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It may not have been pretty, but then again, neither are the Viqueens....

Hey, look who's talking trash. Guess a guy can feel a little frisky when the Packers come out of the Metrodome with a win against those jerks in the Purple...

Once again another game full of cheap shots and unsportsmanlike conduct from the hosts of Sunday's contest in Minnesota. But that's nothing new nor does it surprise anybody. And even after all the whining and crying, the trash talking and the extra shoving, Minnesota couldn't hold up against a Packers team who didn't self-destruct. And to beat them in their own house was frosting on the cake.

As for the game, it was great to watch. There were some tense moments as you sat wondering where the Packers were going to throw this one away and it came right down to the last ditch effort of that on-side kick Minnesota tried. I could just see those guys recovering it and then march down the field to steal the win.

However, it wasn't to be and instead, after I calmed down and took a look back, I realized it was a good game on a lot of different fronts for Green Bay. It was a combined effort for the Packers as nearly everyone on the team contributed in a big way to get the victory. And almost before I could analyze all the good things the Packers accomplished, I couldn't seem to get clear of the thought of what-might-have-been. What kind of year would Green Bay be having right now if they had managed to win the games they threw away? Easily they could be 7-2, a game behind Chicago in the north Division.

On the other hand, that 7-2 record would still only put us in second place in the division behind the Bears ... exactly where the Packers find themselves now. Sure, they're tied with the Viqueens right now in second, holding the tie-breaker at the moment, and the record is 4-5 isn't as glamorous as 7-2, but in the long run the Packers find themselves in the same position in the standings.

Now don't get me wrong, I understand that a 7-2 record also lines the Packers up for postseason a whole lot better than a weak 4-5 record does, but there's still a long way to go in this season, my friend. And it's difficult to even consider postseason at this point in the year when a team like the Packers are so inconsistent.

Besides, it's tough to complain about much while you're still savoring the taste of victory against the Viqueens. So go ahead and roll it around with your tongue a while longer. Not many had foreseen this ending going into the Metrodome.

And the win on Sunday was an all out effort for the Packers who played near flawless football for the first time this season. And it couldn't have come at a better time or against a better opponent. Any time you can beat the Minnesota Vikings, a NFC North rival, is great. But doing it in their house is really news worthy. It doesn't happen a lot, at least not for the Packers.

Sunday everything came together. Starting with the fact that Brett Favre had a great outing. He resisted the temptation where he falls into the trap of doing stupid things during the game ... namely turning the ball over. Sunday Favre was near perfect and when it comes to turnovers, he was perfect. No fumbles and no interceptions. Just a lot of good reads and great decisions. Even according to his coach, Favre had a very good game in the Metrodome, a place where good games have come far and few in between for him.

But Sunday, in front of a sell out crowd that found little to cheer about, the Packers, led by their cunning veteran quarterback, took the game by the throat early on and never let go. They kept the Vikings in check through out, which led to the place not being as noisy as usual. That happens when the fans don't have anything to cheer about. And with the growing realization that this time the visiting Packers weren't going to shoot themselves in the foot, the air of confidence slowly escaped the domed confines. And with it, the possibility of beating Green Bay.

What we witnessed Sunday no doubt had Vince smiling from the other side of the Pearly Gates...

This game wasn't plagued with amateurish antics from a panicking quarterback throwing into coverage trying to make things happen. Nor was this game filled with mistakes and miscues of past contests. And while I'm still not sure if I like Coach McCarthy's play calling in certain critical situations, he definitely wasn't calling anything that was too risky down along the goal line. If anything, some might accuse him of being a little too conservative when the running game wasn't working to call repeated attempts by Green to score. I thought perhaps a play action pass of some sort, or perhaps a roll out with Favre looking to scamper in as he had done against Buffalo might have worked. As it turned out, I think it was just lucky for the Packers that having to settle for those two field goals instead of touchdowns didn't cost them the game. However, maybe the Packers were due for some luck on their side when it comes to leaving points on the field. Heaven knows in other situations those points were the difference in winning instead of losing those contests.

