Packers Sack The Pats In Replay Of Super Bowl, Green Bay Has Little Trouble With New England

Brett Favre made the Super Bowl sequel as successful for the Green Bay Packers as the original. And much easier.

Throwing on the run and scrambling for first downs, he baffled New England’s defense with three touchdown passes as the Packers won 28-10 Monday night, nine months and a day after they beat the Patriots for the NFL title 35-21.

The Packers trailed 10-7 late in the first half Monday before Favre led them on scoring drives of 75 yards in the second quarter, 99 in the third and 85 in the fourth. They won the Super Bowl with big plays and led by just six points late in the third quarter.

Coming off a bye week, the Packers had plenty of energy after coach Mike Holmgren gave them six days off.

“I wanted them to get away from football for a while,” he said. “They had a little more jump, a little more enthusiasm. I hope we can build on that.”

Both teams played down the rematch angle, focusing instead on correcting recent problems two losses in three games for the Patriots and four wins by fewer than seven points for the Packers.

“It wasn’t the Super Bowl,” Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman said. “It’s Monday night football. It’s not the last game of the season.”

The crowd was subdued most of the night as tradition prevailed: Super Bowl winners are 4-1 in games they’ve played the following season against the teams they beat for the title.

Favre gave the Packers (6-2) a 7-0 lead with a 6-yard pass to Dorsey Levens with 3:19 left in the first quarter. But the Patriots (5-3) went ahead on Drew Bledsoe’s 11-yard scoring pass to Ben Coates and Adam Vinatieri’s 38-yard field goal. It was his 22nd consecutive successful attempt, the longest current streak in the NFL.

Favre then gave the Packers a 14-10 halftime lead with a 32-yard pass to Mark Chmura 22 seconds before intermission.

And when the Patriots couldn’t score after getting a first down at the Green Bay 1-yard line on their first series of the second half, Favre led the Packers on a 17-play, 99-yard march ending in his 20-yard scoring pass to Robert Brooks with 15 seconds left in the third quarter.

That drive “didn’t have to be a turning point,” Patriots coach Pete Carroll said, “but it was, because we couldn’t respond and stop them on defense.”

Levens, whose status for the game had been questionable because of a clavicle injury, finished the scoring with a 3-yard run with 2:46 left in the game. He rushed 26 times for 100 yards.

Both teams had changed considerably since the Super Bowl. The Patriots have a new coach who has been under pressure to show he can be as successful as his predecessor, Bill Parcells.

“We’re going to get all of the divisive thoughts, the questions, who’s at fault,” Carroll said. “I believe we were 5-3 at this time last year and a lot of good things happened after that.”

The Packers have been hurt all season by injuries, although 345-pound nose tackle Glibert Brown returned to improve a porous run defense.

And Green Bay still has Favre, who completed 23 of 34 passes for 239 yards. He also broke Bart Starr’s club record of 1,808 completions with a career total of 1,828.

Bears 36, Dolphins 33

On the verge of the worst start in franchise history, the Chicago Bears finally found a way to win in Miami.

They overcame a 15-point deficit in the final 5:48 of regulation and beat the Miami Dolphins 36-33 on Jeff Jaeger’s 35-yard field goal with 5:35 left in overtime.

Barry Minter set up the winning score when he sacked Dan Marino to force a fumble that Carl Reeves recovered at the Miami 17-yard line. Two fumbles by Marino in the first half led to nine Chicago points.

The Bears (1-7) averted the first 0-8 start in the 78-year history of the franchise. They began 0-7 in 1969, won the next game and finished 1-13.

Miami (5-3) is tied with New England and the New York Jets for first place in the AFC East.

The Bears, who had lost their past two games by a total of four points, were due for a break, and they rallied from a 33-18 deficit to tie the game.

Erik Kramer hit Bobby Engram with an 8-yard touchdown pass to cap an 80-yard drive, making the score 33-25. Twice Miami failed to move the ball and had to punt, and Chicago drove 59 yards to score again with 1:25 left on Kramer’s 25-yard pass to Chris Penn.

Engram’s sprawling reception near the sideline for the two-point conversion tied the score.

Jaeger improved to 10-for-10 on field goals this season. He also hit from 39, 23 and 47 yards.

The game originally was scheduled for Sunday afternoon but was pushed back because Game 7 of the World Series was played Sunday night at Pro Player Stadium.