Green Bay

Our long national NFL soap opera has begun.The question of whether John Elway will return to help the Denver Broncos' bid for a three-peat will be debated until he finally makes an announcement.The best guess is that he won't be able to resist the lure of trying to become the first quarterback to win three straight Super Bowls.If history is any judge, though, the odds are stacked against the Broncos regardless of whether Elway returns.Winning three straight NFL titles is one of the toughest feats in sports.

EastWhen Donovan McNabb of the Eagles duels Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts today, Philadelphia coach Andy Reid hopes the receivers do a better job than they did last week against the Washington Redskins, when they dropped six of his throws. McNabb has a rocket arm and the receivers have to adjust, although it would help if McNabb took something off the ball at times. "The same thing happened when I was in Green Bay with Brett Favre," Reid said. "He throws a ball hard. But they have to catch it."

Antonio Freeman will understand if Mike Holmgren leaves the Green Bay Packers this month for the chance to reign over his own organization.That's because Freeman, the Packers' All-Pro wide receiver, says he understands the motivation behind Holmgren's bid for autonomous control as coach and general manager.Business. Strictly business."At our team meeting [Monday], he said, `The only way I'll leave is if I'm granted more power to run my own ship,' " Freeman said. "Which of course means [being]

DENVER -- On a weekend when the divisional playoffs followed form and history, the NFL's trend of the '90s became crystal clear.Offense, and not necessarily defense, is what wins championships these days.Don't believe it? Look at the weekend results:Minnesota 41, Arizona 21: The Vikings unleashed their multi-dimensional offense on the overmatched Cardinals and afterward, coach Dennis Green said his team hasn't played its best game yet.Denver 38, Miami 3: The Broncos changed blocking schemes and formations, and the league's No. 3-ranked offense obliterated the league's No. 3 defense.

Super Bowl MVPs1967: Bart Starr, QB, Green Bay1968: Bart Starr, QB, Green Bay1969: Joe Namath, QB, N.Y. Jets1970: Len Dawson, QB, Kansas City1971: Chuck Howley, LB, Dallas1972: Roger Staubach, QB, Dallas1973: Jake Scott, S, Miami1974: Larry Csonka, RB, Miami1975: Franco Harris, RB, Pittsburgh1976: Lynn Swann, WR, Pittsburgh1977: Fred Biletnikoff, WR, Oakland1978: Randy White, DT and Harvey Martin, DE, Dallas1979: Terry Bradshaw, QB, Pittsburgh1980: Terry...

Terrell Owens stood before his San Francisco 49ers teammates yesterday just as day turned to night and told them he was sorry.Dropped passes, including one in the end zone and one that could have put the game away. A fumble, which led to the Green Bay Packers' first touchdown. These were the scars from a game Owens called his worst ever."I let the team down," Owens said. "I was horrible."But as he apologized, most of 66,506 fans remained in the stands at 3Com Park, celebrating the 49ers' 30-27 victory over the Packers in an NFC wild-card game.

This is the state of defense in the NFL after three weeks in the attack mode: It's a surprise when blitzes aren't the focal point of the defensive package.Everybody's blitzing, especially against the league's young and/or feckless quarterbacks. The Cleveland Browns' Tim Couch already has seen a wide array of blitzes. Same for Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles, Trent Dilfer of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and even Randall Cunningham of the Minnesota Vikings.Cunningham directed the highest-scoring offense in league history last season, averaging almost 35 points a game.

"When Pride Still Mattered," by David Maraniss. Simon & Schuster. 544 pages. $26.The son of a successful wholesale meat market owner and the grandson of Sheepshead Bay's best known barber, Vince Lombardi grew up in an environment where average performance -- whether in school, work or sports -- was simply unacceptable.David Maraniss' biography of the inspirational coach who led the Green Bay Packers of the 1960s to five NFL championships in nine years and victories in the first two Super Bowls skillfully chronicles the forces that transformed a boy from Brooklyn into a football legend.

When Brett Favre's thumb is ailing, the Green Bay Packers get sick.The Packers struggled to a 4-5 start when Favre was hampered by a sore thumb he first injured in an exhibition game.The Packers, of course, have other problems. They miss former coach Mike Holmgren, and retired defensive lineman Reggie White, and Antonio Freeman (Poly) hasn't been the same receiver since he signed a $42 million contract.But Favre's erratic play because of the thumb was the major reason the Packers got off to such a poor start.

ROCKVILLE -- Armed with chocolate crabs, a talking robot and swollen pride, county leaders are in Philadelphia to answer a simple question: What's so great about Greater Montgomery?The right answers, and they bring home the title All-America City, an annual honor bestowed on 10 communities by the National Civic League.The wrong answers and they come home Sunday as they did last summer -- empty-handed.For a half-century, the civic league has spotlighted the best examples of how we live -- from picturesque townships where Dudley Do-Right might patrol to Rust Belt cities that have refused to succumb to urban ills.

