GREEN BAY QUARTERBACK BRETT FAVRE AFTER THROWING AN INTERCEPTION THAT WAS RETURNED FOR A TOUCHDOWN BY THE BEARS NATHAN VASHAR

It was the moment of the game Bears fans had dreaded. So many times in the past, the Bears had enjoyed a lead on the Green Bay Packers in the waning moments of the fourth quarter only to have Brett Favre step up and eviscerate the Bear’s defense with a combination of precision passing and an iron willed determination to win.

Following the fourth Robbie Gould field goal of the game with 8 1/2 minutes to go to make the score 12-7, Green Bay brought the ensuing kick-off back to their own 38 yard line. The very first play of the drive, Favre hit Robert Ferguson for a 16 yard gain and just like that, the Packers were in Bears territory.

A collective groan rose from the bundled, freezing faithful at Soldiers Field. Must history repeat itself again? Why the hell couldn’t Santayana just keep his big mouth shut and realize that history can repeat itself all on its own, that some things are beyond the scope of human understanding. Brett Favre plays the Bears as if he is Buffy and the Chicago players are vampires. And it appeared that his supply of wooden stakes that for 11 years he has pounded into the beating hearts of Chicago players and fans would never run out.

Then, a miracle. Divine intervention took the form of a 6’3”, 300 pound cat-quick defensive lineman named Tommie Harris. How quick is Harris? On the second play of the Green Bay drive, Favre took the ball from center and started to sprint left, holding the ball in his outstretched hand ready to hand the ball off to Green Bay’s hard running rookie running back Samkon Gado when Harris blew up the play. He sidestepped the attempted block of left guard Scott Wells and with two strides and a lunge he became a Visigoth pillaging amongst the innocents. He wrapped Favre up before the quarterback could finish the hand-off causing a fumble that was recovered by Lance Briggs. The ensuing Bears drive resulted in a three and out but Brad Maynard’s punt landed inside the Green Bay 5-yard line.

So Brett Favre once again shouldered the offense – but this time, he had 95 yards to cover before he could dance on the Bear’s grave. The change in field position was significant. With a 95 yard field to traverse, the Bears defense could afford a mistake or two.

In that respect, they didn’t disappoint.

After Gado gained a yard on a running play, Favre dropped back deep into the end zone and let loose one of his patented rockets. The ball traveled nearly 50 yards on a line against the wind. The Bear’s Mike Green (replacing Chris Harris who was injured earlier in the game) had fallen down and after getting up, ran straight into the intended receiver Donald Driver. If Green had been looking for the ball he might have intercepted it. Instead, it was a pass interference play and Green Bay was in business at their own 42 yard line.

After an excellent pass defense by Lance Briggs on first down caused Favre’s throw to fall harmlessly incomplete, the Bears decided to reach back into the mists of history and employ the old “46” defense. Also known as the “Bear” defense, it was invented by Buddy Ryan, Bears defensive coach during their Super Bowl run in 1985. The scheme calls for four down linemen and 6 backers crowding the line of scrimmage. Impossible to run on, the scheme is also useful in blitz packages because the quarterback doesn’t have a clue whether any or all of the backers will be trying to pay him a visit.

In this case, it was Peanut Tillman who lined up on the outside shoulder of Packers left tackle Chad Clifton. Lined up next to Tillman was linebacker Briggs who had blitzed on several occasions in the second half. When the ball was snapped, Clifton went inside to block Briggs which gave the Peanut a clear path to the quarterback.

Favre never saw him coming. The tremendous blindside hit caused another fumble which was recovered by Adewale Ogunleye at the Packer 30. A woozy Favre had to be assisted off the field. The ensuing drive by the Bears – 3 plays for 5 yards – typified the offensive output for the Bears this day. Quarterback Kyle Orton was lousy and running back Thomas Jones (19 carries for 93 yards) couldn’t do it all by himself. The field goal attempt by Gould on fourth down was just short, once again giving Brett Favre and the Packers a shot to drive down the field and win the game, this time with a little more than 4 minutes to go in the game.

Four minutes to a decent NFL quarterback is an eternity of time. For Brett Favre, 4 minutes is a nearly a vacation. With 4 minutes to work with, Favre could have lollygagged on Montrose Beach for a while before swaggering up to the line of scrimmage to engineer the game winning drive.

But Favre had absorbed some tremendous shots at the hands of the Bears defense. Tillman’s baduce of a blow may have disoriented him slightly judging by what transpired next. After two easy completions, Favre tried a deep out to Driver that Nathan Vashar stepped in front of and ran back for the clinching touchdown.

With three minutes to go, there was still time to bring the Pack back. But the weather conditions as well as Favre’s lack of offensive weapons finally sealed Green Bay’s fate. Favre did indeed engineer a 16 play drive that made its way slowly down the field. The Packers needed two conversions on fourth down to keep the drive alive and in the end, Favre just took too long. The game’s final play, snapped from the Bear’s 15 yard line, was a pass that Tony Fisher caught and tried to run into the end zone but fell three yards short.

So for this game, the Bears once again brought luck and defense to the table and not much else. One shudders to think what would happen if the Bears were to face a team with both a great defense and a great running game. They will get their chance next week as they travel to Pittsburgh to play John Cole’s desperate Steelers. Expect a close, low scoring game for 2 1/2 quarters until the Steelers take over the game and win going away.