Well, judging by 90 percent of the comments here since the end of the game there is really no reason for the Packers to play out the schedule. I wonder what the rules are for forfeiting in the NFL. The Packers better check into it. They could fire Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy and his staff right now, release all the players and start from scratch next year. I could see Aaron Rodgers ending up in Frisco leading his boyhood team to a championship. Donald Driver could join Favre in Minnesota and Greg Jennings can go play for his home state Lions. All would be well. Not to mention the stress relief it would give to all the Packers’ fans who just hate their team. I would probably volunteer to help the Boys & Girls Club of Green Bay on Sunday afternoons. Anything would be better than watching the Packers lose week after week.

Since we won’t get that lucky, I guess I’ll give my take on the game last night. Did Brett Favre kick the Packers ass? Yes he did. Does that mean the season is over? No. If that game was in Lambeau the Packers would have won. Green Bay has taken much better teams into that dome to play much weaker Vikings’ teams and have come out losers, why would things be any different now? The fact is the Packers despite giving up 8 sacks and committing two turnovers had an excellent chance to win that game. Donald Lee’s drop in the endzone on fourth down brought back memories of Jackie Smith dropping a sure touchdown in Super Bowl XIII.

Aaron Rodgers peeled his butt off the turf to throw for 384 yards and 2 TDs against the Vikings with no help from his running game. Just think how good this guy would be if he had half the time Favre had to throw. Rodgers is insanely good and if the Packers find a way to keep him upright he can take them where they want to go. I’ve said it all offseason the o-line and running backs are the weak links on this team. Ryan Grant has never been able to duplicate his success of 2007 and the Packers decision to keep Brandon Jackson and Deshawn Wynn is simply mind-boggling. The difference in the game last night was that the Vikings paid no mind to Ryan Grant, all they had to do was tee off on Rodgers and the Packers had no answer for them.

Bringing back Mark Tauscher  is a step in the right direction. Benching Sitton and putting Wells back at center and Spitz at right guard would be another smart move if you ask me. Tauscher will most certainly shore up the pass blocking and give the Packers more options. With Cliffy expected back after the bye week the Packers could have a line with a some experience playing with each other.

I’m not giving up on the season. The Packers should be able to take care of business their next two games which would leave them 4-2 going into the rematch with the Vikings at Lambeau Field. Even if the Vikings beat the Rams, Steelers and Ravens the next three weeks the Packers could pull within a game with a victory and the send the Vikings into their bye week with a loss. Payback is a bitch in the NFL.

My main concern about this Packers team is its lack of discipline, and that falls squarely on the head coach. McCarthy talks tough but doesn’t seem to back it up. In New York last week Buddy’s kid benched David Clowny because he bitched about his lack of playing time on Twitter. Nick Barnett did the same thing and nothing happened to him. And now Charles Woodson is questioning Dom Capers’ play calling. What the hell? Could you imagine players talking like that to the media under Mike Holmgren? It simply wouldn’t happen.  McCarthy needs to take control of his team until he does so we are going to see the penalties and mistakes that are so costly continue to happen. McCarthy has two weeks to get his team in shape for the rest of the season he better start by looking in the mirror.

7:50 PM: Packers throw away a great opening drive with an Aaron Rodgers fumble. Just when it looked like the o-line was going to better Rodgers gets hit from both sides. The Packers did move the ball well against the Vikings, so if there is a bright side that is it. Butt Favre takes the field now.

7:52 PM: I hope McCarthy fires the guy who told him to challenge this call. Rodgers himself should have told him he had no chance to win the challenge.

7:58 PM: The Packers have lost their composure early. Penalties are killing the Packers. Not a good start.

8:03 PM: Thanks to a gift non-holding call the Vikings lead 7-0. The Packers’ defense did not play well on that drive. Time to settle down gentleman. It’s a long game.

8:11 PM: Three plays, 67 yards and the Packers and Vikings are tied at 7. Rodgers answers Favre’s TD pass with a 62-yarder of his own. Game on.

8:18 PM: Well, the Packers’ defense made a stop, let’s see if the offense can keep moving the ball.

8:27 PM: Aaron Rodgers makes his second big mistake of the game with a pick deep in Vikings territory. Throw away at least three points after the Packers got a huge break on 4th down. The defense better respond and not let the Vikings score after the turnover. It was a terrible decision by Rodgers.

8:34 PM: It seems like teams always score after a turnover. The Packers really need to hold the Vikings to three points here.

8:39 PM: The Packers couldn’t get to Favre and the Vikings have taken control of the game. The Packers will have 4:59 to take gain some momentum before the end of the half. They simply can’t make any more mistakes. The Packers have contained Peterson but Favre is picking them apart right now.

8:52 PM: I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it.What a play by Clay Matthews!!! The Viking are all of a sudden tied again 14 and the Packers have a little momentum on defense. If they can stop the Vikings right now momentum will be clearly on the Packers’ side.

8:58 PM: Favre continues to pick apart the Packers secondary mainly because the blitz is not getting home. The Packers need to back off into coverage if you ask me.

9:01 PM: The referees give the Vikings another touchdown. Which is pretty much what we figured we would get tonight. When Favre was in Green Bay we got all those calls, so I guess it is evening out. Just keep in mind that championships aren’t won in September and we all know what Favre does in September isn’t likely what he is going to do in December and January. The Packers will be in the hunt no matter what happens tonight.

Now another penalty on a nice kickoff return. The Packers need to regroup at halftime. I think they can, but they should be running out the clock right now.

9:26 PM: The Packers’ defense is on their heels. I wish Kevin Greene could suit up. They need something to stop Favre.

