A Thanksgiving Thrill

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I've been a Green Bay Packer fan just about all my life, ever since I started collecting football cards in first grade.

I was born on Thanksgiving so every once in awhile, my birthday falls on Thanksgiving, as it did this year. But the Packers don't always play on Thanksgiving — nor, for that matter, do they always play on my birthday when it falls on a Sunday.

This year, however, they played the Chicago Bears tonight, which is both Thanksgiving and my birthday, in order to honor Brett Favre by inducting him into the Packers' Ring of Honor. (Actually, the game is still in progress as I write this so referring to it in the past tense really isn't appropriate, is it?).

And one of the highlights for me — probably the greatest highlight for me — was to see Bart Starr and Brett Favre embrace each other on the turf of Lambeau Field. My two favorite quarterbacks of all time.

I have known for a long time what a struggle it was for Starr to be able to be in Green Bay. He's been battling the effects of some pretty severe strokes, but he looked pretty good tonight.

The two quarterbacks could hardly be more different, I suppose.

I have always admired Bart Starr, going back to when I was a kid. He was the kind of guy who is worthy of admiration. He didn't seek the spotlight the way so many players do today. He didn't put up gaudy numbers — except on the scoreboard, where he was the perfect captain for Vince Lombardi's offense. Lombardi devised the game plan, and Starr carried it out. All he did was win.

Favre was a free spirit, a winner who made the people around him winners by sheer force of will. Favre was a force of nature, refusing to be benched during his phenomenal consecutive games played streak even if you thought there was no way he could be playing.

I suppose my ideal quarterback would be a combination of Bart Starr and Brett Favre.

But since that will never happen, I'll settle for the next best thing. That was what I got tonight.

For this I am truly thankful.

Peyton's Place

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At this writing, there is considerable uncertainty about Peyton Manning's future as the quarterback of the Indianapolis Colts.

It certainly wasn't that way five years ago today.

In Super Bowl XLI, played in Miami, Manning led the Colts to a come–from–behind 29–17 victory over the Chicago Bears, throwing for a touchdown and giving up only one interception. He received the MVP award for his trouble.

No, sir, there was no doubt that Manning was the Colts' quarterback in 2007. He was the toast of the town.

But times can change quickly for an NFL quarterback. Manning brought the Colts back to the Super Bowl three years later (which they lost to New Orleans) — but, given the nature of the injury that sidelined him in the season just past and the growing doubt that he can come back from it, that may prove to be the last Super Bowl appearance of his career.

At least, as a player.

At some future date, Peyton Manning may be invited back to a Super Bowl. Sometimes, past MVPs have been guests at Super Bowls. Sometimes they have participated in the coin toss. And who knows? When his playing career is over, Manning could join the pantheon of former players who have gone on to broadcasting or coaching careers — and possibly return to the Super Bowl as more than a mere observer.

But, on this day five years ago, no one was thinking about when Peyton Manning would hang it up. People were thinking about how many Super Bowls he might win. It seemed all but certain that he would win more than one before his career was over.

Ironically, if his younger brother Eli and the New York Giants beat New England tomorrow, Eli will earn his second Super Bowl ring, eclipsing his brother — and, in the process, probably securing his spot in the NFL's Hall of Fame.

Quarterbacks with multiple Super Bowl victories almost always wind up in the Hall of Fame when their playing careers are over (a noteworthy exception is Jim Plunkett). One–time winners — like Peyton Manning and Brett Favre — need glittering numbers to make up for the absence of glittering jewelry on their hands.

Peyton's got the numbers. His credentials for the Hall of Fame are beyond dispute. He's in the top five in pass attempts, completions, passing yardage and touchdown passes — and each of the guys who are ahead of him are either in the Hall of Fame or will be as soon as they are eligible.

When Peyton does retire, it will only be a matter of time before he is enshrined with the rest of pro football's best.

What Manning did in February 2007 wasn't remarkable — at least not when one looks at the numbers in the box score. It was steady, disciplined, workmanlike, the kind of performance fans had come to expect after watching Manning play for several years.

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In the immediate aftermath of the victory, Manning spoke not of his individual performance but of the team accomplishment and how hard all the Colts had worked that season to achieve it.

Manning's numbers that day probably made it easy to be generous. So, too, I suppose, would the certainty that he would be back in the winner's circle again.

But when all is said and done, Manning may well look back on what he accomplished five years ago today and see it as his finest hour in football.

