Pre-game warmups at the Green Bay Packers vs. Philadelphia Eagles game,
9/9/07 at Lambeau field. Brett Favre taking the field for practice. Photo by silwanae.

Editor's Note: Welcome to Monitor of the Midway, a member of the
Windy Citizen blog network that will focus on the Chicago Bears, their
fans and season, edited by Jeremy Shermak. Here's his first post.  Enjoy! -Brad

As a card-carrying, die-hard Bears fan, I must say that the Green Bay Packers are about as tolerable as a parking ticket or generic-brand Q-Tips. The mere sighting of green and yellow mud flaps or any foam cheese hat is enough to make me cringe.

But if there is anything I have learned from my long hatred of our north woods rivals, it is that respect for one's enemy can co-exist with hatred of one's enemy. No one has personified this theory more than Brett Favre.

Through 2007, Favre is 22-9 versus the Beloved Bears. This is certainly no reason to like him, but the way he has carried himself throughout his career by playing through injury and personal adversity is, at the very least, admirable.

Recently, Favre has been the subject of great scrutiny after retiring and then unretiring and retiring and then unretiring and...ah, I lost count. His indecision has caused turmoil within the Packers organization and sent rumor mills into overdrive as to his 2008 whereabouts.

As a Bears fan, let me be the first to say: PLEASE COME BACK TO THE PACK.

"What? With that 22-9 record? Why would you want him back?"

Despite reaching the NFC Championship Game last year, Favre's play has suggested a downward trend. I can immediately hear from up over the border some heavy mouth-breathing by Packers fans, saying "well, where were the Bears in the playoffs last year?" or "you'd love to have him as the Bears quarterback."

First, the Bears' poor 2007 season was not a direct result of their play against the Pack. They played one of their better games of the season on October 7 in a 27-20 Sunday night squeaker, before smashing the Pack 35-7 on the Lakefront in December.

Secondly, Brett Favre will offer nothing more than a weak Band-Aid for the Bears quarterbacking wounds. It's a pipe dream. End of discussion.

For the sake of the Bears, Favre is a great fit for the Packers at that quarterback position. Over the course of his Hall of Fame career, Favre's record against Chicago is sparkling, but that is fading. From 1992 through 2003, Favre was 20-3 against the Bears, including a 10-game winning streak from 1994 through 1998 and an 11-1 record at Soldier Field. This 12-year span saw Favre throw more than twice as many touchdown passes as interceptions versus the Bears as the Packers outscored the Bears by an average of more than 10 points per game. This is pure dominance.

But in 2004, things changed. Favre is just 2-6 versus the Bears during the last four seasons. He has thrown three times as many interceptions as he has touchdowns and his quarterback rating versus the Bears has fallen from 93.4 during the previous 12 years to 68.2 from 2004 through 2007.

Beyond the numbers, each day that Favre tosses in the bed of indecision is another dagger in the stability of the Packers franchise. He is holding his replacement, Aaron Rodgers, in a constant state of limbo in a season that would have been an adjustment period even without the Favre distraction. For a bitter rival and a team we play twice each season, the turmoil is nothing but beneficial.

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Jeremy Shermak
Jeremy Shermak has been a Chicago sports fan since Harry announced for the Sox, Wrigley bleacher tickets were $5 bucks, Soldier Field had Astroturf, the Bulls wore short-shorts, and people really care More