(My Sportsbook) - Brett Favre elicited his share of criticism during his 16 years as the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, but rarely did the criticism stem from an aversion toward low-percentage, high-risk passes down the field.

Clearly, if you stick around long enough as an NFL quarterback, people will poke holes in every aspect of your game.

Favre hasn't had to throw the deep ball much during the Vikings' first two wins against the overmatched Browns (34-20) and Lions (27-10). Minnesota's offensive game plan has been to get the ball into the hands of Adrian Peterson (40 carries, 272 yards, 4 TD) and Percy Harvin (113 total yards, 2 TD), and Vikings wide receivers have combined for just 92 yards through the first two weeks.

It's hard to argue with the results, and it's hard to argue with the way Favre (37-of-48, 265 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT in two games) has run the offense to near- perfection. But at some point, perhaps this week against the 49ers, an opposing defense is going to challenge Favre to air it out to the likes of Bernard Berrian (6 receptions, 46 yards) and Sidney Rice (5 receptions, 46 yards).

Until that time, the question will linger: is he capable of doing so?

As of this moment, head coach Brad Childress has defended the lack of downfield throws as a by-product of opposing defensive schemes, and has gone out of his way to laud Favre's undeniable efficiency.

"He was 23-of-27 with a couple of touchdowns [on Sunday]," said Childress. "You want him to be efficient with the football...I can't remember how many deep throws we had. [The Lions] were kind of softer playing back, didn't want guys to get run by, but that's what you have to be able to do and there was a point there where we thought we needed to throw it to back them away from the box a little bit and re-open the running game."

Though short passes figure to continue to rule the day given the nature of the Vikings' offense, one gets the feeling that Favre is itching to test out his less-than-100-percent-healthy but still strong-right arm.

Said Favre, "Once we kind of found our comfort zone throwing the ball underneath, [the Lions] gave us a couple zero blitzes which gives you an opportunity to throw down the field, but only two or three out of however many snaps.

"Most of the time they were playing pretty safe in the back end, so we had to kind of shift gears there and throw the ball underneath like the last touchdown to Percy [Harvin]...It was really for us - and as it has been up to this point going back to last week and the preseason - trying to find a comfort level from a play-calling standpoint and from more my standpoint. Whom I'm throwing slants to, or go routes, or screens and things like that and being able to audible and change plays - I'm still not there yet."

Favre could need to get there soon, as this week's opponent will be the similarly 2-0 49ers, who will be looking to make a statement in their first week alone atop the NFC West.

BEARS: A rough week for Jay Cutler might have morphed into a rough month had Chicago's new starting signal-caller not been able to lead his team past the Pittsburgh Steelers this past Sunday.

Beyond the date with the defending Super Bowl champs was an always-daunting trip to Seattle in Week 3, and the very real prospect of 0-3 was staring Cutler and his teammates in the face as Pittsburgh kicker Jeff Reed lined up for a fourth-quarter field goal that would have made the score (a possibly insurmountable) 17-7 in favor of the Steelers.

But Reed missed the kick, allowing Cutler to drive the Bears downfield toward the tying score. A seven-yard touchdown pass to rookie wideout Johnny Knox tied the score at 14-14 with 6:21 to play. Then, Reed missed another one, allowing Cutler an opportunity to move the Bears within range of a game- winning Robbie Gould field goal. Gould didn't miss, connecting from 44 yards out to end a trying seven days for the franchise on a winning note.

On a week in which the Bears were also dealing with a season-ending injury to linebacker Brian Urlacher, Cutler had been roundly criticized for his play in a 21-15 opening-night loss at the Packers, as well as his demeanor following that four-interception performance. But Cutler answered by completing 27-of-38 passes for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the win, suffering just one sack and not turning the ball over in the face of the Steelers' vaunted pass rush.

"Week 1 to Week 2 is when you make the biggest jump and the guys were in sync," said Cutler. "We started off pretty basic, we wanted to see what they were doing and as the game went on we started making more plays. The guys fought hard today. We knew it was going to be 60 minutes, we knew it was going to come down to the last couple drives and the guys hung in there and made plays when they had to."

