Favre leads Packers’ victory

He completed 20 straight passes and 381 yards in a 37-26 win over the Lions.

DETROIT (AP) — Brett Favre sported a white T-shirt, carpenter’s pants and a scruffy beard.

It was the only time he looked like just another guy on Thanksgiving.

Favre set a Green Bay record with 20 consecutive completions and finished with a season-high 381 yards and three touchdowns in the Packers’ 37-26 victory over the slumping Detroit Lions.

“I threw it. They caught it,” he said simply. “Nothing spectacular.”

Yeah, right.

The three-time MVP put together another sensational performance that made the 38-year-old quarterback look as if he’s back in his prime. Favre’s seventh 300-yard game of the season matched a team mark he set in 1995.

“He’s the greatest ever,” Lions quarterback Jon Kitna said.

Green Bay (10-1) matched its best 11-game record since 1929 and the NFC North leaders have a four-game lead with five games left in the regular season.

The Packers can improve their chances of earning home-field advantage in a week if they win at Dallas.

“One game is not going to define us,” Favre said. “It may have some implications for the playoffs, but we can’t worry about that right now.

“We’re going to enjoy this one today.”

The Lions would love to forget it.

Detroit (6-5) lost its third straight game, making its playoff picture bleak because it would lose wild-card tiebreakers against the New York Giants, Washington, Philadelphia and Arizona.

“We aren’t where we want to be, but we are where we need to be,” Kitna said. “We have to get to 10. Ten gets you in.”

Kitna said before the season he would be disappointed if Detroit didn’t win at least 10 games. Now, the Lions might struggle to finish .500 with tough games left including matchups with Dallas at home and on the road against Green Bay and San Diego.

“There’s no panic in my life,” Detroit coach Rod Marinelli insisted. “This is a tough challenge, but I believe in these players.”

Green Bay overcame a six-point deficit in the first quarter and Favre’s pinpoint passes helped it lead 34-12 early in the fourth.

Just when Detroit looked as if it was going to be routed for the fourth straight time in its marquee game, Kitna connected with Calvin Johnson in the end zone and Kevin Jones scored to pull the Lions within eight.

Green Bay got the ball back with 6:34 left and took time off the clock, setting up Mason Crosby’s third field goal to put the game out of reach with 1:44 to go.

Favre completed 31 of 41 passes, and his streak of 20 straight spanned the first and second halves to surpass the team record of 18 set by Lynn Dickey in 1983 and matched by Don Majkowski in 1989.

At one point, Green Bay called 17 straight pass plays.

“You never think he’s going to miss one,” Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said.

The streak ended when Koren Robinson was just out of bounds on a catch in the end zone.