Righting a Wrong

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Occasionally, presidents have the opportunity to right wrongs — and they usually act upon them.

Their motivations for doing so may be suspect, but, most of the time, the legitimacy of the need cannot be questioned.

Such was the case yesterday when President Obama greeted the 1985 Chicago Bears and honored them for their Super Bowl victory in January 1986.

Football fans know that it is traditional for a Super Bowl–winning team to pay a visit to the White House, and the Bears were supposed to visit President Reagan — but their trip to Washington was canceled in the wake of the national tragedy that was the space shuttle Challenger disaster.

As I have written here before, I am a Green Bay Packers fan. They've won four Super Bowls, and, while I was much too young to be aware of whether those first two Super Bowl–winning teams paid visits to the Johnson White House, I know the third one visited the Clinton White House and the one that beat Pittsburgh in February was honored by Obama in August.

The Packers have been recognized for their achievements. The NFL's championship trophy is named for the coach who led Green Bay to victory in those first two Super Bowls.

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But the Bears only have that single Super Bowl victory to their credit. True, they annoyed many football fans with their smugness and bravado — and their "Super Bowl Shuffle" — but, in the end, those fans had to admit that the Bears made good on their promise.

And they had earned the recognition that every other Super Bowl winner received.

Anyone who witnessed the Challenger explosion knows that event overshadowed everything for weeks, if not months. It grounded the space shuttle program for nearly three years. It forced Reagan to reschedule his State of the Union address.

It was a time for mourning, not celebrating.

Consequently, it isn't surprising that "Da Bears," as they were known, got lost in the (pardon the expression) shuffle.

And, even though I am a Packers fan, I am glad the Bears finally received the recognition they deserved. I'm just sorry, as I wrote earlier this year on the 25th anniversary of their victory, that Walter Payton did not get to share it with his teammates and coaches.

Payton, as I mentioned in January, toiled through many difficult seasons for the Bears. In the 1970s, he and Dick Butkus were the only stars on lackluster teams. Things got better in the 1980s as coach Mike Ditka assembled the team that would annihilate the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl.

When the Bears got to the Super Bowl, Payton put in his usual workmanlike effort. New England was focusing on him all day and held him to only 61 yards, but that was enough to lead Chicago in rushing.

Nevertheless, when given the opportunity to punch in a score from a single yard out, Ditka opted to give the ball to William "the Refrigerator" Perry, a defensive lineman who had been brought in a couple of times during the regular season when the Bears faced goal–line situations.

I felt it was a disgrace. Ask just about any pro football fan to identify the top five running backs in the history of the NFL, and nearly all will include Payton in that list. He deserved to score a touchdown in his only Super Bowl.

He also deserved to be recognized yesterday, and I am sure that Obama, a resident of Chicago in his adult years, would have welcomed him to the White House. But Payton died nearly 12 years ago.

For Payton, it is a wrong that can never be righted.

Ditka's Disgrace

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Yesterday, I wrote about the 30th anniversary of the first wild card to win a Super Bowl — and I suggested that it might have been appropriate if the Jets had won the AFC title on Sunday because that would have put two wild–card teams in this year's Super Bowl.

But it might have been more appropriate if the Chicago Bears had beaten the Green Bay Packers for the NFC title.

(That isn't an easy thing for me to say, being a lifelong Green Bay fan. But hear me out on this one.)

It was a quarter of a century ago today that the Chicago Bears played in their first Super Bowl. Their opponents were the New England Patriots — and, while it is probably hard for the current generation to believe, that was the Patriots' first Super Bowl, too.

Football fans had rarely seen two teams playing in their first Super Bowl at the same time. Granted, the most recent such game had been only a few years earlier, when the San Francisco 49ers faced the Cincinnati Bengals. But it had only happened twice before that — when Broadway Joe followed through on his famous "guarantee" in Super Bowl III and in the very first Super Bowl (when it was a sure thing that both teams were making their first appearance).

There was never a chance of a team appearing in its first Super Bowl this time. But, until Sunday, there was a chance that the Bears might be able to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their first trip to the big game with a return trip.

It wouldn't have been the Bears' first trip back to the Super Bowl since that day in January 1986. They made it back to the Super Bowl a few years ago — and lost to the Colts.

Even so, it would have made an interesting story line — not that the Super Bowl ever lacks for interesting story lines. In fact, sometimes the story lines have been better than the games themselves.

