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| Monday, October 7, 2002 - 8 pm at Memorial Stadium |
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1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
Final |
| Packers |
14 |
10 |
7 |
3 |
34 |
| Bears |
7 |
7 |
0 |
7 |
21 |
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Packers Player Of The Game
Brett Favre's dominance of the Chicago Bears continued Monday night, even in Champaign. Defeating the Packers' chief rival for the 17th time in his career, Favre picked the Bears apart completing 22 of 33 passes for 359 yards and three touchdowns, no interceptions. His quarterback rating for the game was 133.3. In addition to completing the second-longest pass of his career, an 85-yarder to Donald Driver, Favre also became the third-fastest quarterback to pass for 40,000 yards in his career.
Bears Player Of The Game
When the Bears were moving the ball it was usually thanks to Marty Booker, who made a game-high 12 catches for 141 yards and one touchdown. Despite Brett Favre's banner day, the Bears' passing attack would finish with only 6 fewer yards -- 353 passing yards for Chicago, versus 359 passing yards for Green Bay.
Stat Of The Game
The Packers won by 13 points despite hitting only two of five field goal attempts. Ryan Longwell connected from 49 yards and 35 yards, but also had a 28-yard attempt blocked, missed wide-right from 36 yards and wide-left from 50 yards.
Play Of The Game
With the Packers' lead cut to 10 points and the Bears threatening to add another score midway through the third quarter, Joe Johnson hit Bears quarterback Jim Miller as he began to throw, causing the ball to pop free into the waiting arms of Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, who rumbled 72 yards for a touchdown. Instead of perhaps seeing their lead cut to 3, the Packers moved up 31-14.
THEY SAID IT
GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman --
On injury to Joe Johnson: "Joe Johnson may have torn his triceps, that's a possibility. We'll further evaluate that tomorrow. That would be unfortunate, he had a hell of a football game as he did last week as well. Hopefully that's not the case, but we'll see more of that tomorrow."
On multiple injuries sustained by defensive backs: "At the end of the game we actually had Terry Glenn on the sidelines coached up to play corner for us, because we only had four DBs for quite a fair amount there at the end. We had our hands full of injuries in this ballgame."
On if Brett Favre played as good as ever: "I'd never say it's as good as he's been because he's been pretty dang good, but it would be hard to top that effort that he had (tonight)."
On win: "There's not a whole lot of enthusiasm in the locker room simply because they are so drained and they left every bit of sweat and flesh on that football field. They are drained, but they are excited to be atop of the division right now."
On team's effort: "This week in practice, I thought they practiced hard and with a purpose and they played that way today."
On Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila's interception for a touchdown: "I thought that was a critical play. Obviously we came out in the second half and forced a turnover there by the special teams. We should have gotten points off of that and we didn't. I think that was a nice touch there since we didn't get the points off of that turnover, but that certainly gave us some breathing room."
On Bears defense: "Trust me this is a very good defensive football team, it just happened to be our day today and next time we play them it could be different. They're a good team. They have some excellent players over there."
Matt Bowen --
On defense: "I thought the defense played as a team and that's the biggest thing. We had a lot of guys out. It was like the plague out there. I thought we stepped up and made some big plays. Nate Wayne made a huge play, Sharper made a big play, lots of sacks, good pressure, good tackling -- I thought it was a good effort."
On beating the Bears after having grown up a Bears fan: "It's fun for me. I love being a Packer now. I heard it all week from the boys at home and I don't think they're going to be calling me tonight."
Na'il Diggs --
On defense's improvement: "We really are building off that Carolina game. We felt like Carolina was really our best running-defensive game we've played so far this year. We're just taking that as a building stone and not looking back."
On defense: "I think we are coming along. We're getting some things ironed out . . . I think guys are doing a great job running around and making third-down plays, getting off the field. The defense as a whole got off the field on third down when we needed it. We didn't let any cheap stuff go by and that's what we need to continue doing."
Terry Glenn --
On if he was amazed by Brett Favre tonight: "I've been practicing with him for a couple months now, everything he does amazes me. I really don't try to dictate what Brett does, I know he's going to make plays. I know if I get open we're going to make plays."
On if this was the Brett Favre he expected when he was traded to the Packers: "That's always a plus, you're able to go out there and catch balls all day long. That's a receiver's dream. But as long as you win the ballgame, that's the Brett Favre I'm used to seeing, winning ballgames, putting up numbers. At the end of the season, that's what counts, where you're at (in the standings)."
Darren Sharper --
On game: "We know we haven't played our best ball yet, but we definitely displayed good football tonight."
On his interception and hamstring injury: "Whenever you get an opportunity to get an interception and get the ball back and kept them from getting points, it's a big play. It was costly, my hamstring twinged a little bit, but we'll see how tight it is this week."
On injuries to defensive backs: "It felt like we were dropping like flies out there. At the end of the game everyone was saying it was like a preseason game because we had all the second-stringers out there playing, but they definitely did a great job."
On importance of win: "We knew coming in that if we were able to win this game it would put us two games up and give them a loss. Those things definitely count because toward the latter part of the year, you need these wins."
GAME NOTES:
Actual attendance at Memorial Stadium was 61,440.
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End of 4th quarter. Game over.
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Jim Miller's 52-yard pass to David Terrell gave the Bears possession at the Packers 7-yard-line, but on the following play, Nate Wayne picked off a Miller pass in the end zone and returned it to the 24-yard-line (2:25, 4th quarter).
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Ryan Longwell's 50-yard field goal missed wide-left (3:22, 4th quarter).
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The Bears added another score when Jim Miller hit John Davis on a 21-yard touchdown pass (6:50, 4th quarter). The Bears scoring drive was 9 plays, 62 yards. Time of the drive was 2:12.
