(Sports Network) - There were no late-game heroics this time, and Brett Favre proved to the world that he is not, in fact, a cyborg.

Sure, the Minnesota Vikings largely outplayed the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday at Heinz Field, but a couple of senior moments by Favre turned what could have been the Vikes' first 7-0 start since 2000 into a 27-17 loss.

When it comes to Favre, you take the frequently good with the occasional bad, and there's no question that the scale has been heavily weighted in favor of the former during the legend's brief tenure with Minnesota.

But as much as those miracle throws against the 49ers and Ravens were vintage Favre, so was the turnover that helped alter the complexion of Sunday's game.

With Minnesota trailing, 13-10, early in the fourth quarter, Favre drove the Vikings to the Steelers 8-yard line during what was to that point a monumental 14-play drive consuming more than seven-and-a-half minutes. At the very least, a game-tying score looked to be imminent.

But on a 3rd-and-8 play, the gunslinger Favre played a little too fast and loose with the football, was stripped by Steelers end Brett Keisel, and the ball was scooped up by linebacker LaMarr Woodley, who rambled for a 77-yard touchdown as a delirious Heinz Field rejoiced.

Minnesota didn't crawl away and die after falling behind 20-10, with Percy Harvin getting the Vikings back within three by taking the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown, but coming up empty on the long march was not a credit to the winning cause.

Down 20-17, the Vikings would subsequently get the football back on a Pittsburgh punt with 3:31 to play, seemingly setting the stage for some more heroics from No. 4.

But after driving the offense to the Pittsburgh 19-yard-line with 1:15 to play - in reach of yet another would-be game-tying score, at least - Favre threw his first interception in two weeks, when a screen pass attempt to Chester Taylor bounced off the usually sure-handed running back's mitts and into the arms of Steelers linebacker Keyaron Fox, who took it 82 yards to the house to effectively seal the game.

And though the postmortems said that Taylor should have caught the ball, the INT was charged to Favre as much as the lost fumble was.

"Chester's an excellent receiver," said Favre afterward. "I thought it was a good call. We were moving the ball well at the time. Things happen," Favre said. "We struggled a little in the red zone today obviously. That will be a point of emphasis not only for us but for me this week."

Despite the loss, Favre's place as leader of the Minnesota offense continued to evolve. Far from the game manager he was at the beginning of the season, on Sunday the future Hall of Famer established season-highs for completions (34), attempts (51), and yards (334) against a top-notch Steelers "D", although Favre did fail to throw a touchdown pass for the first time this year,

The passing day was his biggest from a completions, attempts, and yardage standpoint since he left Green Bay after the 2007 season.

Oh, and lest you hadn't heard, Favre will be returning to Green Bay on Sunday for what figures to be one of the most emotionally super-charged games in NFL history.

"My career with Green Bay speaks for itself, and the games I played in Lambeau Field, it's a special place, and that won't change," said Favre just moments after the disconcerting loss to the Steelers had concluded. "Now, for three hours I'll be on the other side. Do I know what that will feel like? I have no idea, because I've never been on the other side. But I know our team needs a win, and I know it'll be a tough place to play because it always is."

BEARS: There is video evidence to suggest that the Chicago Bears did indeed take the field at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday. As best as can be discerned, there were 11 players on the field for Chicago at all times, and the Bears did, at various points, take snaps from center, as well as run, block, and tackle.

Those clarifying points are necessary, because the 45-10 result would seem to suggest that Lovie Smith's team never got off the bus.

In what had been billed as a revenge game for the Bears against their former, organizationally-disliked running back Cedric Benson, Chicago showed none of the intensity that might have been expected in such a meeting. Benson racked up a career-high 189 yards and a touchdown on 37 carries in the game, and with career days being all the rage, Carson Palmer completed a personal-best 83.3 percent of his passes (20-of-24) for 233 yards, five touchdowns, and a career- best passer rating of 146.7.

For the day, the Bengals racked up 448 total yards, scored points on their first seven drives, and punted only once without a turnover.

The Bears' answer?

