Sunday, Oct. 1 4:15pm ET
Bears hold off Pack for first win
 
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GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Ryan Longwell never even got the chance to make up for last year's last-second stunner.

Phillip Daniels
Chicago's Phillip Daniels celebrates his knockdown of Brett Favre with 11 seconds left.

Phillip Daniels knocked down Brett Favre as he was releasing a fourth-down pass at midfield with 11 seconds left, forcing an incompletion that preserved Chicago's 27-24 victory over Green Bay on Sunday.

This one was just as big of a surprise as last year's 14-13 victory when Chicago's Bryan Robinson blocked Longwell's 28-yard field-goal attempt as time expired.

The Bears (1-4) had dropped their first four games and came in groping and griping. The Packers (2-3) had begun to believe in themselves after back-to-back dominating defensive performances.

But the Packers fell behind 17-0 on their way to a fifth loss in their last eight games at formerly unfriendly Lambeau Field.

"This was a long time coming," Bears coach Dick Jauron said. "This was a great win for us. Winning at Lambeau Field made it even better."

Just before Daniels snuffed Green Bay's last chance, rookie tight end Bubba Franks dropped a high but catchable pass at the 30 on third down that would have put the Packers in position for a game-tying field goal.

"I think all receivers should catch balls that are thrown to them," Packers coach Mike Sherman snapped.

But the defeat wasn't Franks' fault, Favre said.

"The last thing Bubba wanted to do was drop that ball," Favre said. "It's easy for us as players and coaches to say, `Hey, had he caught that ...' That's the easy way out. It shouldn't have come down to that."

Favre was 31-for-48 for 333 yards.

Marcus Robinson caught TD passes of 58 and 68 yards from Cade McNown, who eluded pass-rushers all afternoon.

After Bill Schroeder's second 17-yard TD catch pulled Green Bay to 27-24 with 1:58 left, Sherman showed little confidence in a defense that was shredded by McNown and elected for an onside kick even though he had all three timeouts left.

TOM DONAHOE'S BREAKDOWN
The Bears seem to play their best football in Lambeau Field.

The key in this game was the turnover situation. The Bears had no turnovers, but the Packers had three.

This was a great statistical game for Brett Favre, but the Packers didn't get enough ball control on offense. They had just 12 rushing attempts, which generally is not enough to win.

Give a lot of credit to the Bears and their coaching staff. They went into Green Bay without a win against a Packers team that had played pretty good football the last two weeks, especially on defense. But the Bears were able to put up good numbers in this game, jumping out to a big lead (17-3 at halftime).

QB Cade McNown had a strong game for the Bears. Last week, he had five turnovers, but this time, he played flawlessly.

Tom Donahoe, ESPN.com's NFL analyst, was formerly the Steelers' director of football operations.

Bears tight end John Allred recovered it at the Green Bay 41.

When the Bears punted with 1:19 left, they got the ball at their 18.

"I feel like we made the right decision because we still had a chance to win at the end of the game," Sherman said. "I'd do the same thing again."

Favre, playing without running back Dorsey Levens, who aggravated a sprained left ankle midway through the fourth quarter, guided Green Bay to the Bears' 44 with 16 seconds left.

On third-and-6, Franks was wide open but Favre's pass was high and Franks -- starting in place of Tyrone Davis (shoulder) -- couldn't hold on.

The pocket collapsed on Favre on the next snap, and Daniels hit Favre, whose pass went straight to the grass.

Paul Edinger's 47-yard field goal with 3:15 left barely cleared the cross bar but gave the Bears a 10-point lead after Green Bay scored consecutive touchdowns to pull to 24-17.

The Bears scored the first 17 points and built a 17-3 halftime lead thanks to three turnovers by the injury-riddled Packers.

Chicago went ahead 24-3 in the third quarter when Robinson took a pass in the left flat 2 yards behind the line of scrimmage and darted 58 yards for the blitz-beating score.

The TD capped a 99-yard drive in which NcNown slipped LeRoy Butler in the end zone on second-and-10 from the 1 and scrambled 17 yards.

"We got out of a bad situation," McNown said.

McNown also eluded pressure on his other TD pass to Robinson, who beat Butler and Tyrone Williams for a jump ball at the Green Bay 20 and pranced into the end zone for a 68-yard score and a 17-0 Chicago lead.

"It was like he had a four-leaf clover in his pocket," linebacker Nate Wayne said of McNown.

Favre threw TD passes of 14 yards to Antonio Freeman and 17 yards to Schroeder in the fourth quarter to make a game of it.

The Packers entered the game with six starters hurt and several backups banged up and lost another player on the kickoff. Special teamer Gary Berry was taken for precautionary X-rays after experiencing tingling in his arms and legs.

McNown scored on a 1-yard run after Tony Parrish picked off Favre's pass on the game's first snap and returned it 36 yards to the Green Bay 17.

Edinger's 19-yard field goal that made it 10-0 was set up by Eddie Kennison's 52-yard rumble after he fumbled a reverse but scooped up the ball without breaking stride and ran to the 3.

The Packers' only first-half points came on Ryan Longwell's 42-yard field goal after Henderson dropped a pass in the end zone.

"I take full responsibility for this loss," said Henderson, who also fumbled away a reception at midfield in the first quarter.

Game notes
The Packers rushed for just 44 yards. ... The Bears last won consecutive games at Lambeau Field in 1991-92. ... Robinson's only catches were his TD receptions. ... Favre moved into 12th place on the career NFL list with 242 career touchdowns. He had his 27th 300-yard game.
 


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Green Bay Clubhouse