Lots of stupidity in this one

GREEN BAY -- For some reason, the NFL's Sunday night games are all about hyping Futbol Americano.

There's nothing wrong with expanding the brand and courting the Spanish-speaking crowd -- except when epic rivals like the Bears and Packers get lost in translation.

Instead of bringing their Futbol Americano to Lambeau Field on Sunday night, the Bears trotted out their own special brand of Futbol Amargo.

For those who don't habla Espanol, amargo means "bitter, unpleasant, sour."

And the Packers? They were so disgusted by Brett Favre's first-half peformance, when he only went 19 of 20 on non-spike attempts for 243 yards and a score, they switched to Futbol Estupido after halftime.

Favre threw just twice in the third quarter to help the Bears turn a 17-7 deficit into a 20-20 tie less than a minute into the fourth quarter.

Amargo and Estupido then battled in absurd fashion to the finish -- in a manner totally unbefitting the 174th edition of the NFL's longest rivalry.

On one play, Green Bay linebacker Nick Barnett flagrantly facemasked Garrett Wolfe to turn a punting situation into a first down at the Packers' 40.

The next play, Brian Griese stared at his receiver, lobbed a pass off his back foot and the Packers picked it off.

And so it went until 2:05 remained, when Futbol Amargo somehow trumped Futbol Estupido on Griese's 34-yard play-action pass to Desmond Clark that gave the Bears a 27-20 triumph.

That hardly seemed possible after the Bears' first-half showing.

You want bitter?

Try the offense that didn't earn its initial first down until the 13:08 mark of the second quarter.

In a game where the Bears needed to control the ball to keep it out of Favre's hands, the first-half stats looked like this:

Green Bay: 341 total yards and 16:52 of possession time.

Chicago: 122 total yards and 13:08 with the ball.

You want unpleasant?

Try the cornerback play of Danieal Manning, who had to play again for the injured Nathan Vasher.

He waited for 30 minutes before laying his first hand on Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, Ruvell Martin or any of the other Green Bay receivers who fought to line up across from him.

Perhaps this is a better way to explain how overmatched Manning happened to be:

You know how Favre sprints and points and exults and practically spontaneously combusts whenever he throws a touchdown pass?

When Jennings torched Manning for a 41-yard touchdown on a fly pattern in the second quarter, Favre looked so bored by the ease of his 423rd career TD pass that he half-heartedly raised his left index finger before lazily lifting both fists toward the sky.

You want sour?

Well, sour escaped town without injury when the Bears somehow emerged with the win.

It's bad enough that the Bears are 2-3 when they're supposed to be Super Bowl-bound -- and the Packers remain 2 games ahead in the NFC North.

But if the Bears were 1-4 and the Packers were sitting at 5-0 for the first time since 1965?

That would have been as nasty a pairing as the guy in the Favre jersey and the girl in the Urlacher jersey who held hands while negotiating the serious pregame tailgating scene.

Instead, this turned out to be the first installment of a love affair with rookie tight end Greg Olsen.

Griese threw in Olsen's direction seven times in the final three quarters, including a 19-yard alley-oop touchdown late in the third quarter.

And, of course, there was the game-winning throw to Clark and Brendan McGowan's end-zone interception with one second left.

Suddenly, Futbol seemed very, very good to the Bears.