No touchdowns through the first three quarters, 279 total yards when all was said and done, and four turnovers, including three interceptions from quarterback Jay Cutler (26-of-37, 251 yards, 1 TD).

With Chicago playing from behind for most of the day, running back Matt Forte' (6 carries, 24 yards, four receptions) didn't get much of a chance to show what he could do.

But more than the awful numbers, Sunday's loss brought about the striking reality that the Bears (3-3) might not be good enough to contend for the playoff berth they seemed to be on target for during a surprising 3-1 start.

"As a head football coach I did not have our football team ready to go," Smith said on Monday. "It was definitely not one of my better coaching days, our best coaching days, and the players didn't play the way that they need to. We all have looked in the mirror. We were able to look at the video earlier today to put it behind us. We will learn from that video and get ready for the Browns this week.

"You learn something every time you go out and play," Smith continued. "As far as firing us up, that should. When you play like that, you want to get back out on the football field and redeem yourself as soon as you possibly can. Luckily for us, we have another game coming up quickly, so that part is positive."



LIONS: After a one-week hiatus that followed a listless 26-0 loss to the Packers in Week 6, the Lions are back. Whether they're back and better than ever remains to be seen.

Detroit will have a chance to end its newest losing streak at three games on Sunday, when the 0-7 St. Louis Rams visit Ford Field. The Rams, who have scored just 57 points through the first seven weeks, are one of the few teams that the Lions can look down on in NFL power polls, but it stands to reason that St. Louis is viewing Detroit as its first potential victim, just as the Lions see the Rams as their second.

"We don't want to be 1-6," Lions linebacker Larry Foote told the Detroit Free Press. "I don't care who we're playing. We've got to win. The easier part of our schedule is coming up, no doubt about it. But we've still got to go out there and execute, and we've still got to go out and win."

The need for a win is all the more pressing for Jim Schwartz's team given the fact that it is the team's only home game in a span of 42 days. The Lions will embark on a difficult two-game road trip after the St. Louis contest that includes trips to Seattle (Nov. 8) and Minnesota (Nov. 15), before returning home to face Cleveland on Nov. 22nd.

Whether quarterback Matthew Stafford returns during that stretch remains to be seen. Stafford has not seen the field nor returned to practice since suffering a kneecap subluxation against the Steelers on Oct. 11th, and signs point toward him missing the Rams game.

Daunte Culpepper, who exited the Green Bay game with a hamstring injury, appears likely to start against St. Louis. The status of wideout Calvin Johnson (knee), who missed the Packers contest, has yet to be determined.



PACKERS: For the Green Bay Packers, it won't be all about beating Brett Favre on Sunday at Lambeau Field.

Green Bay always wants to take down its hated NFC North rival the Vikings, of course, and will be trying to avoid its first home-and-home sweep at the hands of Minnesota since 2005, but the notion of revenge is going to be somewhere down the priority list for Mike McCarthy's squad.

The cold, hard, less dramatic facts say that the Packers, at 4-2, need to beat the Vikings to keep them on a course that leads to the 2009 playoffs, and a win would also put a division title back on the radar of possibilities for Green Bay.

A loss would lend credence to the whispered perception that McCarthy and company are not quite a playoff-quality team, and that their 4-2 mark has been built on the backs of wins over also-rans.

Indeed, the Pack's 31-3 stomping of the woeful Cleveland Browns on Sunday gives the team four wins against opponents that are a combined 5-28 on the year. The losses have come against the division-leading Bengals and Vikings.

Not that Green Bay is going to apologize for any of those decisive wins against lesser lights. In fact, McCarthy feels that those victories are going to help them heading into Sunday.

"Our confidence is high, and it damn well should be," said McCarthy on Monday. "We're growing as a football team. We're coming forward with the targets we're trying to hit. I think...from a preparation standpoint, it's looking the way you want it to look week-in and week-out.

"We're an improved football team and we've improved the last two weeks. That's really what my focus is on. We're 4-2. We won two games that we felt we were the better team than our opponent. That's what you are supposed to do, but more importantly, you have to improve. Confidence is a big part of this business and our confidence has definitely grown."





Copyright 2009 The Sports Network
All rights reserved

 Email To Friend