, so take charge. Favre, for some reason refuses to put the ball down and run to move the chains or to throw the ball away when out of the pocket. A quarterback can throw the ball away when out of the pocket by simply throwing the ball past the line of scrimmage, someone please inform him of that rule. Watching Cade McNown avoid sacks and make plays reminded me very much of the old Favre, but where has the old Favre gone? There were some drops on some short passes because the receivers turned up field without catching the ball first. Favre has got to get them the ball with more on it so they can turn up field and make plays. In the opening game against the Jets, Favre completed a 35-yard pass that got to the Freeman in 1.8 seconds, so why does a ten-yard dump off take twice as long? The reason might be no confidence at all in his touch passes. I am still trying to come up with an explanation for his first pass of the game.

   In my last article I said to watch for fake kicks, reverses, and new formations from the Bears on Sunday. With a little more than four minutes left in the first quarter a reverse and a new formation put the Bears ahead to stay. With a new formation, McNown scored on a quarterback option that had the defense fooled. The next series the Bears ran a reverse for a big gain deep into Green Bay territory, two out of three for the Bears. The defense practiced all week for the receiver screen that worked to perfection, score another one for the Bears. In all fairness to the defense, they did play with emotion and hustled all day long because they were on the field all day long. In the pre season all we heard was how solid the offensive line would be this year. With the exception of Winters, they are in serious trouble in every facet of the game. The offense in general seems to sleepwalk on their opening drive every week, so maybe try the hurry up offense to help establish a rhythm. It can’t be any worse than this week’s opening drive. I can’t believe they script the opening plays and this is the best that they can come up with week after week.

   The Packers need to win the next two games before the break or forget about playing in January. After the break they have Miami and Indianapolis, which will be very tough games to win, along with two games against Tampa Bay and Minnesota. The Packers should be healthier than they are now for the second half of the season, but a 3-4 record at the break will not be acceptable. The quarterback for a playoff team needs to perform well every week, not every other week.

   Trivia answer: Jim Flanigan (defensive tackle for the bears)