Urlacher doesn't expect Bears can fool Favre

Throughout his 20-year NFL career, Brett Favre has dominated the Bears, and he's been victimized by them.

From 1994 through 2003, Favre led the Packers to an 18-2 record against the Bears, which included a 10-game winning streak from 1994-98.

Fortunately for the Bears, Brian Urlacher, who was drafted in 2000, is the only member of the current team who was around for much of that.

More recently, the Bears have turned the tables, whipping Favre-led Packers teams six of eight times from 2004-07, and intercepting the future Hall of Famer 15 times while allowing just 5 TD passes.

Last year, in his first season with the Vikings, Favre looked as good as ever against the Bears, throwing for 5 TDs, no interceptions and 713 passing yards in two games.

No one knows what Sunday's meeting will bring, but the Bears know whatever they bring against Favre, it won't be a surprise to the 41-year-old.

“He knows what we're doing every play,” said Urlacher, who will play against Favre for the 16th time on Sunday. “We're not going to fool him very much. He knows where to go with the football, and he's got a good running game behind him now.”

Favre's got more than a “good” running game behind him with NFC rushing leader Adrian Peterson having already gained 857 yards. And Favre proved last week that he is still dangerous throwing the ball, piling up a career-high 446 passing yards in a comeback victory over the Arizona Cardinals. But he also has thrown an NFL-leading 13 interceptions.

“He still gives us opportunities,” Urlacher said. “He takes chances, which you like as a defensive player. Sometimes he makes those chances pay off for them. He knows our defense, and he's done well against our defense in the past, so we've just got to be ready to play.”

Bears cornerback Tim Jennings, whose first interception of the season and 39-yard return set up the winning touchdown against the Buffalo Bills last week, knows facing Favre can be as rewarding as it is challenging.

“He's able to buy time in the pocket and create some things back there,” Jennings said. “So we have to get some rush up front and (force) him to make some errant throws, and we have to be able to capitalize off them.”

Capitalizing on those opportunities is something the Bears' offense had failed miserably at until last week.

Heading into the Bills' game the Bears had forced 16 turnovers, but the offense failed to reach the end zone each time. Finally they broke through in Canada, scoring the game-winning TD after Jennings' pick and their second TD after cornerback Charles Tillman forced and recovered a fumble in the third quarter.

A similar script could make things a lot easier for a 5-3 Bears team that holds a 2-game lead over the soap-opera-worthy Vikings, a team in chaos with some players reportedly wavering in their support of head coach Brad Childress, a native of Aurora. Nevertheless the Vikings are a 1-point favorite over the Bears at Soldier Field.

Only four teams have surrendered the ball more times than the Vikings, who have given it up 19 times, same as the Bears.

“They've had some turnovers,” Urlacher said. “And we feel like we can take the ball away from anybody. That's our goal. If we take the ball away, we've got a good chance to win.”

The Bears are second in the NFL with 20 takeaways, and they have taken the ball away an NFL-best 220 times since Lovie Smith became head coach in 2004, including 18 times from Favre.

• Follow Bob LeGere's Bears reports via Twitter@BobLeGere. Check out his blog, Bear Essentials, at DailyHerald.com.