Packers Succeed, but Not Brilliantly

All this big talk in Letdown, USA about the mighty Packers ranking right up there with the 1972 Miami Dolphins and possibly going undefeated, and they came out Monday night and fell right on their laurels.

This was supposed to be Nebraska versus the Akron Zips. Had the Packers not been assigned to play the anemic Bears, however, they might have left here trying not to go winless in 1997.

But the Bears it was, and that means no offense, a Bryan Cox temper tantrum and the kind of momentum-stifling mistakes that do not allow for giant-slaying upsets.

And so the defending Super Bowl champions prevailed, riding the leg of a backup kicker for three field goals, two Brett Favre touchdown passes and a late defensive score to win their 19th consecutive game at Lambeau Field, 38-24, before a regular-season record crowd of 60,766.

“We did look pretty sloppy at times,” Favre said, “but we found a way to win it and that’s the sign of a good team.”

Giddy city officials renamed Gross Street Holmgren Way in honor of Coach Mike Holmgren after last year’s exhilarating jaunt back to the top of the football world, but maybe they shouldn’t throw the old signs away just yet.

The Packers, while already losing starting running back Edgar Bennett for the year during training camp, lost starting left cornerback Craig Newsome for the season on the team’s first defensive play because of a torn knee ligament, and then carted off tight end Mark Chmura in the second quarter because of a sprained knee, which will keep him out 4-6 weeks.

“If you keep losing guys, eventually you run out of players,” Favre said, “but guys will just have to step up in their place.”

This was supposed to be so easy. Green Bay had steamrolled Chicago in six consecutive games by a combined score of 200-84, and Cox, the Bears’ volatile linebacker, had chastised his teammates for being scared of the Packers.

But at the end of three quarters, the Bears had more yardage than the Packers, and while the scoreboard tilted in favor of Green Bay, this was supposed to be the coronation of one of the NFL’s all-time great teams in front of a national television audience.

Instead, it was just another black-and-blue-division yawner with the Packers grinding down the thugs with no talent. Cox, who threw an obscene gesture at the officials during last year’s game in Chicago, only threw his helmet this time--some 30 yards across the field and out of bounds--drawing 30 yards in penalties.

“A win’s a win, and all wins are great to me,” Holmgren said. “I just told the players that I have been with a team [San Francisco] where expectations were very high and we won 15 games and lost two, and had no fun.

“I’ll be damned if I’m going to put this team through that. We won, 38-24, and I’ll take it.”

While the Packers opened sluggish, the Bears had shown some growl early on. Choosing to play a game of keep away, they controlled the ball for 20:50 in the first half, and undoubtedly stretching their own imaginations, were ahead, 8-3, in the second quarter.

Running back Raymont Harris, who gained 122 yards in 13 carries, scored from the one-yard line for the Bears, and then Chicago zinged the Packers with that traditional punter-to-defensive tackle pass for the two-point conversion.

The Bears might have gone on and pulled a Buster Douglas, but unfortunately they’ve got Peter McNeeley at quarterback: Third and eight from the Packers’ 22-yard line, and the Bears have the Packers frustrated and they are winning and Erik Kramer throws the ball to the sideline directly to Doug Evans. Evans plays for the Packers, he returns the ball 27 yards to the Chicago one-yard line and Favre throws a touchdown pass to tight end Jeff Thomason for the go-ahead score. Favre then throws to Dorsey Levens for the two-point conversion.

Tied at 11, the half should have ended that way, but the Bears’ defense went soft and allowed Favre & Co. to charge the length of the field, primarily on the strength of passes of 44 and 18 yards to Robert Brooks, the final catch the first touchdown scored by Brooks since Oct. 6 a year ago before he was lost for the season because of a knee injury.

Green Bay added to its 18-11 halftime lead on Ryan Longwell field goals of 36 and 24 yards in the third quarter.

They blew the game open in the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown run by Levens and a fumble recovery in the end zone by defensive lineman Gabe Wilkins, while Chicago countered with a 22-yard touchdown pass from Kramer to Ricky Proehl and a 68-yard touchdown dash from Harris.

* SUMMARY, C9