And when the highly ranked Minnesota defense proved that their reputation was on the money when it came to the running game, Green Bay didn't panic and turned the game over to the skills of Favre who, in turn, did a great job. I was especially impressed that at the point in the game where the Packers only needed a field goal to salt away the game, Favre didn't try to press a pass into the endzone on a third down and six but rather threw the ball away and let the team settle for the field goal. There have been times in his career where that lethal decision to try and force the pass into tight coverage would have been intercepted and cost Green Bay the game.

And it goes without saying that Favre, knowing that there were some players on the opposing defense who think they can read his very thoughts and know what play he's going to run, stared them in the eye and fooled them all afternoon. Not to mention any names but Darren Sharper, for all his trash talking, was pretty ineffective for the game and never had the chance to do much of anything against Favre and his former team. And by the way, for a guy who loves to trash talk, he was very pedestrian-like yesterday against the Packers as he has been so far his entire year.

As we have seen and come to accept with Brett Favre, when he's good he's very good and when he's bad he can and usually does cost the team the game. Yesterday in the Metrodome, he was very good. Favre posted a passer rating of an even 100. He completed 57.1% of his passing, 24-42 for 347 yards and 2 touchdowns while throwing no picks nor suffering any sacks. He was the cunning and very savvy field general of old. It was his fourth passer rating of 100 or more in the Metrodome. His rating was 105.4 in a 2003 victory, 109.2 in a '04 victory and 121.6 in a '05 victory. After starting out 0-5 in Minnesota, Favre has quarterbacked the Packers to a 5-5 mark in the last decade.

And one big factor contributing to the Packer win was their efficiency on third downs. They converted 9 of 19 including three in their first scoring drive. It is always a huge bonus when a team can convert almost half of their third down opportunities.

And what wasn't discussed much before the game was the Packers' ability to protect quarterback Brett Favre although nothing turned out to be more important in the win. As the young offensive line continues to gel, they get better and better. Even when they had to replace an injured Tauscher the O-line continued to hold up against the Vikings. Again the line gave up zero sacks despite facing excessive crowd noise and a defense that ranked 13th in sack percentage.

And another point of having a solid line in front of him was the fact that Favre had time on a number of occasions where he could stand back there and wait for his receivers to get open down field. It was nearly impossible to think that this was the same line that had played a week earlier in Buffalo. That game saw Favre being pressured most of the time and being sacked twice.

On the other hand, they had a very difficult time creating running lanes for the running backs. Minnesota's rushing defense was all that it had been advertised to be, limiting Ahman Green to just 55 yards on twenty two carries. And that, in turn, added more pressure on Favre but he held up with the added burden. As it turned out, it was another error-free game for the future hall of famer.

And with his pin point accuracy and good decisions, Favre found his favorite target numerous times, and on an afternoon where almost everyone on offense got in on the act, Donald Driver had 6 catches for a career high 191 yards and a touchdown. That included what I consider to be the big, back breaking play of the game. It came just before half time with the Packers trailing 14-10. Favre caught Driver cutting a quick slant on their 27 yard line and Driver ran 55 yards to pay dirt that not only gave the Packers the lead, 17-14, but the momentum of the game, neither of which they relinquished.

As I said, the win was a well rounded affair. Fullback William Henderson had six catches for 26 yards and halfback Noah Herron caught a 5-yard touchdown pass. Sunday marked the fourth time in five games in the Metrodome that Donald Driver has topped the 100-yard receiving mark and scored a touchdown. In those five games - three of them victories - he has caught 30 passes for 614 yards (20.5 average) and four touchdowns. The 82 yard TD reception on Sunday was the third-longest touchdown in his career and the second of 80 or more yards he has scored at the Metrodome.

And then, on the other side of the ball, the Packer defense played a very good ball game, too. Once again the entire unit held up in spite of giving up a couple long pass plays and several blown converges. The front four had pressure in on Brad Johnson all afternoon which freed up the linebackers to put extra pressure on in blitzing schemes. A.J. Hawk had a great game personally, registering 13 total tackles, six solo and he also had a sack and a half. He shared one sack with fellow linebacker Nick Barnett. Green Bay's other linebacker, Brady Poppinga also got himself a sack of the slightly immobile Viking quarterback. Poppinga's sack also force Johnson to fumble which was recovered by Corey Williams and later turned into a Packers' touchdown.

