| Everyone knows it’s not nice
to fool with Mother Nature. And in December she is in cahoots with the Packers. The
Packers are an NFL-best 20-3 in December over the last five years, including wins in 15 of
their last 16 December games. Entering the last month of the season for the first time
in the Ray Rhodes regime, the Packers came to Chicago in Week 13 to mud-wrestle the Bears
in a carwash-like, freezing, windy rainstorm. After a Walter Payton-inspired upset in
Green Bay a month earlier, the Bears were looking to sweep the Packers for the first time
since ’91. Again, 34 was the number of the day. As a tribute to Payton, the Bears had
painted a 34 in each corner of the field. And when Barry Minter intercepted a
first-quarter Brett Favre pass and returned it 34 yards for a touchdown, the Bears looked
to be on their way. But the weather worsened, and the Bears’ run defense withered, as
the Packers won for the 34th time in Chicago.
Despite a subpar game, Favre’s 155 yards passing was enough for him to pass the
3,000-yard mark. It’s his eighth consecutive 3,000-yard season, placing him behind
only Dan Marino’s streak of nine straight.
"Nah, I haven’t really thought about it," Favre said of the streak.
"I’m just happy we won. We were restricted because of the weather. We were not
able to throw the ball down the field like we would have liked. So we just tried to throw
underneath and run the football.
"When the playing conditions are bad, it really helps me focus and concentrate on
each pass. Any throw can be an adventure."
Or a misadventure for Favre’s opponents. Since Favre became their starting QB in
’92, the Packers are 11-0 in Lambeau Field in December and 19-0 at home when the
temperature falls below 35 degrees.
"This was the worst, the coldest, the wettest, you name it. Just the worst
weather," said rookie RB De’Mond Parker, whose two fourth-quarter touchdowns
sealed the win over the Bears.
The bad weather may have inspired his new touchdown dance. "It’s called the
Hot Boy Dance," he said. "Like you’re caught on fire. I’m trying to
cool off my Nikes.
"Bill Schroeder told me to block out the cold. He told me I should imagine being
butt naked on a beach somewhere. That’s what I did. I said, ‘OK, I’m naked
now.’
"It only worked for a couple of minutes."
On the other hand, the Packers have been working well for a while, winning three in a
row since Week 10, when they left Dallas with a 4-5 record and their playoff aspirations
on life support.
"Now is the time you want to play well," said Favre. "We have some
momentum, and we’re trying to get into a playoff rhythm."
Head coach Ray Rhodes countered, towing the clichéd "one game at a time"
company line.
"I don’t know about all this momentum talk," Rhodes said. "I just
want this team to play as hard as we can and take one game at a time. … We have work
to do. But we do have a great team leader. Brett is the top quarterback in the
business."
"I have confidence in my ability and I confidence in this team," Favre said,
exuding, well, confidence. "It’s not always going to go the way you want it to
when you step out on the field. Especially in bad weather conditions, anything can happen.
I’ve been around long enough, I’ve seen everything — or at least I feel
like I have. I’ve been in these situations. It’s just part of football."
Packer DE Keith McKenzie, who leads the team with seven sacks, joked that if the Bears
had won, it would have been Bears weather and not Packers weather.
"All kidding aside, we’re fortunate to be a bad weather team," McKenzie
said. "That’s part of the Green Bay legacy, playing in Lambeau and all that
comes with it. To quote Coach Ray, ‘I don’t care if it’s stormin’ up
and raining anvils, you gotta play in it.’ I’m from Detroit, it doesn’t
bother me."
Gilbert Brown, who at 6-foot-2, 350 pounds could be mistaken for an anvil, is befuddled
about the Packers’ mastery over the elements. "I don’t know. It is
something. I don’t have any magic words on that. Surely there must be someone more
educated on the subject."
"We try to scout for that," said Packers vice president/general manager Ron
Wolf on finding players who can perform optimally under adverse conditions. "We do
pay attention to that. I didn’t my first year here, and it was a big mistake. I
didn’t know about it. But I know about bad weather now."
Wolf was pleased by the 113 yards on 19 carries by Parker. "It’s a big thing
for us. We’ve needed an outside running game. It’s another element. When other
teams prepare for us, we now have an added dimension. We’re going to be a pain in the
neck."
The Cardinals had better remember to pack their turtlenecks for a regular-season finale
in Green Bay on January 2. |
