If you have watched games at the Siverdome in the past, this game was no different than any other. The Lions defeated the Packers 31-24 on Sunday, like I said, same old Silverdome. The Packers are the N.F.L ‘s version of the Salvation Army, anything you need, and the Packers will help you. Fumbles and interceptions were plentiful as always at the Silverdome, with Favre doing his best Santa imitation. It seems every week the results are the same, turnovers, turnovers, and more turnovers. The only thing different in this visit to the Silverdome was that there were not any kicks returned for touchdowns by the Lions. If you missed this game, consider yourself extremely fortunate.

   I know I said I would take it easy on Favre, but I was threatened with bodily harm (by a Packers fan) if I stopped. I would not be giving an analysis of the game by avoiding him or anyone else in my articles. There is nothing about him that was any different from prior weeks, “he stinks”. Ron Wolf had better give the word and have him benched, with the playoffs out of reach, play Hasselbeck. Now is the time to see if he can play, he can’t be any worse than Santa Claus. To Sherman’s credit he did finally bench Whale after it took him six games to realize he can’t play left tackle. If someone had a bad game you could just call it a bad day, but not in his case. Sometimes you really have to wonder if Sherman watches the same game we do, he has no confidence in making changes at all. I wonder how long it is going to take Sherman to replace the starters that are playing poorly.

    Donald Driver and Charles Lee are two young players with talent and could be very good receivers in the future. But they need someone to get them the ball on a consistent basis. Favre had Lee wide open for a touchdown but Favre threw the ball way behind Lee forcing him to make a good catch instead of running in the end zone. This is just one example why Favre has to sit the bench. This was another game in which a possible catch had to be reviewed by the officials; this has got to tell Sherman something. Week after week his receivers have to make tough catches on passes that are thrown bad. It tells me that his quarterback is not doing the job, not to mention the interceptions and fumbles. It appears that the only thing that will get Favre on the bench is an injury, but I hope it never comes to that. As far as the record goes, records are made to be broken. As sad as it was, Lou Gehrig pulled himself because he was hurting the team, so why can’t you realize it Brett. If anyone thinks Favre should still be starting, ask yourself this question. When was the last time you watched a game without asking yourself “where was he throwing that ball”? I rest my case about Favre.

   There was one interesting story in the N.F.L this week that I thought Packers fans should know about. Mike Martz, head coach of the Rams wanted his defensive coordinator fired because he was not happy with the Rams defense. Management in the Rams front office would not let him do this because Martz would be viewed as a tyrant. That story tells me Martz is not satisfied with just winning but playing good football on both sides of the ball. Now that is what is called a “take charge” coach, not a tyrant.

   Trivia answer: Billy Sims, Barry Sanders, and Lem Barney all wore #20 for the Lions