The angry Packers blog post

Because Jimmy asked for it ...

Ever since the 1998 season, when TO caught that last-second pass to beat the Packers in a first-round playoff game in San Francisco and I just about destroyed my Fremont apartment, I've resolved not to get that worked up about Packer outcomes. And I've been pretty successful; the fourth-and-26 year notwithstanding, the team's general decline has made this easier.

But this year was building toward something special, something worth getting really excited about, and I think all of us Packer fans smelled blood in the water last night as the Bears ambled into town. And most of us saw what happened next.

The Packers lost. Back to keeping everything in perspective when it comes to the Pack. Probably better for the blood pressure.

It would not be correct to lump "Bears" and "won" in the same sentence of this game recap, because it would be a stretch. In truth, last night the Packers out-Beared the Bears. Turnovers, defensive breakdowns, unimaginative play calling. Etc.

-Got to Lambeau about an hour before the game started, much earlier than usual, and the stands were packed much earlier than usual. Great atmosphere. Our friends Kevin and Missy, who took us, have great seats, in the northwest end zone - great proximity to the bathrooms, never had to wait in line, which is huge.

-UW band played several times, they were terrific, third time I've gotten to see them play this year. The daughter of the friends who took us to the game is thinking about attending UW and trying out for band. In the fourth quarter, the tubas, as is their custom, marched in the south end zone and spelled out something funny pertaining to the opponent: "Nice clipboard Rex." All this gave me the opportunity to tell the life story of Zach Dachel, which I'm sure was not interesting to anybody but me.

-Best pair of jerseys: a pair of dudes walking, one wearing a Chmura jersey and the other a Grossman jersey. They got more jeers than Taylor Hicks, who made an awkward appearance on the scoreboard in the second half.

-Other great jerseys in attendance: Chuck Cecil, Wayne Simmons, Jim Miller (!), Don Beebe, Abdul Hodge.

-Here's one for my college roommates: Marlena from Days of our Lives was there.

-Urlacher was a complete non-factor. Don't bring up the interception, any one of us could have made the play, which was the dumbest pass I've seen Favre throw in years. Hell, Deshawn Freaking Wynn faked Big Bad Brian out of his jock several times. He'll be in trouble without Briggs next year.

-The Bears fan behind us had a severe man crush on Devin Hester, and was upset every time we pooch kicked it. I was too - giving the Bears the ball on the 40 every time was a horrible disadvantage for the defense. After the game, the Bears fan traveled back to Chicago in a limo.

-One player on the Bears impressed me: Greg Olson. On the drive in, I was talking about how I wanted to Packers to pick Olson in the April draft, after Marshawn Lynch went to Buffalo, and then they go and pick a projected third rounder who plays in the deepest position on the team. Really cost them last night. My buddy Dean said Harrell had some unassisted tackles last night, but I sure didn't see them.

-Bears are an 8-8 team. They look like the team I thought the Packers would be before the season. Benson is nothing special, and neither was the blocking for him. Defense just fell on the ball when we coughed it up on routine tackles.

-The Bears did make the better adjustments in the second half, taking away the slant that Favre worked to death in the first half. After the pick, McCarthy got really conservative, and Chicago teed off on the run.

-The TD pass to Jennings happened right in front of us, what a beautiful throw and catch.

-Morency looked good when he got in.

-A Bears fan five rows in front of us got kicked out. The guy, wearing an orange Urlacher jersey and wacky orange-and-blue hair piece, turned around and started aggressively taunting the rest of our section after the Woodson fumble. A mild-mannered guy two rows in front of me pushed him, the Bears fan pushed back, and the guy who threw the first push ran with his wife to get security. The entire section fingered the Urlacher jersey guy for the cops, and he got the boot. I thought it was great, but Jana could not get over that the Packers fan who pushed first was not ejected; as usual, she was right, but that annoying Chicago fan (is that redundant?) got what he deserved.

-I believe that on the game-winning TD pass Griese was actually looking for the running back (Peterson?) who was well-covered, then looked up and realized no one was covering Clark. Great play call.

-Wells being out at center really hurt, both the running game and the two-minute offense. At least twice on the Packers' last drive Favre had to pump his foot twice before Spitz snapped the ball, which may have cost them a play. Spitz also had a hold. I hear Wells has an eye injury, that'll slow down the momentum the running game was building.

-McCarthy's two challenges were ill-advised to say the least. Losing the second one was huge for play calling on the last drive.

Overall, no one expected the Packers to be 4-1 at this point, with a chance to be 5-1 going into the bye with a two-game lead on Chicago. Hmmmm ... switch just a couple of those words and numbers around and we could have been talking about the Brewers in early July.