Packers Face Biggest Game Since '97 NFC Championship Game...

... and it has very little to do with #4.

Yes, Brett Favre's return to Lambeau has a story line that only a very imaginative Hollywood screen writer would have the audacity to write.

Yes, the plot Favre's return to Lambeau supplies has more twists and turns than most top notch high suspense mystery novels dish out.

And yes, Favre's return to Lambeau has more drama (both real and manufactured) than any Emmy award winning soap opera.

However, the magnitude of the HUGE game that will be played at Lambeau Field this Sunday between the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings ultimately has very little to do with Brett Favre and his quest for revenge or redemption.

Rather, this is a HUGE must win home game for the Green Bay Packers.

A win moves Green Bay to 5-2 and flying high heading into next week's match up with the winless Tampa Bay Bucs. More importantly, a win also puts the Packers in a great position to win the NFC North Title and challenge for NFC supremacy.

A loss, leaving them with a 4-3 record and puts the Packers behind the eight ball in the division race -- effectively 3 games behind the 7-1 Minnesota Vikings (by giving them the tie breaker outright in all circumstances) -- and likely make a wild card run the best the Packers can hope for.

Rarely does a November 1st game carry such pressure.

In the locker room all week hung a sign that read:

Vikings week: URGENCY.

This is a Division Rivalry game -- which in-and-of itself makes this a HUGE game. Add that it involves two good teams competing for a division title and its magnitude shoots off the charts.

The pressure lies squarely on Green Bay's shoulders. Whereas a Vikings loss still leaves them 1/2 game up heading into their bye week and affords them the obvious excuse that a road divisional loss is not unexpected, a Packers loss would have the psychological impact of having been swept by their most hated rivals while falling 3 full games back in the race for the Northern Division Title.

The networks and football fans without a dog in this fight can get caught up in the hype of one of the most celebrated players in league history coming home to Lambeau field playing for a divisional rival after meaning so much to a State and leading the Packers for 16 years back to annual contenders from 25 years of struggle as NFL pretenders.

But for Packers coaches and players this needs to be about Vikings week: URGENCY, NOT Favre week: URGENCY. Remember this message and defend the house and the path to the NFC Division Title lies before them, forget it and face perils that one does not want to spend any time imagining.

"It's going to be electric," Packers cornerback Charles Woodson said of Sunday's game. "You're going to be able to feel that energy as soon as you step on that field. I think if you play this game, then that's what you love. You love to have a game like that where there's a lot on the line, of course for a lot of different reasons. Division game first and foremost, so it's going to be a lot of fun."

Vikings middle linebacker E.J. Henderson said. "I think Coach Childress is preaching that to us every day that it pretty much can put us up (2½) games with the tiebreaker. That's a little motivation. If he didn't want us to be motivated by it or know about it, he wouldn't have said anything about it. So I think it is motivation to go ahead and knock them out."

Minnesota Vikings at the Green Bay Packers 3:15 Sunday, November 1, 2009 - ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL???

5-2 and a half game back of the Vikings make them Division Contenders.

4-3 makes them Wildcard Hopefuls.

Doesn't get any simpler than that!

Let's all hope the Packers players and coaching staff are - aside from playoff games they don't get any bigger than this!!!

Bruce - I know this is a big game, but is there a chance you're overstating things a bit here? I mean, the Packers have played in quite a few playoff games (or games to earn a playoff spot) in the last 12 years since the 1997 NFC championship game. I would think the huge game against the sea-turkeys at Lambeau in 2004, the huge game in the 2007 playoffs against the iggles..

There's actually quite a few games in there, but I know it's all a matter of opinion. However, if you take the Favre factor out of this game, as you have clearly done, in my opinion there have been lots of games bigger than this one.

I can't help wondering if he meant to say the 07 NFC championship.

Yes, this is a huge game but I don't think the season is down the toilet if we should lose this game. Heck, even if we lose we can still win the division - but it will be much more difficult for sure. But the ultimate goal is to get in the playoffs where anything can happen.

we can win if......... we blitz all game and dont get away from that game plan...if...we go with short slant routes and pound the middle on passing downs,Rodgers cannot take a beating ..Go Pack!!!!!!

Thank you - of course I meant the '07 championship game.

Either a case of my big fingers missing the 0 and hitting the key next door 9 (I cut and pasted the title into the body) or an interesting brain fart - but yes I meant the '07 championship game in Green Bay against the Giants.

I'm not going to throw the L word out there today as I think the Pack wins this one in great fashion today, but if for some reason they don't, then I don't think it's all down the toilet either. It'll hurt because it takes the lead out of their hands but a lot can happen to end the regular season. They just have to keep taking it one game at a time. Take care of their business and things will fall into place. An L today makes it a bit harder but the path won't be totally closed. Lots of games left to be played.

I was geeked for this game like no other in recent memory.
The first half was such a disappointment it is beyond words. We made it a game but if you were a fan of the other team you had to feel that it was over! That was disgusting.

To have Favre humiliate you in MN is one thing, but to let him go off for 4tds in Lambeau is a crime.

I am a TT fan and still beleive he did what was right for GB, but I have some serious doubt that MM is a competent HQ. He has got to own the Jolly penalty in the 1st Qtr.

Hahaha I was going to say a regular season game is bigger than a chance to get to the Super Bowl? Hahaha