The 70,000-plus in attendance Sunday at Lambeau Field for the Packers' home opener against Cleveland undoubtedly will be watching with bated breath.

Not only is their beloved team coming off its most sickly offensive performance in Brett Favre's 13-plus years at quarterback, there's no guarantee that they'll be witnesses to a victory against perhaps the worst team in the league this year.

The Packers have been on the losing end of their first home game each of the last two years. If not for pulling out a 37-34 overtime win over Atlanta in 2002, the peculiar streak would be at three years and counting.

They also come into this game riding a two-game losing streak at Lambeau dating to the end of last season. A narrow regular-season defeat to Jacksonville and then a two-touchdown rout inflicted by division rival Minnesota in an NFC wild-card playoff game left the Packers with a 4-5 home record, their only sub-.500 Lambeau ledger during the Favre era.

If the Packers are going to contend for a fourth straight NFC North title and return to the postseason, it's incumbent on them to reclaim the upper hand at a historic venue not long ago considered uninviting for visiting teams.

"This is our place. It holds a lot of tradition," Favre said Wednesday. "In my 14 years here, we've had numerous seasons where we went 8-0. I think when you have a younger team, they just don't feel it yet."

Though Favre isn't ready to call it quits just yet, the fact that this year's team is decidedly youthful with 11 rookies on the roster already has caused the team's 35-year-old leader some unwanted stress.

The Packers stubbed their collective toe out of the gate at Detroit, losing 17-3 as they failed to score a touchdown for the first time since coach Mike Sherman's first victory early in the 2000 season. The offense, featuring two new guards, was out of whack and bogged down by numerous penalties. Worse yet, it lost top receiver Javon Walker in the third quarter to a season-ending knee injury.

Consequently, Favre's spirits afterward were at the lowest they've ever been in his celebrated run as a Packer, even lower than when he had serious doubts about where the team was headed after a 1-4 start last season.

Favre isn't willing to wait another five games this year for the team to get moving in the right direction. He wants to see positive results Sunday, knowing full well it's going to be an emotion-packed day with former teammate and good friend Reggie White having his jersey number retired posthumously.

The question remains, though, whether this year's squad will be able to keep Favre from entertaining thoughts of his own retirement, sooner than later.

"Being a young team, I think we're capable of overcoming bad plays, bad starts, whatever," Favre said. "But, capable of doing it and doing it are two different things. It seems like for us, and I think this past week is sort of an example of it, when something bad happens, we don't recover from it as quickly as we should, and you run out of time.

"It has to start early; it has to start from the opening kickoff."

SERIES HISTORY
16th meeting in the regular season. Packers lead the series 9-6 and have won four of the last five games, dating to 1983. Last meeting was at Lambeau Field on Dec. 23, 2001, when the Packers prevailed 30-7 on a snowy, 24-degree afternoon. The interconference opponents' only postseason matchup occurred in the 1965 NFL Championship game on Jan. 2, 1966, a 23-12 Packers victory. It marked the last NFL game for Browns Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown.

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