Head coach Lovie Smith was happy not to have to defend his quarterback from criticism as he had earlier in the week.

"As we said last week, there is normally a big improvement from Week 1 to Week 2," said Smith. "In the pre-season, Jay came back the second time and played a lot better. We as an offense and team still have a long way to go. Jay is a pro and I think he handled this last week well, and now it's off to next week."

LIONS: You can forgive the beleaguered fan base of the Detroit Lions if they're suffering flashbacks while watching the initial steps, and missteps, of quarterback Matthew Stafford's pro career.

Lions fans were forced to deal with the play of another supposed young phenom, Joey Harrington, earlier this decade, and still bear the scars of Andre Ware and Chuck Long from years ago.

So forgive them if they're failing to see much of a Honolulu blue and silver lining in Stafford's current 40.5 passer rating, or his 50.7 completion percentage, or the fact that he's thrown one touchdown pass to five interceptions in the team's losses to the Saints (45-27) and Vikings (27-10).

But Detroit supporters will be heartened to know that at least one expert on quarterback play thinks a lot of Stafford, and he's the guy Stafford opposed this past Sunday, the Vikings' Brett Favre.

"He's a little more polished than I (was)," said Favre of Stafford. "Not only back then, but maybe even now. I'm impressed with him. He picked up some blitzes and made some throws, but their guys dropped several balls that he made some good reads on. And to the average Joe watching, you would have thought nothing of it, but I could tell because of the blitz that we were doing he had actually picked it up in his mind before, and threw it behind what we call a drop-end or something.

"It's pretty impressive. He made a great throw to Calvin [Johnson] right there on our sideline late in the game versus a two-deep, which is a nearly impossible throw. So he took some chances, but you know what, you've got to do that. He's got a big arm, he's got a lot of talent. I was impressed with him."

PACKERS: The major concern for the Green Bay Packers entering the 2009 season was supposed to be a revamped defense, one that was morphing from a 4-3 into a 3-4 under the tutelage of a new coordinator, Dom Capers.

After the team surrendered 141 rushing yards to Cedric Benson and three Carson Palmer touchdown passes to three different wide receivers in a 31-24 loss to the visiting Cincinnati Bengals this past Sunday, that concern remains. And a new one has popped up as well, as the Packers did a woeful job of protecting quarterback Aaron Rodgers for a second consecutive week.

In the Pack's Week 1 win over the Chicago Bears, right tackle Allen Barbre took a beating from defensive end Adewale Ogunleye, surrendering a pair of sacks and being routinely beaten on a night when Rodgers was brought down four times and hurried many others.

In Sunday's upset loss to the Bengals, Green Bay made a sudden star of sixth- year defensive end Antwan Odom, who had the game of his life with five sacks, including three-and-a-half against left tackle Daryn Colledge over the game's final two quarters. Colledge was shifted from left guard when Chad Clifton exited with a sprained right ankle early in the second half.

Clifton is not expected to play against the Rams this week, meaning Colledge will have to quickly figure things out while working against either veteran pass rusher Leonard Little or 2008 first-round draft pick Chris Long.

"I'm hoping this four days (of practice) gets me ready," Colledge told the Green Bay Press-Gazette on Monday "I'll be obviously better prepared than I was this [past] weekend for it, but I needed to be ready for this [past] weekend."

"I'm not going to go overboard here," said Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, "but four of those sacks in the last two weeks are totally uncalled for. They're unacceptable to get beat the way that we did and hit the quarterback. That's just something we have to correct on the field.

"I'm not particularly satisfied with the level of fundamentals that we're playing after having two weeks of competition. But sometimes it goes this way early in the season. I'm not making excuses. We're going to work at it...It affects the way you call games, it affects the way you plan for games. But frankly, Cincinnati beat us on both fronts, the offensive line and the defensive line yesterday, and it was a big part of their success."