Robbie Gould kicked a 38-yard field goal with 11:28 left in overtime and the host Chicago Bears overcame frigid conditions and the Green Bay Packers for a 20-17 victory last night to stay in the running for the playoffs. Chicago's Alex Brown blocked Mason Crosby's 38-yard field-goal try with 18 seconds left to preserve a 17-17 tie and send the game into overtime. The temperature at Soldier Field was announced at 2 degrees, making it the coldest home game in Bears history since records started being kept in 1963.

Packers@Bears 8:30 p.m. [ESPN] Chicago is running after Minnesota for the NFC North lead. Green Bay is running away from the television whenever New York Jets highlights come on. When these two rivals get together, you can throw out the records. The Packers certainly would like to throw out theirs.

Chop Tang scored 16 points and had nine rebounds to lead Wisconsin-Green Bay past Morgan State, 71-54, yesterday in the Glenn Wilkes Classic in Daytona Beach, Fla. Tang converted all six of his free throws and Green Bay made 28-for-30 from the stripe. Green Bay (2-2) also got 15 points and seven rebounds from Randy Berry and 15 points from Mike Schachtner, who connected on seven of eight free throws. Morgan State (2-4) was led by Marquise Kately, who had 14 points, and Reggie Holmes, who scored 11 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

In 1994, Kurt Warner was a warm body on the Green Bay Packers' training camp roster, buried behind quarterbacks Brett Favre, Mark Brunell and Ty Detmer on the depth chart. Fourteen years later, Warner and Favre face off in the New Jersey Meadowlands for what likely will be the final time when the Arizona Cardinals meet the New York Jets. Cut by the Packers, Warner went on to greatness with the St. Louis Rams, while Favre established NFL records for career touchdowns, interceptions and consecutive games played for Green Bay. They combined to make four Super Bowl appearances and win four Most Valuable Player awards and have since moved on to play for the Cardinals and Jets in the twilight of their careers.

Minnesota Vikings @ Green Bay Packers Time: : 7 TV: : ESPN The buzz: : The schedule makers gave fans several juicy intradivision games in Week 1, but they could not have imagined the extra intrigue as a result of the Brett Favre story. The matchup between the Vikings and the Packers in Green Bay did not need Favre or tampering accusations to be a marquee game. Minnesota is a popular pick to win the NFC North crown from archrival Green Bay, and the teams are dealing with many of the same issues.

Trading all-time great Brett Favre to the New York Jets might have Green Bay management on trial for the rest of this season as the Packers rely on untested Aaron Rodgers to reprise last year's playoff run, but Favre is hardly in the most comfortable position, either. Among the teams with which Favre's name had been associated - namely, the Minnesota Vikings, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Jets - New York was the least-comfortable fit on a couple of levels. The Vikings and Buccaneers had coaches with whom Favre had some association, either directly or indirectly, and ran at least a variation of the West Coast offense.

Unretired quarterback Brett Favre left Green Bay yesterday, and it appears to be for good. The Packers said last night they traded the three-time NFL Most Valuable Player to the New York Jets. The Jets would obtain Favre, 38, for a draft pick that could rise in value depending on how the Jets perform in the 2008 season, FOXSports.com reported. ESPN.com confirmed those details. The Jets declined to comment on the report. According to FOXSports.com, Favre spoke with Jets coach Eric Mangini and others in the New York organization for the first time late Tuesday as they tried to convince Favre he would be a good fit in New York.

GREEN BAY, Wis. - There was no parade, no motorcade, and no photo opportunity - hardly the way you would expect Brett Favre to return to the Green Bay Packers after spending most of the past month as the NFL's longest-running daytime drama. None of the fans and media members staking out several entrances to Lambeau Field saw him enter the stadium. And while a team security official told a few hundred fans gathered near the entrance to the players' parking lot that Favre was already in the building shortly after he was expected to report at 1 p.m., Packers officials weren't immediately available to confirm that Favre was present.

One of the terrifically dramatic subplots of the NFL draft is the now-famous "Green Room." That's where the NFL invites the five or six college players most likely to be taken high in the first round to gather and wait for their names to be called so each can stride to the podium, smile for TV and hold his new team's jersey across his chest. There's lots of genuine jubilation as the players selected earliest in the draft can virtually start counting the cash, and sometimes there's a heartwarming moment - Maryland tight end Vernon Davis, for instance, bursting into joyful tears when the San Francisco 49ers made him the No. 6 overall pick two years ago. But more recently, the Green Room has also been a torture chamber for some high-profile players who unexpectedly waited and waited, hour after hour, for their turn, like the short, pudgy kid in a schoolyard game of pickup football.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy reportedly has agreed to a contract extension that will double his current salary to $4 million a year. His New York Giants counterpart, Tom Coughlin, is virtually a lock to get his reward of a contract extension soon. The two men face off this afternoon for a berth in the Super Bowl. John Harbaugh, settling into his new digs in Owings Mills today, surely would smile at all of the above. Especially about McCarthy, because there aren't many better examples for the Ravens' new coach to draw inspiration, and counterattacks for him to offer to those who doubt his credentials.