Dare Favre to beat you ... and he will
MINNEAPOLIS - One of these days, somebody will think outside of the (eight men in a) box and devise a different way to try to stop the Minnesota Vikings.
The Bears tried the same strategy as the Vikings' first eight opponents, yet found a way to fail more spectacularly than the rest.
As the Vikings rolled to a 36-10 victory before the usual manic sellout at Mall of America, they stacked up 537 total yards for the franchise's highest total in five years.
But, hey, the Bears held all-pro running back Adrian Peterson to just 85 yards and a late touchdown on 25 carries!
"You always want to stop the run," said Bears defensive end Alex Brown. "For the most part, I don't think they ran the ball that well. We said we'll take our chances and see if Brett Favre can beat us. And he did."
Again and again and again. Appearing in his 282nd consecutive game - tying the NFL record for a position player set by ex-Vikings defensive end Jim Marshall - Favre threw for 392 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions.
That represented his best yardage output since he rolled up 399 yards for Green Bay against Oakland on Dec. 23, 2003 - otherwise known as the game he devoted to his father, Irv, who died in a car crash the day before.
But on this day, Favre shed no tears - though it must have been tempting to be almost too happy about the way the Bears defended the Vikings.
"I don't know if they gave up anything," Favre said. "It really came down to us executing, as it always does."
The Bears tried to force the Vikings to throw by bringing safety Al Afalava into the box alongside the linebackers.
When Favre, armed with a pass/run option on most plays, saw such alignments at the line, he didn't need to think too hard to make his choice.
"Our game plan is we always want to be efficient running the ball, but not pound our heads running into a brick wall," said Vikings left guard Steve Hutchinson. "If they're going to continue to bring an eighth and ninth man into the box, depending on our formations and personnel, we're going to take advantage of the 1-on-1 on the outside."
The schemes forced cornerbacks Charles Tillman and Zack Bowman to play more man-to-man than usual. While several deep passes failed against their decent coverage, Favre also hit wideouts Sidney Rice and Bernard Berrian 12 times for 163 yards.
When the Bears went with their Tampa-2, Favre focused on slot receiver Percy Harvin (6 catches, 101 yards, 1 TD) and tight end Visanthe Shiancoe (5 catches, 51 yards, 1 TD).
Favre, meanwhile, was sacked a grand total of one time on his 49 dropbacks.
"I tried my hardest," said Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris. "And those guys are good. They play well up front and they got a daddy in the backfield."
Daddy, of course, is the 40-year-old Favre.
"I felt like a little kid out there with a daddy just beating us up," Harris said.
Might an opponent someday focus on stopping Daddy, the NFL's highest-ranked passer, instead of Peterson?
"I don't know," Peterson said with a laugh. "Never seen it yet. But still, we've been able to put up a lot of points. We're winning. I'm enjoying that. I don't know. Maybe it'll switch up."
Maybe the Bears set the trend when Minnesota visits Soldier Field on Dec. 28?