For awhile, it was even possible that the Bears and the Patriots could mark the anniversary with a rematch. But that possibility ended when the Jets defeated the Patriots in the divisional round.

It remained possible — for a week — that the Bears could observe their silver anniversary with an appearance in Dallas. The odds of that happening dwindled rapidly after Jay Cutler went down with an injury.

But, really, how could you commemorate that anniversary? It was Walter Payton's only Super Bowl after a career of toiling for mostly bad Bears teams — but he really did nothing special when he got there. He didn't even score a touchdown.

That would be understandable, I suppose, if the game had been a defensive struggle. But the only defense that struggled that day was New England's.

I felt it was disgraceful that Payton didn't score on a day when the Chicago Bears set a Super Bowl scoring record with 46 points.

I guess you could call Payton the consummate professional. While no one could have known that Super Bowl XX would be his only Super Bowl, he had been in the NFL for a decade, and that is a long time for a running back.

Seems to me that any reasonable football fan would have to at least suspect that it would be his only one. And, in fact, Payton only played two more seasons after he went to the Super Bowl. The Bears made the playoffs both years, but they were one and done both times and Payton never scored a touchdown in either of his last two playoff games.

He should have scored a touchdown in Super Bowl XX.

The Bears were deep in New England territory late in the third quarter. Realistically, the game had been over for a long time. Chicago led New England, 37–3.

With the ball at New England's 1–yard line and what amounted to a five–touchdown lead, the Bears were imposing their will. But instead of calling for quarterback Jim McMahon to give it to Payton, coach Mike Ditka chose to go with the novelty act he had unveiled earlier in the season in a Monday night game — in which 300–pound defensive lineman William "The Refrigerator" Perry came in, took the handoff and made his roly–poly way into the end zone.

For a time there in the mid–1980s, the "Fridge," as he was known, became something of a cult hero.

But not to me.

I felt it was shameful that someone like Payton was denied the satisfaction of finally scoring in a Super Bowl. His team was about to do something no team had done before — exceed 40 points in a Super Bowl — and Payton's touchdown would have been the one that made that a reality.

Ditka told a Payton biographer that Payton was the greatest football player he ever saw but an even better human being.

It was too bad he didn't give him the ball from a yard out and let him get his name in the Super Bowl history books for doing more than averaging 2.8 yards per carry that day.

Payton achieved many things in his life, which ended far too soon. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame several years before his death. He ran for more than 100 touchdowns in his professional career, but he refused to celebrate when he scored; he just handed the ball to an official or a teammate and went back to the sideline in his quiet, low–key way.

He was over 30 when he got to the Super Bowl. He had given everything he could to help the Bears get there. He ran for more than 1,500 yards that season but stood back and allowed the others to take the credit.

There were many stars on that team, to be sure. And most of them were given their moment in the spotlight.

But not Payton.

The Renewal of a Passionate Rivalry

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Tomorrow afternoon, the Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers will face each other in Chicago with the NFC championship on the line.

Now, there are many rivalries in the NFL. None are as old as the Bears and the Packers, who have been playing each other twice a year for the last 90 years. Given their history, you might think they had faced each other in the playoffs several times, but this will be only the second time they have met in the postseason.

To remember that other playoff game, you would have to be old enough to remember Pearl Harbor.

I was talking with my father on Thursday, and I observed that it was the 50th anniversary of John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, in which Kennedy uttered his famous line, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

We talked a little about famous presidential speeches, and Dad mentioned that he remembered listening to FDR's "day of infamy" speech the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. That speech was given the Monday before Green Bay and Chicago last met in the postseason.

In those days, as I wrote last month, NFL championships were played between the teams who won their respective divisions (or conferences, as they were called for a time).

Usually, there were no other playoffs — unless there was a tie atop one or both of the divisions. Then there would be a playoff game between the teams who tied for a division title (even if one of the teams had swept the regular–season series between the two), and the winner would advance to the championship game.

That was how Green Bay and Chicago, always members of the same conference/division, wound up playing each other following the conclusion of the 1941 season. Both teams went 10–1, splitting their regular–season series, so they met on Dec. 14, 1941 at Chicago's Wrigley Field to break the tie.

At the time, there was no such thing as a "wild card" in the playoffs. That was a concept that wasn't really introduced until nearly 30 years later.

