Sunday, Oct. 15 4:15pm ET
Garcia's four TD passes not enough
 
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GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- Time might be catching up with Brett Favre. For once, the pass-rushers weren't.

Brett Favre
Brett Favre has taken some heat this season -- mostly from rushers -- but he showed Sunday why he's a future Hall of Famer.

Behind two rookie tackles, the Packers' weary quarterback got enough time to stay in the pocket and guide Green Bay on five scoring drives Sunday.

He capped his performance by putting Ryan Longwell in position to kick a 35-yard field goal with 54 seconds left for a 31-28 victory over the San Francisco 49ers.

When he was pressured, the 31-year-old Favre looked like his old -- or young -- self, scrambling away from blitzers, slipping tacklers and turning broken plays into big gains.

"Favre has been taking the (criticism)," Packers receiver Antonio Freeman said. "He's still one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL."

After struggling most of the last two seasons with roster turnover and his own gunslinger mentality, Favre played the way he did during his three-year MVP run.

"He looked like he had his 21st birthday out there today," coach Mike Sherman said.

TOM DONAHOE'S BREAKDOWN
This was a wild offensive game that featured some excellent play from quarterbacks Brett Favre and Jeff Garcia.

Dorsey Levens played for Green Bay, which was a bit unexpected because his status was doubtful during the week. His return sparked the Packers' running attack.

Favre was sharp for Green Bay (20-for-27, 67-yard touchdown), as was Garcia for San Francisco (four touchdowns passes, 336-plus yards).

In the 49ers' last four games, Garcia has 13 touchdown passes and no interceptions. Wide receiver Terrell Owens helped with a strong game (eight receptions).

The 49ers are playing good offensive football, but they're having difficulty stopping people at key times in the game -- and today was no exception.

This was a home game the Packers had to win, and they found enough offense -- and a well-timed drive -- to get it done.

The Packers need to get some people healthy as they go into a bye week. Their main goal will be to try to get more healthy bodies on offense for Favre so he doesn't feel that he has to do everything by himself.

Having Levens back is a big help. Also, wide receiver Antonio Freeman had his best game of the season (six catches, 116 yards).

Tom Donahoe, ESPN.com's NFL analyst, was formerly the Steelers' director of football operations.

He's 31, plays like 21 and feels like he's ...

"Fifty-one," Favre said. "Nah. I feel like I could go another four quarters -- next week."

Actually, the Packers are off next Sunday and they feel good about going into the bye at 3-4.

"We've got a chance to make a push for the playoffs," safety LeRoy Butler said. "That would have been hard to do at 2-5."

Don't the 49ers know it.

"I can honestly say this is the best 2-5 team I've been around," receiver Terrell Owens said. "We're just coming up short and eventually it's going to turn around."

Favre barely outperformed San Francisco quarterback Jeff Garcia, who completed 27 of 42 passes for 336 yards and four TDs, giving him an NFL-best 19 TD passes.

Favre finished 20-of-27 for 266 yards and threw a 67-yard TD pass to Freeman, who had six catches for 116 yards, his first 100-yard receiving day in 14 games.

"We let Favre make a couple plays on the last couple drives, getting out of the pocket and doing some of those miraculous things," 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said.

After Longwell's field goal, the 49ers' desperation drive ended when Scott McGarrahan tackled Charlie Garner at the Packers 28 after a 33-yard catch-and-run. The 49ers had scored TDs on each of their three previous second-half possessions.

"You would like to have a few more seconds, maybe one or two timeouts," Garcia said.

San Francisco fell for the second straight week despite erasing a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit behind Owens' two TD catches.

The Packers also ran for three scores, tripling their season total.

Ahman Green had his first two-TD game of his career, and Dorsey Levens' first TD of the year came on a 1-yard dive midway through the third quarter and gave Green Bay a 21-7 lead.

San Francisco responded with a 77-yard drive capped by Garcia's 23-yard TD toss to J.J. Stokes, who faked out rookie Tod McBride to get open. But Stokes made the mistake of doing a Lambeau Leap and he was shoved back onto the field by infuriated fans in the south end zone.

Garcia hit Owens with a 16-yard TD pass to tie it at 21 with 11:36 left. Owens broke tackles by Bernardo Harris and Darren Sharper.

Green broke a 21-21 tie on a 1-yard run with eight minutes remaining. Stuffed on a third-down dive, he lunged forward and finally got into the end zone on his third surge.

But Owens wasn't done, slipping four tackles on a 37-yard TD reception that tied it at 28 with 5:30 left.

Green's 2-yard run 51 seconds before halftime gave Green Bay a 14-7 lead. He set up his own score with a 20-yard run to the San Francisco 4 and a 7-yard run to the 2 after a false start by rookie left tackle Chad Clifton, making his first start as Favre's blindside protector.

Clifton joined right tackle Mark Tauscher, playing in place of injured right tackle Earl Dotson, to give the Packers rookie bookends on their offensive line.

"Chad," Favre said as he walked past Clifton in the locker room afterward. "Good job, man."

"That feels good," Clifton said. "From a future Hall of Famer? He had a great game."

And Clifton had something to do with that.

Game notes
The 49ers' running game was hampered by the absence of tight end Greg Clark, who missed the game with a neck injury. Defensive tackle Bryant Young (ribs) left in the third quarter. ... Favre is 7-1 in his career against the 49ers. ... Packers TE Ryan Wetnight pulled a hamstring. ... Favre moved into 11th place on the NFL career list with his 245th TD pass, breaking a tie with John Hadl.
 


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