Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Victory shows Packers’ huge edge at Lambeau
Editor’s note: This story was published Dec. 2, 1996. It was edited here for space.
Green Bay — The Chicago Bears have a way of making the Green Bay Packers feel at home.
But Sunday the Packers really had that hometown feeling. As in homecooked meals, home for the holidays and home-field advantage.
“It’s good to be home,” quarterback Brett Favre said after the Packers beat the Bears for a sixth consecutive time, 28-17. “It’s good not to be hoarse after a game from screaming over the crowd.”
Being home is something the Packers could get used to. After a three-game trip in which they went 1-2, they play at Lambeau Field two of the next three weeks.
And if they play their cards right, they could be there all the way up until Super Bowl XXXI at the Superdome in New Orleans. Considering they have won 14 straight and 24 of 25 at Lambeau, you can understand their interest in remaining in chilly Green Bay.
But guaranteeing home-field advantage for the playoffs will require more than beating up on a mediocre Bears team. It will mean handling the American Football Conference-leading Denver
Broncos (12-1) next week at Lambeau.
The Packers (10-3) can clinch the Central Division title and an automatic playoff berth with a victory against the Broncos. They can clinch home-field advantage in the National Football Conference by sweeping the rest of their games.
That would assure the Packers of finishing with a record no worse than San Francisco’s, and since the Packers have already beaten the 49ers (9-3), they hold a tie-breaking edge.
“I’d like to cross over all the goals as we reach them,” defensive end Sean Jones said. “Our first goal is to get into the playoffs. Our next one is to win the division.
“Then we can start talking about all the permutations and combinations and who gets home-field advantage. I do know this: If we end up 13-3 we have a very good chance for home-field advantage.”
Just two weeks ago, home-field advantage didn’t seem like such a strong possibility for the Packers. Coming off road losses to Dallas and Kansas City, the Packers were slipping, especially with injuries to receivers Robert Brooks, Antonio Freeman and Mark Chmura.
They have since pounded out victories over the St. Louis Rams and the Bears, proving only that the Packers are still capable of outperforming the league’s downtrodden. Now there are bigger fish to fry.
“I think the Broncos are a great team,” Favre said. “I know they’re playing well. Their defense is tougher than they’ve been in the past. We’ll give them all the respect they deserve.”
The Packers would like to think that they deserve a little respect, as well, if not only for enduring two three-game road trips on which they had a combined 3-3 record. What the Packers brought home with them after their latest trip was a sense of what it will take to get it done this year.
“We won one of three, but I think we learned a lot and grew up a lot on that road trip,” Jones said. “Hopefully, that will carry us through the last three games of the season.
“I definitely think it was a learning experience for this football team. We grew up a lot in those three games on the road.”