November 5
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Brett Favre had answered 12 minutes' worth of questions. Media members had probed for something, anything from Favre to perfectly sum up his memorable Sunday afternoon. Finally, as a member of Minnesota's public relations team was screaming for Favre to exit stage left, the money question arrived. "Was it fun, Brett?" the questioner yelled. "Ultimately, is this why you came back?" "Yeah," said the Minnesota Vikings quarterback. "It was pretty fun." Boy, was it ever. Whether Favre truly wanted to "stick it" to Packer general manager Ted Thompson or not, he did exactly that. Favre came back to Lambeau Field - the place he'd given Green Bay fans 16 years worth of mostly terrific memories - ..."
November 3
St. Paul Pioneer Press
columnist Charley Walters
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The Minnesota Vikings the last three weeks played probably their toughest stretch of this season and finished with a victory against Baltimore, a loss in Pittsburgh and a victory in Green Bay. Minnesota enters the bye week, halfway through the season, 7-1. The second half opens with home games against Detroit and Seattle, games the Vikings should win. Minnesota is in a commanding position with a 2 1/2-game division lead over Green Bay and Chicago. The Packers still have to play Pittsburgh and Baltimore, formidable challenges the Vikings already have had. Green Bay (4-3) and Chicago (4-3) still have to play each other once more. The Vikings probably need only to split their two games with ..."
November 3
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Eight weeks into the National Football League season there is one thing you can say with certainty: The Minnesota Vikings are a better football team than the Green Bay Packers. The 38-26 loss the Packers suffered at the hands of the Vikings Sunday at Lambeau Field closed the argument. It also may force the Packers to accept that the Vikings have more talent and have done a better job building their team for a Super Bowl run. Most people who witnessed the game would find that hard to dispute. "I'm not going to compare us to the Vikings other than to say that they beat us yesterday and a few weeks ago," Packers general manager Ted Thompson said Monday. "We have to do some things to improve a ..."
November 2
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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In the days leading up to his mega-hyped return to 1265 Lombardi Ave., Brett Favre said he received countless pats on the back, text messages and words of encouragement from his Minnesota Vikings teammates. "They said, 'Hey, you're going to play great. We know you're nervous,' " Favre said. "I'm like, 'That's easy for you to say.' " He steeled himself for the boos and catcalls he knew he'd hear from fans who once worshipped him as the iconic leader of the Green Bay Packers. He was the enemy now. He understood that. He was booed when he trotted onto the field for the pregame warm-up Sunday, booed when the Vikings came back out before the opening kickoff, booed every time he stepped into the ..."
November 2
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
columnist Michael Hunt
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Just before the game began, most of those who had made possible the largest regular-season crowd in Lambeau Field history booed Brett Favre like the narcissistic rat they perceived him to be for willfully exacting revenge in the most traitorous way possible. By the time it was over, nothing much about the macabre homecoming was about No. 4, no matter how gleefully he jumped about in an end zone he once frequented in less divisive times. It was about coaching decisions so strange that they made Brad Childress look Lombardi-esque by comparison. It was about penalties so inane that you wonder why some guys are still cashing a Green Bay-issued paycheck. It was about not playing to the best ..."
November 2
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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For all that happened in Sunday's game against the Minnesota Vikings, the offensive performance of the Green Bay Packers came down to and was summarized by two crucial plays in the fourth quarter. After a furious comeback, the Packers trailed, 31-26, and faced second and 3 at the Minnesota 28 with 6:26 left. The game was there for taking. On the first play, rookie left tackle T.J. Lang had an assignment error that let defensive end Jared Allen rush free, and he sacked quarterback Aaron Rodgers in less than 1.5 seconds. On third and 8, Rodgers was very well-protected. Instead of hitting open receivers James Jones short or Greg Jennings to the left, Rodgers went deep down the left sideline ..."
