Not one for Favre to go out on

It's time for the annual question: "Was this Brett Favre's last appearance against the Bears?"

The 38-year-old war horse started and played in his 32nd straight Bears-Packers game and came out on the wrong end of a 35-7 loss Sunday at Soldier Field.

For the last four or five years, speculation ran rampant that the legendary quarterback was going to hang it up.

Remember when Packers receiver Donald Driver said, "He's a real close friend of mine, and we've been talking back and forth, and I think he's pretty much going to hang 'em up?"

That was after the 2004 season.

Last season, Favre left Soldier Field on New Year's Eve in tears after the Pack's final game, a 26-7 victory. That caused plenty of shoddy speculation that he was retiring for sure.

But, for crying out loud, he was back in 2007, leading the Packers into the playoffs. There's no such talk this time around.

"A lot has happened since that game," Favre said of the emotional New Year's Eve contest. "Our team has played much better and has been more successful. It started around this time last year.

For the sake of argument, if it was Favre's last game he finished 22-10 against the Bears with 7,660 yards and 53 touchdowns.

"We haven't talked a lot about my future. In fact, more than anything people have said, 'I don't know why you would retire,' " Favre said.

"But that seems a long time ago. Obviously the feeling after that game is a little bit different than the feeling after this game, although where we're going is much different today.

"I don't know if one is any better than the other. I want to go to the playoffs. But it sure feels terrible to have success like we've had and to play like that today."

While Favre had his share of tremendous games against the Bears, Sunday's arguably could have been his worst. He finished 17 of 32 or 153 yards with no touchdowns, a pair of interceptions and a sack. His quarterback rating was a meek 40.2.

Of his first 10 passes of the day, Favre misfired on 7 and threw a third-quarter interception on another. At that time, he had more pass attempts (10) than yards (9). He also had to chase down a snap that went over his head in the first quarter.

By the time Favre went out for his team's seventh drive, he was facing a 21-7 deficit. This time, however, the master of come-from-behind victories had no answer.

He said the windy conditions (including a wind-chill factor of minus-18 degrees) were the worst he has played in, but he didn't make excuses.

"It was cold -- cold as (heck)," Favre said. "I'm not lying to you; I haven't thawed out yet. I played in colder weather in actual temperature. In the last 16 years in Green Bay, I learned that wind means everything. It could be zero degrees and if it's not windy at all, it's a lot easier to manage.

"But 45 mph winds? It was extremely cold and cutting. It made throwing difficult.

"But no excuses. They handled it better than we did."