Even so, wild cards have been a part of the postseason in pro football for the last 40 years — ever since the merger of the AFL and NFL. In some years, the playoff structure has allowed two wild card teams in each conference.

Both Green Bay and Chicago have been in the playoffs as divisional champions and wild cards. But in all those years, this is only the second time that both teams have qualified for the playoffs in the same season.

That other time was nine years ago, when the New England Patriots upset the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl. Both the Packers and Bears lost in the divisional round of the playoffs. If both had won, they would have faced each other for the NFC title — 60 years after their last playoff meeting.

But that did not happen.

Even though the teams have not played each other for a championship before, the rivalry is as heated as any you'll find in the NFL. The mere mention of the Packers and the Bears to a true pro football fan ought to conjure up images of Vince Lombardi and George Halas prowling the sidelines, Dick Butkus sacking Bart Starr before the NFL was even keeping track of that particular statistic, Ray Nitschke tackling Gale Sayers, games played in the mud and the snow and the bitter cold.

This isn't your father's football. This is your grandfather's football, played the way it used to be played. Leather helmets, I heard someone say this week, will be optional.

I remember hearing a story from one day in the 1960s when the Bears and Packers faced each other. Halas came to the Packers' locker room door prior to kickoff and was stopped by security. He protested that he had to see Lombardi. It was urgent.

The message was relayed to Lombardi, who came to the door to see what Halas needed to talk to him about.

Halas said, "Vince, I just want to tell you that you'd better have your boys ready to play. Because we're going to kick your ass!"

And Halas turned around and walked back to his locker room.

I don't know what, if anything, was on the line that day — other than pride and bragging rights. In the Bears–Packers rivalry, that's usually enough.

When they started calling the division in which the Packers and Bears compete the "Black and Blue Division," they really knew what they were talking about. It's a rivalry that has always been capable of stirring fierce passions.

Oddly, though, the newspapers in the two cities seem to have been falling all over themselves to be respectful of each other. Even when they're teasing.

Frankly, I'm a little disappointed. I expected more, I guess.

• Mark Konkol of the Chicago Sun–Times tells readers that the Bears' quarterback's father is a "cheesehead" — which is, of course, the nickname that is often used for Packer fans.
  
  "Don't worry," he tells his readers. "It's not what you think." And it isn't.


• Cheryl Jackson reports in the Sun–Times that Chicago watering holes anticipate the kind of business they normally don't enjoy at this time of year.
  
  And it's hard to argue with that. With daytime highs expected to be in the teens and Chicago's legendary fickle, swirling winds on hand as always, you need something to get people to brave the elements — assuming they don't have tickets to the game.


• Rex Huppke and Gerry Smith, using some clever wordplay in the Chicago Tribune, manage to capture some of the animosity — but none of what Hunter Thompson might have called the fear and loathing — that exists between Chicago and Green Bay.
  
  "Chicagoans stand united," write Huppke and Smith, "Packtose intolerant, loathers of cheese in all its forms, sneering as often as possible in the direction of those green and gold neighbors to the north."
  
  It is truly, as they observe, a rivalry like no other. Actually, it's a way of life.
  
  
• Maybe the most critical thing I have seen from journalists in either town in the last week has come from Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press–Gazette, who asserts that the pressure to win now is on the Bears because of their age.
  
  But that's simply a statement of fact. "[L]ooking to the future," he writes, "Chicago Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo needs to draft unusually well starting this year to remain a title contender."
  
  The Packers, on the other hand, are locked and loaded for the next several years, Dougherty says, and I think he is right.

But ...

C'mon, guys! This is football! This is Green Bay–Chicago!

Where's the contempt?

Packers Will Win NFC North

Heading into last weekend, Chicago, Green Bay and Minnesota were tied atop the NFC North — formerly the NFC Central but, as always, the "Black and Blue Division" — with records of 5-5.

The Bears and Vikings both won, improving to 6-5 prior to their showdown in Minnesota next weekend. The Packers lost to New Orleans on Monday night.

But I think the Packers can finish on top of the division. And I don't particularly feel that I'm going out on a limb in saying so. Here’s why:

• Let’s be clear about one thing. The winless Detroit Lions show no inclination to get their first win of the season any time soon.
  
  As Bob Wojnowski observes in the Detroit News, "It's hard to tell if the Lions are feeling the pressure [of losing] or if they're just an accumulation of poor players playing poorly."
  