November 2
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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As well as tight end Spencer Havner played Sunday, catching two of quarterback Aaron Rodgers' three touchdown passes, the offense clearly missed Jermichael Finley, who was out with a knee injury. The Green Bay Packers' 38-26 loss to the Minnesota Vikings featured fewer of the two-tight end formations the Packers use so often with Donald Lee and Finley and might have been the reason the offense struggled out of the gate. In the first meeting between the two teams, Finley created a match-up problem for the Vikings and torched them for 128 yards and a touchdown on six catches. His ability to run up the middle of the field would have helped attack Minnesota's two-deep coverage and given the ..."
November 2
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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With a 7-1 start and a bye week coming up, Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress said he didn't necessarily feel vindicated after being criticized for bringing Brett Favre to Minnesota to play quarterback. But it sure sounded that way. "I didn't bring him in to compete," Childress told a jammed interview room at Lambeau Field after Sunday's 38-26 victory over the Green Bay Packers. "That's what he was going to do in Green Bay. He was going to come in and start, and rightly so. He did a great job." That would be an understatement. Favre, who said he didn't feel as nervous this time around as the last time the bitter rivals played in Minneapolis, was 17 for 28, good for 244 yards and four ..."
November 2
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Quarterback Brett Favre has frustrated his share of players, coaches and fans over the years and so it was no surprise that he was at it again Sunday. For the second time in four weeks, Favre frustrated the Green Bay Packers defense so much that one of its members spoke in less than glowing terms about the way players are being used in first-year defensive coordinator Dom Capers' 3-4 system. Defensive end Cullen Jenkins spoke out after the Packers' 38-26 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, saying he felt "handcuffed" in the new defense and that the coaches weren't putting the players in the positions where they can be most successful. Jenkins' complaint comes on the heels of cornerback Charles ..."
November 2
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
columnist Bob McGinn
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Brett Favre did what he set out to do. He has hurt the Green Bay Packers, grievously, twice within a month. With the 40-year-old Favre sticking it to general manager Ted Thompson and everyone else in Packers gear, the Minnesota Vikings swatted aside their hated border rival, 38-26, in a litmus test for both teams Sunday at Lambeau Field. The Vikings, coming off brutal tests against Baltimore and Pittsburgh, rallied around Favre in his personal quest to prove that the Packers never should have traded him during the tempestuous summer of 2008. The Packers, refreshed from a bye and a pair of breathers against Detroit and Cleveland, had every physical and motivational advantage going for them ..."
November 1
Green Bay Press Gazette
columnist Mike Vandermause
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The specter of Brett Favre returning to Lambeau Field dressed in purple has so dominated the local landscape that one important fact has been overlooked. Sunday marks the Green Bay Packers' most significant regular-season game in more than a decade. If the buildup to the Packers' showdown with the Minnesota Vikings has the feel of a playoff game, maybe that's because it's as close as you can possibly get to the postseason in early November. "There's more at stake here than one person coming back to a stadium," Packers linebacker Aaron Kampman said. "This is huge for both organizations in terms of the NFC North, not for any other story line. Who's going to take control of the NFC North? ..."
November 1
St. Paul Pioneer Press
columnist Charley Walters
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For 16 years, Mike Eayrs was the brainy numbers guy for the Vikings. Eayrs fed statistics, variants and formulas into sophisticated computers that would digest the information, then spit out tendencies that could be used by his team to win football games. For the past 10 years, Eayrs has been doing the same as director of research for the Green Bay Packers, who this afternoon play Minnesota in an epic game that features storied former Packers quarterback Brett Favre returning to Lambeau Field as the 40-year-old star QB of the division-leading Vikings. "Basically, the way we're approaching it over here, it's probably going to be who scores last," Eayrs said from Green Bay. What does the ..."
November 1
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Bob Harlan cannot bear to witness this family drama. Thirty-seven years with the Packers, another year as the team's emeritus chairman, and Harlan cannot recall missing a single home game at Lambeau Field. Until this one, Sunday's game between the Packers and the Minnesota Vikings, the game that marks the return of quarterback Brett Favre to Green Bay. While Packers fans mass at Lambeau Field, Harlan says he will be somewhere else far from the roar of the crowd. He will avoid the television broadcast just like he did last month when the Packers went north to play Favre and the Vikings in Minnesota. For a few hours, he will cut himself off from the team he loves and the player he respects. ..."