Ailing Favre Passes for Five Touchdowns

Brett Favre’s left ankle was so sore Sunday it was feared he might not last long against the Chicago Bears. But there was nothing wrong with his right arm.

Favre tied a team record with a career-best five touchdown passes as the Green Bay Packers won a 35-28 shootout to move into a tie for the NFC Central lead with the Bears at 6-4.

Favre, his severely sprained ankle heavily wrapped, extended his NFL-leading streak to 55 consecutive starts and completed 25 of 33 passes for 336 yards with no interceptions.

“I thought last night I might play. But we didn’t make the decision until this morning,” said Favre, still in some pain.

“It bothered me a little bit, but the tape job was almost like a cast. I was favoring it a little bit. I didn’t scramble on some plays where I probably could have.

“We didn’t run as many keeps as I usually do--the play-action stuff, rollouts. That’s a big part of our offense. When we said we cut the game plan down, we did. But guys were making plays.”

Favre connected with halfback Edgar Bennett for scores of 17 and 16 yards on screen passes, the second coming with 9:17 left to break a 28-28 tie.

He also had touchdowns of 29 and 44 yards to Robert Brooks and a one-yard toss to fullback Dorsey Levens. Brooks caught six passes for 138 yards.

Reggie White, who like Favre was injured in the previous game against Minnesota, also made a remarkable comeback.

White, who suffered a stretched right knee ligament, missed a start for only the second time in his 11-year NFL career. But, wearing a knee brace for the first time in his career, he came in on the second series and played most of the game, sharing a sack, tipping a pass and inspiring a defense that held Erik Kramer out of the end zone in a desperation drive that stalled at the Packers’ 14 as time expired.

White was the last player to leave blustery Lambeau Field, thrusting his green and gold helmet into the air over and over as the crowd of 59,996 braving 15-degree wind chill and intermittent flurries roared its approval.

White has never missed any of the 172 games in his career, and refused to sit this one out.