  Whichever it is, Green Bay and Minnesota each have one game left with Detroit — which should be regarded as lead pipe cinch victories. The Bears have already played Detroit twice this season so the Bears have no more automatic "Ws."
  
  And both the Vikings and Packers pick up a "gimme" victory at Detroit’s expense.


• Both Chicago and Green Bay have games to play with the 4-7 Houston Texans, but there’s a catch. The Texans have been much better at home (where they’re 3-2 so far) than they’ve been on the road (where they’re 1-5). The Bears have to play at Houston; the Packers get to play Houston in Green Bay.
  
  The Bears have struggled on the road, so I’ll predict that Houston wins that one. And the Packers will beat Houston at Lambeau Field.


• In almost the same situation with a different home-road wrinkle, Chicago and Green Bay each have a game left against 4-7 Jacksonville. The Jaguars have struggled at home, where they’re 1-5, but they’ve got a winning record on the road (3-2). Jacksonville will play at Chicago, then come home to play Green Bay, next month.
  
  Again, the home and road numbers suggest advantage to Green Bay and disadvantage to Chicago, but, in this case, I’m going to predict a reversal from the Houston game outcomes. Chicago wins at home, Green Bay loses at Jacksonville.
  
  Hey, this is the NFL we're talking about. Inexplicable things always happen in the NFL.


• If Minnesota gets past Chicago and Detroit in the next two weeks, the Vikings will occupy the top spot in the division at that time with an 8-5 record — and I think that's what will happen.
  
  But they’ve got some mountains to climb against playoff contenders in the final three weeks, when they travel to 7-4 Arizona (the Cardinals are 4-1 at home so far), play host to 7-4 Atlanta (the Falcons have struggled on the road) and finish the regular season with a home game against the 10-1 New York Giants, who are 7-0 against NFC competition.
  
  It’s entirely possible that the Vikings will finish the season at 8-8 or 9-7 — and possibly miss the playoffs. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and say they’ll beat Atlanta, finishing the season at 9-7.


• As for Chicago, I’ve predicted that the Bears will lose to Minnesota and Houston and beat Jacksonville.
  
  That makes the other two games vital for them, and they’re back-to-back home games — against New Orleans on Thursday, Dec. 11, and Green Bay on Monday, Dec. 22.
  
  Neither opponent has played particularly well on the road, but I’m going to predict that at least one — probably the Packers, who have already beaten the Bears once and are more accustomed to the windy, possibly snowy conditions of Soldier Field than the Saints — will win in Chicago.
  
  That leaves Chicago at 8-8.


• I’ve predicted that the Packers would beat Detroit and Chicago, which would give them the best division record (5-1). I’ve also predicted they would beat Houston and lose to Jacksonville.
  
  That leaves one more game — this Sunday’s home game against Carolina.
  
  As I see it, this game is all about location, location, location.
  
  Three NFC teams are undefeated at home, and Carolina (8-3 overall) is one of them. But the Panthers are 2-3 on the road.
  
  Green Bay, on the other hand, is not unbeaten at home, but the Packers have been respectable, with a 3-2 record.
  
  And the Panthers are trying to bounce back from Sunday’s 45-28 loss at Atlanta.
  
  Neither team seems to have a real edge in total defense. Carolina ranks eighth in the NFC, Green Bay ranks ninth.
  
  The Packers, however, are second in the NFC in passing defense, whereas the Panthers are 12th in passing offense in the NFC.
  
  On the flip side, Aaron Rodgers has helped the Packers settle into sixth place in the NFC in passing. The Panthers counter with the sixth-ranked passing defense in the NFC.
  
  And, in case you’re wondering about the weather …
  
  The Panthers will leave the comparatively balmy climate of North Carolina (temperatures expected to be in the 50s most of this week) to play in chilly Green Bay, where the forecasters currently predict a high of about 35 on Sunday.
  
  After losing to New Orleans on Monday night, the Packers will be eager for redemption.
  
  And winning that game should contribute to an eventual 9-7 finish for Green Bay.

That would leave Minnesota and Green Bay tied for first place in the NFC North, and the two teams have split their regular-season games.

Based on the tiebreaking procedure, the next tiebreaker is best record in division play, and I predict the Packers will clinch that by winning their games with Chicago and Detroit.

Can the Packers win in the playoffs? I don't know, but the objective at this point is simply to get to the playoffs. And I think the Packers will.