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Bhawoh Jue suffered a pulled hamstring. He will not return.
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Ryan Longwell's 35-yard field goal increased the Packers' lead (13:21, 4th quarter). Ahman Green had the big play on the drive with his 43-yard rush, his longest run from scrimmage this season. The Packers scoring drive was 7 plays, 48 yards. Time of the drive was 2:44.
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End of 3rd quarter.
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Nate Wayne suffered leg cramps. His return his questionable (1:08, 3rd quarter).
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Ryan Longwell's 36-yard field goal attempt missed wide-right (2:30, 3rd quarter).
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Brett Favre found Terry Glenn down the middle for a 49-yard pass to the Bears' 30-yard line (3:45, 3rd quarter). The reception gave Glenn 5,029 passing yards for his career.
Darren Sharper suffered a hamstring injury on his interception play. His return is questionable.
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With the Bears facing third-and-21, Darren Sharper intercepted a Jim Miller pass at the 11-yard-line. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty charged to the Bears' James Williams gave the Packers possession at the 26-yard-line (4:48, 3rd quarter).
Joe Johnson has a triceps injury and will not return.
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With the Bears driving, Joe Johnson wrapped up Jim Miller in the backfield and forced the ball loose, which was caught in the air by Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila and returned 72-yards for a Packers touchdown (8:53, 3rd quarter).
On the previous play, Gbaja-Biamila sacked Miller and forced a fumble -- which was awarded to the Bears because of simultaneous recovery by the offense and defense.
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Marc Colombo blocked Ryan Longwell's 28-yard field goal attempt (12:43, 3rd quarter). The Bears took over at their own 20-yard-line.
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Ryan Longwell's second-half opening kickoff was mishandled by Chicago's Rabih Abdullah and recovered by the Packers' Tod McBride at the Bears 15-yard-line (14:53, 3rd quarter).
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End of second quarter. Halftime.
Brett Farve, who became the third-fastest NFL player to pass for 40,000 yards in his career, completed 17 of 25 passes in the first half for 287 yards and three touchdowns. His first-half quarterback rating was 146.2.
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Ryan Longwell closed out the second half with a 49-yard field goal (0:00, 2nd quarter). Setting up the field goal attempt was a 6-yard reception by Ahman Green and two Terry Glenn catches worth a combined 26 yards. The Packers scoring drive was 6 plays, 32 yards. Time of the drive was 0:38.
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Brett Favre's 10-yard pass to Terry Glenn made him the eighth player in NFL history to pass for 40,000 yards in his career (0:21, 2nd quarter). He is the third-fastest player to reach that mark.
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The Bears cashed in on Donald Driver's fumble when Jim Miller hit John Davis in the back of the end zone on third-and-goal at the 1-yard line (2:50, 2nd quarter). The Bears scoring drive was 3 plays, 4 yards. Time of the drive was 0:56.
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Donald Driver's fumble after the catch was recovered by Bears safety Mike Brown and returned 35-yards to the Packers 4-yard-line (3:46, 2nd quarter).
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Despite defensive pass interference, Bubba Franks made a 6-yard touchdown grab from Brett Favre to answer the Bears' score (13:02, 2nd quarter). Javon Walker made a 17-yard catch on third-and-9, before Terry Glenn made an impressive 26-yard grab. The Packers scoring drive was 8 plays, 74 yards. Time of the drive was 3:51.
The last time Brett Favre threw for three touchdowns in the first half was December 20, 1998, versus the Tennessee Oilers.
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End of 1st quarter. Brett Favre was 8-of-11 passing in the first quarter for a personal best 180 yards.
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A 15-yard taunting penalty charged to Tyrone Davis and assessed on the kickoff, plus a 35-yard kick return helped the Bears earn their best field position of the night, starting at the Packers 47-yard-line. A few plays later Jim Miller found Marty Booker in the back-left corner of the end zone for a 4-yard-touchdown (1:53, 1st quarter). The Bears scoring drive was 3 plays, 47 yards. Time of the drive was 1:39.
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Tyrone Davis made a 19-yard touchdown reception to help the Packers move up 14-0 (3:32, 1st quarter). The Packers got a key 14-yard catch-and-run by Ahman Green on third-and-long to keep the drive going. Donald Driver provided a 13-yard end-around run and a 17-yard reception on the drive. Terry Glenn made a 14-yard reception. The Packers scoring drive was 9 plays, 76 yards. Time of the drive was 5:14.
With his 17-yard reception, Driver crossed the 100-yard receiving mark for the first time in his career. That's also his fourth consecutive game with a touchdown reception.
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Starting their second possession of the night from their own 15-yard-line, Brett Favre rolled left out of the pocket and found Donald Driver streaking down the field for an 85-yard touchdown (10:56, 1st quarter). The Packers scoring drive was 1 play, 85 yards. Time of the drive was 0:12. That's Brett Favre's longest completion since he threw a 99-yard touchdown pass to Robert Brooks September 11, 1995, coincidently a Monday night game at Chicago.
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Tonight Brett Favre is playing in his 164th consecutive game, the third-longest games-played streak in Packers history. Favre also extends his NFL record for consecutive starts by a quarterback to 162 today.
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Packers defensive back Mike McKenzie strained his groin in warm-ups. His return is doubtful. Tod McBride will replace McKenzie in the starting lineup.
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The following Packers players are inactive for tonight's contest: Karsten Bailey, Barrett Brooks, Antuan Edwards, Vonnie Holliday, David Martin, Craig Nall (third quarterback), Jamal Reynolds, Steve Warren. |
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