9:30 PM: Well, this one is over. It might get ugly from here. The Packers offense still needs to try and play its game. The need to score but they simply can’t put the ball back in Favre’s handstoo soon. #4 rose to the occasion tonight. We will have to live with this for a long time Packers’ fans. It’s not the end of the world. I can’t wait for November 1 and a little payback in Lambeau.

9:34 PM: If that isn’t proof that NFL officiating is fixed, I don’t know what is. Zero penalties on the Vikings and three of them that weren’t called were blatant. I’m sorry folks, you can’t beat two teams.

9:49 PM: Now a dropped touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal at the Vikings two. Donald Lee pretty much cost the Packers any chance of a comeback. Oh well, this is a good football team. If the Packers can fix their offensive line pass protection problems the offense would be unstoppable. I didn’t like going fdor it but damn, you have to make that catch.

9:53 PM: Brandon Chillar is a major liability at linebacker in the 3-4 scheme. The guy couldn’t cover my grandmother. I thought the Packers had the personnel to play the 3-4 but it is becoming apparent they need another draft to fix the problem. They should get better as the season goes on the film from tonight’s game should give them plenty of film to work with.

By the way, the Vikings are just grinding the clock now, and yet the Packers still can’t stop them.

10:03 PM: Could we please score some points now. It is not like we didn’t have our chances tonight. This isn’t the 85′ Bears we are playing tonight.

10:07 PM: Six sacks of Rodgers and now Colledge is hurt. Wow. Still, a lot of football to be played this year. T.J. Lang against Allen.

10:09 PM: Packers break out the wildcat and now a long punt return. The rout it on I’m afraid to say. We’ll recover though. I pity the Lions in two weeks.

10:27 PM: The love-fest is pretty funny though. If Favre loved to play so much, why was it so hard to come back every year? Doesn’t matter anyway. Favre got his win over the Packers. We’ll see where the two teams are in December. Brett delivered tons of great regular season wins for the Packers, but only one Super Bowl. If the Packers can shut down Adrian Peterson like this other teams will too, and we’ll see if Favre can do what he did tonight against a better defense. Maybe so, but we’ll see.

10:33 PM: You have to love Jordy Nelson. The guy can make big plays and the Packers need to take advantage of that. Packers made a good run at it.

10:36 PM: Can’t say I’m not too discouraged by this game, no matter what the final score. If it wasn’t for Butt Favre on the other side it would just be a normal trip to the house of horrors. The Packers are not that far away. Brett has his moment tonight, which is fine, but we’ll see where it ends.

Good night now!

P.S. – 10:50 PM: Damn, I wish we would have took the three. Good game though.

Where is Leon when you need him? Just once I would love to hear a sports figure say what he really means. That certainly was not the case when Brett Favre met the media yesterday. Favre must think we are all idiots when he says he is not motivated by revenge. I mean, like the Favre Network segment says – “Come on man!” It is just like when a player holding out says “It isn’t about the money”. The second they say it isn’t about the money, you know it is about the money. No different than what Favre is saying. In the end Favre did kind of admit it was about revenge when he told the media to “call it what you want”. Funny stuff.

After hearing former Packers William Henderson and LeRoy Butler on the Rome show this week it is clear that Favre is a traitor. Both former Packer greats admitted they lost respect for Favre when he joined the hated Vikings. And both agreed you can’t ride the fence on this issue. Like Butler said, you are either a Favre fan or a Packers’ fan, there is no in between. Like LeRoy said, you can’t root for Favre to throw for 400 yards and want the Packers to win the game. That is complete bovine excrement. You are either with the Packers or you are with the enemy. And either case is fine. If you love Brett Favre then love Brett Favre and cheer the Vikings’ on. No problem. No Packers’ fans will be joining you. You probably jumped on the Packers’ bandwagon only because of Favre and we don’t want fans like that anyway. By the way, I can say “we” and mean it as I am an owner of this great franchise.

This game is all about Brett Favre getting revenge on Ted Thompson. Maybe the Vikings do win. So what? I remember the Chicago Bears losing twice to the Packers the year they went to the Super Bowl. Nothing will really be decided on Monday night no matter what anybody says. This game means way more to Favre than it does to the Packers. This is one man against 53 and I like the 53. The Packers as a team want this game much more than the Vikings do as a player. The Vikings’ players didn’t even want Favre during training camp and can in know way feel the hate that is in Favre’s heart. On the other hand, the players on the Packers’ team have rallied around Aaron Rodgers for over a year now and are united in their cause to win this game for A-Rodg.

Aaron Rodgers has been as cool as a cucumber since taking over as starting QB for the Packers and I think if he plays that way Monday the Packers win going away. Running back Ryan Grant has had surprisingly good success against the Vikings and if gets 85 or more yards I think the Packers will roll. The only thing about this game that scares me is Adrian Peterson breaking a long run or two for a TD, and by long run I mean the 40 or more yard shots that he is great at. If the Packers make him earn his 100 or more yards and force the Vikings to pass more than they want to it bodes real well. I also think Dom Capers hasn’t shown jack the first three games and the Vikings will see plenty of formations they haven’t seen on film thus far.

Finally, I don’t know if it is a good thing or bad, but I think good. From all accounts the Packers’ players have been loose as a goose in the locker room this week. There has been a running joke keeping everybody upbeat and the players seem to be in a good mood despite the media frenzy. Kind of odd, actually. I think it is a quiet confidence. I know I feel the Packers should win this game with no problem and the closer the game gets the more confident I get. My early prediction of 24-20 Pack has been upgraded to 34-20 Pack. I just can’t see us losing this one and I cannot wait for it to start. We will win – Al.