They need two clutch receptions

The Chicago Bears are planning to ruin what could be Brett Favre’s going-away party. The Bears are also going to crash a couple of Chicago-area weddings at the same time.

The Bears-Green Bay Packers game Sunday was moved from a noon kickoff to 7:15 p.m. CST to accommodate television, which apparently raised the bar on being a “football widow.”

Brides-to-be Sandy Zabloudil and Chara Gillette thought they had cleverly planned their weddings around the Bears, with evening ceremonies, only to have NBC claim the game for a prime-time showing. The concerns go beyond whether the bridal bouquet toss will resemble a Rex Grossman pass.

The best man in Zabloudil’s wedding is such a hard-core Bears fan that, she told the Chicago Sun-Times, “my fiance hasn’t told him because he’s afraid.”

The situation calls for expert clock management.

“By 7:15 we’ll be saying ‘I do’ ” Zabloudil told the paper.

Gillette’s problem is just as complicated, as her reception is scheduled to begin at game time, so the plan is for a shotgun-formation wedding.

“Yeah, my guests are loving me,” Gillette said. “My father is going to the banquet hall to see if they’ll allow a TV in the reception room. ... I’m like, ‘Great. There goes dinner.’ I think it’s unfair.”

Expect the first toast to be, “To a long and prosperous life ... to da Bears.”

Trivia time

The Bears have the best record in the NFC. Wake Forest is playing in the Orange Bowl. Who is the most famous player they have in common?

Lions fans just Millen around

When 100 fans bolted from their seats during the second quarter of the Detroit Lions’ game Sunday, it proved one thing: Lions fans are no better at executing a game plan then their team.

Fans had been planning a protest aimed at team President Matt Millen for the last month, using the Internet in an attempt to build momentum for a mass walkout with 8 minutes 57 seconds left in the second quarter.

Only a few answered the call, chanting “Fire Millen!” as they walked out. The remaining 60,000 or so can tell their grandchildren they saw Lions quarterback Jon Kitna commit his NFL-high 30th turnover of the season.

“I don’t think I would pay $60 to watch less than a half of a football game and then walk out,” Lions receiver Roy Williams told the Detroit News a few days before Sunday’s game. “It is not going to change anything.”

Williams was right about that. The fans left and the Lions lost, 26-21, to the Bears. The Lions, 2-13 this season, are 23-72 since Millen took over in 2001.

A year ago, about 500 fans marched outside the stadium before the final home game of the season.

So either Millen’s popularity is on the upswing or apathy is on the rise in Detroit.

A photo op that’s not a mug shot

The Cincinnati chapter of the Pro Football Writers of America gave its “good guy” award to Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh this week.

Of course the field of candidates was a bit limited, considering eight Bengals players have been arrested this year.

Trivia answer

Brian Piccolo, the inspirational subject of a TV movie in 1971 and remake in 2001. Footnote: James Caan, who played the ill-fated Piccolo in the first film, didn’t fare any better in his next movie. As gangster Sonny Corleone, he was gunned down at a toll plaza in “The Godfather.”

And finally

Former President Ford’s death at age 93 reminded reader David Macaray of one of Ford’s best lines, used during the 1976 Republican primaries.

“Ronald Reagan and I have one thing in common: We both played fullback. I played for Michigan; he played for Warner Bros.”

The difference between the two? Ford was capable of running to the left from time to time.

chris.foster@latimes.com