Hawk now has four sacks on the year, the most for a Packer linebacker since Nate Wayne had 5 1/2 back in 2001. With 31 total team sacks after Sunday, the Packers' total is just four fewer than all last season.

In the Packers secondary, both Al Harris and Charles Woodson had pretty good coverage all day. Woodson could've had a pick early in the game but let the ball sail through his hands. Patrick Dendy, who got burned on a couple of 30 plus yard passes to Bethel Johnson, extracted some degree of revenge late in the game when he was able to pick off one of Johnson's passes and virtually seal the win for Green Bay.

Thanks to the stellar job of Green Bay's defense, Minnesota couldn't muster much of an offensive threat especially in the second half. The Vikings had five punts, an interception and one field goal in the second half. Johnson finished 18 of 30 for 257 yards, one TD and one INT.

The Vikings' outstanding tackle tandem of Pat Williams and Kevin Williams simply refused to be put on the ground, rendering the Packers' running game ineffective. But that's about as far as the Purple People eater's defense went. They couldn't get to Favre which allowed the Packers' passing game to flourish, coming up with zero sacks.

With Sunday's victory, the all-time series between the Vikings and Packers now sits at 45-45-1, while Minnesota's record at home versus Green Bay is 23-22. Green Bay snapped Minnesota's three game winning streak.

For some, the very fact of having beat the Viqueens at home justifies this season no matter how it turns out in the end. The next best thing to taking down Da Bears and as you know, we still have one more shot at that this year. But it's too early, or for that matter too late, to start take any sort of enjoyment from the 4-5 record the Packers now claim despite of the what-could-have-been hindsight. For what it's worth, Green Bay is sitting in second place in the division despite of throwing multiple games already. However, on the bright side of the season, Green Bay is showing signs of continual improvement. The young O-line is coming together and seem to be getting better at the whole blocking scheme. One only has to stop and realize what we're witnessing this year to understand what the future holds for this young team.

Now while I understand there's still a long way to go in this season, you certainly can't ignore the growth we're seeing from week to week. And you certainly can't ignore the relationship the coaching staff and the players seem to have. That being said, I'm still holding off with my opinion of McCarthy's overall coaching performance, but thus far he has done a very good job with Favre and the fact he can control him. People who know Favre say he's still a very coachable player in spite of his years of experience and seniority and stature in the league. To the point you have to wonder why former coach Mike Sherman couldn't keep Brett Favre in check and successfully producing for the team as McCarthy has...

After Sunday's win in the Metrodome, it's apparent that McCarthy and Favre are on the same page and that can only translate into more victories for the team if the mistakes are avoided. And as I said, this being only the half way point, there's more games left on the schedule for the Packers to win if this same formula is followed and the growing improvement continues down the stretch. And if nothing else, what Sunday accomplished was to give this young team the confidence to go out and win some of the challenges left in front of them. And when Minnesota comes to Lambeau, this team will know they can beat them because they already have.

What's really a kicker is that I've said all along that if the Packers win the games they're supposed to win and perhaps steal a game from the Vikings, and perhaps steal one away from the Seahawks who still haven't figured out how to exercise the jinx Holmgren has when it comes to playing his former team, this year's Packers team could go 10-6. Well, here we are having accomplished stealing one of the games from the Vikings, although I was thinking more of the home game against them but I'll take this one, we continue to miss the golden opportunities in a year of what-could-have-been. Last week against the Bills was one of those games the Packers were supposed to win and they threw it away.

Now, before they come to take me back to my padded room, let me just drop this on you. Call me Mr. Optimistic this year. I say forget the missed opportunity against the Bills and take the second game at home against the Vikings. That sets the Packers right back on the path of 10-6 and perhaps a playoff birth. And call me crazy but just between you and me, New England this week seems very beatable considering their last two performances, although now you're asking a Bill Belichick team to loose three in a row---and that's a very long shot at best. But anything can happen in this wacky world of football, just a the Dolphins. And if Seattle doesn't cooperate then I say let's take the last game against Da Bears and call it good.

That's it for this week, I'm Uncle Gare and my opinions only reflect myself and nobody else of importance. Until next time, play tough.