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Packers Slump To Defeat, Lose Chance At No. 1 Seed

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The Associated Press

Published: December 24, 2007

CHICAGO - Brett Favre's frustration flowed as freely as his tears did a year earlier.

The three-time MVP was at his worst, and now, Green Bay can forget about the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Brian Urlacher returned an interception for a touchdown for the first time in his career, Adrian Peterson ran for 102 yards, and the Chicago Bears beat the Packers 35-7 on a frigid Sunday afternoon. The loss wiped out the Packers' shot at home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Packers needed to win this game, beat Detroit next week and have Dallas lose to Washington to capture the No. 1 seed. Instead, it goes to the Cowboys, with Green Bay locked in at No. 2.

"I've been playing 17 years, and that was the worst condition I've ever played in," Favre said. "Excuse? No excuse. It was, but they handled it better than we did. We have historically handled it well. It's kind of our ace in the hole, but today, obviously, it wasn't."

Favre was at his worst on a bone-chilling, windy and at times snowy afternoon, and the Packers (12-3) took their most lopsided loss of the season.

He passed for just 9 yards in the first half and 153 overall, giving him 4,058 this season and putting him over the 4,000-yard mark for the fifth time.

He was 17-for-32 and threw two interceptions. Alex Brown picked him off on the first possession of the third quarter, setting up a touchdown that made it 21-7, and Urlacher ran one back 85 yards early in the fourth.

"He's had two great, back-to-back games," coach Lovie Smith said of Urlacher, who had two sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery in Monday's loss at Minnesota.

Favre said "it was a tossup" every time he unleashed a pass: "Just when you thought you had it figured out, it would switch around on you."

But Favre, who left Soldier Field in tears after leading the Packers to a win last New Year's Eve, wasn't the only one to have a rough afternoon. The Bears blocked two punts by Jon Ryan, who also dropped a snap and booted a 9-yarder.

The Packers had gone 12 years and 929 punts without a block before Darrell McClover knocked one down in the second quarter. More damaging was Charles Tillman's block midway through the third quarter. Corey Graham recovered at the 7 and ran it in for a 28-7 lead.

The Bears (6-9) had little to celebrate this season, but they got some consolation by knocking off their archrivals twice.

"We've got a lot of things to look at this week, filmwise," cornerback Charles Woodson said. "A lot of guys have to evaluate themselves on how they handled the conditions, being down."

Chi-FG Gould 31, 4:15.

Second Quarter

Chi-FG Gould 35, 4:00.

GB-Grant 66 run (Crosby kick), 3:08.

Chi-Peterson 8 run (Gould kick), :48.

Third Quarter

Chi-Clark 3 pass from Orton (Olsen pass from Orton), 8:30.

Chi-Graham 7 blocked punt return (Gould kick), 7:23.

Fourth Quarter

Chi-Urlacher 85 interception return (Gould kick), 11:20.

A-62,272.

RUSHING-Green Bay, Grant 14-100, Jackson 3-25, Favre 3-0, Ryan 1-0. Chicago, Peterson 30-102, Wolfe 12-29, McKie 2-5, Berrian 1-3.

PASSING-Green Bay, Favre 17-32-2-153. Chicago, Orton 8-14-0-101.

RECEIVING-Green Bay, Driver 4-32, Jennings 3-42, Morency 3-21, Robinson 2-12, Martin 1-14, Jackson 1-13, Grant 1-9, Franks 1-8, Lee 1-2. Chicago, Wolfe 2-38, Clark 2-13, Peterson 1-16, Berrian 1-14, McKie 1-10, Olsen 1-10.

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