This is from Don Pierson, the biggest Favre-dick rider in Chicago.

The defense is awful. Ahman Green sucks. Favre is getting hurt this year, watch...

"it's over" - Killah Priest (c)

GREEN BAY -- The only thing the Packers know for sure is nobody is picking them to win the NFC North. The three-time defending division champions are getting no respect.

"I don't know what to expect from our team," quarterback Brett Favre acknowledged. "In the 14 years I've played here, this is the first year I really don't know."

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Actually, there is another thing the Packers know for sure and have known for many years: As long as they have No. 4, they have a chance.

This has become a problem. Favre thrilled Packerland by deciding not to retire, even though his last game chilled the faithful. Right there at Lambeau Field, the Packers lost a playoff game to the Minnesota Vikings as Favre appeared to pass the torch to Daunte Culpepper as the best quarterback in the North, if not the NFC.

Now Favre is looking lean after some serious off-season training. But he arrives with a note of caution.

"I hope people don't get this false sense of security that 'Brett ... is ready now. We're unstoppable,'" he said. "Having Brett Favre still, I think, gives us an edge, but I'm human."

Indeed, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday that Favre has avascular necrosis, the hip condition that shelved Bo Jackson and could lead to hip-replacement surgery for Favre. Favre disclosed he'd hurt his hip in the East-West Shrine Game before the 1991 draft, and when former Packers general manager Ron Wolf got him from Atlanta in 1992, Wolf had to talk the team doctor into passing Favre on his physical.

This is welcome news to Bears fans, because without the chronic condition, Favre might last another 13 years.

But this is the year there may be more holes in the Packers than Favre is capable of patching.

Start with the defense. As Favre and his offense averaged 27 points per game last season, the defense gave up 24, and seven times it yielded more than 28. Against better teams, Green Bay was defenseless, giving up 45 to Indianapolis, 47 to Philadelphia and 31 three times to Minnesota. That led to hiring Jim Bates, the third defensive coordinator in three years.

Injury, youth and uncertainty abound on defense, leading Favre to observe, "Jim Bates must be pulling his hair out."

He looks around at practice and sees tackles Grady Jackson and Cletidus Hunt on the sideline nursing assorted aches and pains. Their presence is supposedly where everything starts on defense. Yet Jackson has ballooned beyond his listed 345 pounds, is on the physically unable to perform list and wants to be traded because he's unhappy with his contract, a laughable notion for a player who has started only 11 games in a year and a half in Green Bay.

At linebacker, Na'il Diggs is hurt, and the trio of Diggs, Nick Barnett and Hannibal Navies combined for only one interception, one fumble recovery and four sacks last season.

The biggest playmaker on defense, safety Darren Sharper, was let go and landed in Minnesota, where he joined the ranks of Packer doubters.

"The guys I played with last year, I love them to death, but with what they have in place there now, it's going to be tough for them to improve on where we were last year," Sharper said. "I don't know what they're doing with the secondary."

On Sunday they cut starting safety Arturo Freeman, who had accompanied Bates from Miami and was supposed to provide experience and knowledge of the system. Coach Mike Sherman and Bates decided they would rather force-feed rookies Nick Collins and Marviel Underwood and get by with veterans Earl Little and Mark Roman.

At cornerback the Packers also have second-year players Ahmad Carroll and Joey Thomas battling opposite Al Harris, with rookie Arena Football League find Mike Hawkins as the fourth corner.

The defensive juggling has overshadowed the competition for both starting guard positions, where stars Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle left in free agency. The likely replacements are newcomer Adrian Klemm and seventh-round draft pick William Whitticker.

Sherman is in the final year of his contract after losing his general manager duties to former Packers scout Ted Thompson.

"I think it's a team that will continue to get better throughout the season," Sherman said. "I think we're going to make leaps and bounds. We've been pretty successful down the stretch in December." Said Thompson: "In the offensive line, the Packers were fortunate enough to have a group of five players together for five years, which is a remarkable achievement. But that's not normal."

The Packers don't seem to care if their bandwagon has stalled.

"I think enough teams want a piece of us that we're not going to sneak up on anybody," Thompson said. "I certainly wouldn't want to be the prohibitive favorite to win the Super Bowl and everybody thinking that. But at the end of the day, you get your 16 games and get to show what you can do."

Said Favre: "From the outside looking in, I'd give the Vikings the nod too. But I'm not writing us off, because I've seen crazy things happen."

Like a quarterback starting 225 straight games with a bad hip.