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A nemesis no more :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Bears

A nemesis no more
 Surprised Bears pay tribute to Packers' stable QB force Favre


March 5, 2008
BY BRAD BIGGS bbiggs at suntimes.com

For 16 years, the Green Bay Packers never had to change quarterbacks,
a remarkable record run of 253 starts by Brett Favre.

During the same span, the Bears changed 53 times.

Fifty-three.

Favre's retirement at 38 now puts the Packers in the same position as
the rest of the teams in the NFC North: searching for a franchise
quarterback who might or might not be on their roster.

The main reason Green Bay had the upper hand for so long on the NFC
North -- and its predecessor, the NFC Central -- was because the
Packers had the most important position in the game figured out once
Favre arrived from Atlanta in 1992 for a second-round draft pick.

The Packers won eight division titles during Favre's tenure, while the
Bears stumbled along with just five winning seasons while looking for
a quarterback who could hold down the job for more than a month at a
time. The 21 starters who rotated in and out of the Bears' quarterback
carousel during Favre's career is the most in the NFL.

''This announcement comes about 17 years too late,'' Bears coach Lovie
Smith joked in a statement Tuesday. ''And I don't know if I will
completely believe it until Green Bay opens the season without No. 4
under center.''

Favre was 20-4 against the Bears before Smith was hired in 2004. The
Bears have gone 6-2 since, including a sweep last season.

''I'm just flabbergasted,'' cornerback Nathan Vasher said. ''I really
did think he was coming back for one more.''

Linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer is vacationing in Cabo San Lucas,
Mexico, at the same resort as a handful of Packers. He got some
good-natured ribbing Monday night from Packers wide receiver Ruvell
Martin, but now Hillenmeyer can return the jokes.

''I was shocked,'' defensive end Alex Brown said. ''I thought he would
come back for at least one more year. He's earned the right to walk
away whenever he wants. The game of football will miss him because he
is an icon. He's one of the best ever, if not the best ever.''

Favre and middle linebacker Brian Urlacher have belonged to a mutual
admiration society since Urlacher's rookie season.

''He's still one of the best in the league,'' Urlacher marveled during
last season, when Favre passed for 4,155 yards and 28 touchdowns
before leading the Packers to the NFC Championship Game. ''He's back
to his old self again.''

But apparently he's not up to returning, more than six weeks after an
interception ended Green Bay's Super Bowl bid. The Packers turn to
Aaron Rodgers, their first-round pick in 2005.

''I would like to think [Favre's retirement] hurts them,'' Vasher
said. ''Anytime you take a guy like that away, they won't be as
good.''

But the day wasn't about rejoicing, but about respecting what Favre
accomplished on and off the field.

''I have spent the better part of my NFL coaching career working on
game plans to beat him,'' Smith said. ''There is no player I respect
more. I wish him and his family the very best.''

''The Interceptor,'' as Smith calls Vasher, was living up to his name
at the end of a Pro Bowl season in 2005 when the Packers came to
Soldier Field. The upstart Bears were on their way to ending Green
Bay's three-year reign atop the division, and Vasher put the finishing
touches on a 19-7 victory, returning a pass intended for Donald Driver
45 yards for a touchdown, then heaving the ball into the end-zone
seats.

''Green Bay had been beating us so soundly for the past couple of
years, and we finally started to turn the tide,'' Vasher said. ''That
was a big game for us. I was excited.

''He would put balls in places where they were just out of reach. He
believed in his arm, and he made me better as a player, just the
opportunities to play against him over the years. You knew what kind
of competitor you were going against. I'm sad he is going.''


Top games
BYBRAD BIGGS Memorable Bears-Packers games during the Brett Favre era,
which began when he replaced Don Majkowski on Sept. 20, 1992, against
Cincinnati:
Oct. 31, 1994: In a torrential downpour on Halloween night at Soldier
Field, Favre's performance did more to spoil halftime festivities
honoring Dick Butkus and Gale Sayers than the rain did. Favre scored
on a 36-yard run in a 33-6 Green Bay rout.
 Dec. 11, 1994: This 40-3 win was the biggest whipping a Favre-led
team put on the Bears. ''It wasn't [poor] preparation,'' Bears coach
Dave Wannstedt said.
Nov. 12, 1995: Favre's ironman streak nearly was short-circuited long
before it grew to 253 games as a badly sprained left ankle almost kept
him on the bench. Hobbled, he threw five touchdown passes in a 35-28
victory at Lambeau Field.
 Oct. 7, 2002: The Bears were geeked up for a Monday night game at
Memorial Stadium in Champaign, but Favre threw for three touchdowns,
including an 85-yarder to Donald Driver, as the Packers romped 34-21.
He was 13-3 in Illinois.
 Sept. 29, 2003: Opening the new Soldier Field against their rival,
the Bears hoped to begin a new tradition against Green Bay with a
national audience watching on Monday night. Favre tossed three
touchdown passes in a 38-23 victory.
 Sept. 19, 2004: The loss of Mike Brown for the season to a torn
Achilles tendon tempered enthusiasm as Lovie Smith went to Lambeau
Field for the first time and came away with a convincing 21-10
victory, snapping a seven-game Bears losing streak in the series.
 Dec. 25, 2005: The Bears swept Green Bay for the first time since
1991 as Favre was intercepted four times. The 24-17 victory clinched
the NFC North for the Bears.
Sept. 10, 2006: The Bears opened their Super Bowl season by delivering
the first shutout of Favre's career, 26-0. They sacked him three times
and limited him to 15-of-29 passing for 170 yards.
 Dec. 31, 2006: In a game that had no bearing on the Bears'
postseason, Favre passed for 285 yards and a touchdown in a 26-7
victory and broke down after the game, leading many to believe it was
his last. He returned for one final season.