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Packers look to move closer to first-round bye

Dec 16, 2007 - 1:05 PM Green Bay (11-2) at St. Louis (3-10) 1:00 pm EST

ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- With the NFC North title safely tucked away, the Green Bay Packers now turn their attention to securing a first-round bye.

The Packers can move closer to clinching the NFC's No. 2 seed on Sunday when they visit the St. Louis Rams.

Green Bay has not had a first-round bye since 1997. Last week, the Packers wrapped up their first NFC North Division crown since 2004 with a 38-7 rout of the Oakland Raiders.

Brett Favre made his 250th consecutive start despite a bruised left elbow and separated right shoulder and passed for two touchdowns.

Favre passed for 266 yards, leaving him 183 yards shy of Dan Marino's NFL career mark of 61,361 yards.

It is one of the few remaining major records not held by Favre, who earlier this season set league marks for career touchdown passes and most wins by a quarterback.

Perhaps more importantly, the Packers have discovered a running game after ranking last in the NFL for most of the season.

Ryan Grant rushed for 156 yards and a touchdown on 29 carries against the Raiders, his fourth 100-yard game since taking over as the Packers' feature back in Week Eight.

In the last seven games, Grant has rushed for an NFL-best 717 yards.

"Ryan Grant is legit," Favre said. "Barring injury, he could become a great player."

His recent success had given Grant an outside chance to reach 1,000 yards this season - even though he did not play in four games in the first half of the season.

"It (1,000 yards) wasn't something I was really worried about," Grant said. "I want to win. Number one is winning."

The Rams come into the contest with all kinds of problems at quarterback as third-stringer Brock Berlin was forced to make his first career start in last week's 19-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

Starter Mark Bulger is still recovering from a concussion and backup Gus Frerotte has a partially torn labrum suffered against the Atlanta Falcons on December 2.

An undrafted free agent, Berlin did play terribly but failed to generate much offense, completing 17-of-28 passes for 153 yards with an interception.

Last season, the Rams posted a 23-20 victory in Green Bay, dropping the Packers to 1-4.