GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Brett Favre limped to the podium after the game, reviewed yet another weird Green Bay Packers-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game and expressed one important statement.

"Good riddance, Tampa Bay," Favre said following a 21-20 victory. "I'm not going to miss you much."

Realignment has the Bucs moving to a newly created NFC South, ending Favre's seven-game rivalry with Warren Sapp. "I've come to the realization that every time we play those guys, it's one of those games," Favre said. Based on what was visible to those watching this strange game on a sunny, warm November day at Lambeau Field, the series between these teams as NFC Central rivals is over because don't expect the two to meet in the playoffs.

	Brad Johnson was sacked seven times in Tampa Bay's 21-20 loss to Green Bay.

This is not to say that the Bucs aren't going to make a wild-card run. That's still possible. Knowing the Bucs, it's likely with five home games set for the second half of the season. The Bucs are 3-4 for the fourth consecutive season and have made the playoffs the past two years, but they trail the Bears by three games and the Packers by two. What was visible on this perfectly clear, 52-degree day was the Bucs of 2001 are heading in the same direction as regional realignment -- they are heading south.

The Bucs have allowed the Packers and the Bears to take the NFC Central away from them even though the Packers tried to hand it back with three turnovers and a late first-half illegal chop block that killed a field-goal opportunity. These franchises are heading in different directions. The Bucs have fallen so far behind in the race that they might have to visit Green Bay or Chicago in the playoffs in January, but that won't work.

They are 0-23 in games played in 40 degrees or less. Indian summer ended Sunday in Lambeau for the Bucs.

The Packers' ascent can be credited to the mind of defensive coordinator Ed Donatell and the legs of halfback Ahman Green. Each is a great find by second-year coach Mike Sherman. Donatell is still getting the feel for a young defense that has speed and explosiveness on the defensive line and heady play in the secondary.

Donatell made dramatic changes from the Packers' 14-10 loss in Tampa a month ago. For approximately 40 percent of the plays on first and second down, Donatell run-blitzed, a strategy he was reluctant to do in Tampa. The Packers limited the Bucs to 18 rushing yards on 12 first-down carries, but more importantly, the Packers put the Bucs in second-and-8 plays or longer 16 times.

"Our early-down defense that we played the last time was different," Packers defensive tackle Santana Dotson said. "Even though we controlled their running game, we ended up with a lot of second-and-6s and third-and-3s, which makes it rough. We did an outstanding job on early run downs. Every times we looked at the call sheet, it was second-and-9 or longer. It puts them in position where a quarterback has to hold the ball a little longer."

In a month, the Packers' defense went from one sack in Tampa to seven sacks in Green Bay against the Bucs. The Pack's improvement in total yards against went from 253 in Tampa to 194 in Green Bay.

Green is the other ascending star. He blistered the Bucs' talented defense with a career-high 169 yards rushing on 24 carries and led the team with six receptions for 49 more yards. Each week, Favre and the offensive line finds more ways to get Green into the open field.

Trailing 17-7 in the third quarter because of the three turnovers that handed the Bucs 17 points, Green exploited what he called the perfectly executed play, which was called 92 blast. On this play, Favre fiddles with the snap count and tried to determine if safety John Lynch is coming in to stop the run. For this play, Lynch was on the weakside, so Favre called his 92 blast to the right.

Favre's pre-snap antics got Lynch to take two steps in. Favre knew then that Lynch would have a hard time getting a good angle if Green could get past the first line of defense.

"Everyone had their blocks, so all William Henderson has to do is take out the safety (Dexter Jackson)," Green said. "If all that happens, all I have to do is worry about outrunning the other safety and the corners."

Green streaked down the right side of the field for the touchdown, and suddenly, the Packers had recovered from their three blunders and trailed just 17-14. The momentum was with them.

Let's shift gears and explain why the Bucs are heading south. Where's the pass-rush? Jackson, the free safety, had the Bucs' only sack. In seven games, they've had 13 sacks. In two games against the Packers, they've had two. Worse, there weren't many pressures. Despite playing with a bad elbow, defensive end Marcus Jones was the only defensive lineman to get to Favre at least three times. Combined, though, Jones, Sapp and Simeon Rice combined for zero tackles -- that's right, zero -- and five assists.

Knowing that Tony Dungy's scheme is predicated on the front four applying the pressure and the secondary staying in two-deep coverage, that's not a good sign. But this slump has been continuing for most of this season. Sapp has one sack. Rice, who is trying to become a better run-stopper, has only one.

But the worst sign for the Bucs is the struggles of Brad Johnson. He's either not being allowed or isn't fitting in as a $28 million playoff quarterback. The Steelers sacked him 10 times and got 20 hits on him three weeks ago. The Packers sacked him seven times Sunday and managed only 133 net yards passing. Part of the problem is an offensive line that is whiffing on blocks, but almost half of the sacks can be attributed to Johnson.

"He's holding the ball too long," Packers safety Darren Sharper said. "I've been seeing him do that in other games. It seems like he's tending not to want to go down the field too much with his passes. I don't know if it's because of the offense, but he's dinking and dunking. If we take away the short game, he's not willing to go downfield. He's waiting for guys to get open underneath, and while he's waiting, he gets sacked."

The sacks don't completely tell the story either. On the times Johnson isn't getting sacked, he gets creamed by defenders as he releases the ball. Think about it. He's trying three- and five-step drops and throwing short, yet he's been sacked 27 times in 242 throws. Twice, Keyshawn Johnson made acrobatic catches on high throws that should have been incompletions.

"Once, he tried to go downfield to Keyshawn, but he first looked short. And by the time he got the ball deep on a post pass, Keyshawn was covered in the back of the end zone," Sharper said. "It was too late."

Even as the Bucs tried to kill the clock in the fourth quarter with the lead, they were caught short. The Packers' run blitz stopped first-down yardage, so the Bucs had to punt. Mark Royals, almost replaced for unsatisfactory punting a couple of weeks ago, got off a short kick that Allen Rossum returned for the game-winning, 55-yard punt return with 3:03 left.

"It was an ugly win," Favre confessed. "Of course, it was a hell of a lot better than an ugly loss."

The Bucs were dealing with the ugly loss concept.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.