GREEN BAY -- The Chicago Bears, it seems, have turned in their own hides at the trading post and called off the hunt for victory.

Favored by many to reach the Super Bowl for a second consecutive year, the Bears have flopped miserably, stumbling to a 5-9 record and last place in the NFC North. Apparently, they have nothing to play for.

Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers are living the dream, sitting atop the NFC North with a 12-2 record and entertaining notions of home-field advantage throughout a playoff run that could lead to -- dare we say -- the Super Bowl. The Packers need to win their final two games, hope that the Dallas Cowboys lose one, and then turn on the burner for home cooking at Lambeau Field. They have everything to play for.

"We're focused on beating Chicago," said Green Bay coach, Mike McCarthy, his eye on the immediate prize. "It's a rival game. More importantly, we want to go down there and play very well. We have Chicago and Detroit left and the momentum that we carry into the playoffs is definitely a focus for us. We can control that.

"We can't control what Dallas does or what anybody else does. I've said it all along; we'll play anybody anywhere, at Lambeau or wherever we need to go if we have to. As long as we're playing good football, we'll be confident."

Two teams, headed in opposite directions -- one confident, one crumbled -- will cross paths and exchange hostilities Sunday at Soldier Field, much like they did in the season finale a year ago.

But, this year's plot has a few different twists.

Last year's Bears were 13-2 and oiling the ship for their Super Bowl cruise when the 7-8 Packers came calling on New Year's Eve. The Bears didn't need to win.

Last year's Packers were cleaning their plate with a four-game winning streak and were not eliminated from the playoff chase until Saturday, the day before beating the Bears, 26-7. At the time, the experts said the Bears had no motivation to win. The game was meaningless.

The Packers were playing to avoid their second consecutive losing season. This game had meaning. They needed to win.

A wounded bear is a dangerous bear. And no bears are hurting quite as much as the 2007 Windy City variety, staggering with a Super Bowl hangover that just won't go away.

And their coach, Lovie Smith, remains true to his mission. When he took over the Bears in 2004, he said the team's No. 1 goal would be to beat the Packers. They have. Lovie's Bears are 5-2 against the Packers and handed Green Bay one of its two losses this season, 27-20, on Oct. 7 at Lambeau Field.

"No, it doesn't change," Smith said of his mission. "Green Bay is our rival. It's as simple as that. We know it, they know it. It's always important, no matter what your records are. The seasons were flipped last year when we played. It was a big game.

"We didn't like losing to Green Bay the last game of the year. I know part of their plan is not to lose against us this week. But you never know what happens in a rivalry game."

This is the 175th installment of this rivalry, the NFL's longest continuous exchange of bad blood, which began in 1921 when Green Bay's Curly Lambeau and Chicago's George Halas ran the shows. The Bears enjoy an 89-79-6 lead in the series, but the Packers have dominated in the Brett Favre era, going 22-9 overall and 12-2 at Soldier Field since No. 4 grabbed the wheel in 1992.

But the Bears and many others around the NFL thought Chicago had seen the last of Favre after his tearful post-game interview on New Year's Eve.

"I was hoping we were, because he's a great player," Smith said. "I, like most people that know football are fans of his for what he's done for the game. He's one of the all-time great competitors. So when your No. 1 rival loses a player like that ... you're waiting for those type of days. But I've gone past that. I think Brett Favre will play forever."

"Forever" has now reached an NFL-record 251 regular-season starts at quarterback. During that time the Bears have started 21 men at QB, including three this season. Kyle Orton gets the call Sunday.

"We've talked about it," Orton said of his team's need to beat the Packers. "This is obviously our rival. Whenever you play 'em you want to beat 'em. This is going to be a tough challenge. We're playing a very good football team. We desperately want to win this football game."

Despite their desperation and collapse, the Bears had four players named to the Pro Bowl. So did the Packers. Favre is the NFC's Pro Bowl quarterback, joining teammates Donald Driver, Aaron Kampman and Al Harris. The Packers had 10 Pro Bowl alternates, but the snub of first alternates Nick Barnett, Chad Clifton and Charles Woodson could give the Packers extra motivation against Chicago.

Favre expects the Bears will have plenty to fuel their fire.

"We'll get their best, as we always do," Favre said. "And we better be at the top of our game. We have two losses this year and one of 'em is to the Bears, so ... for momentum purposes we would like to go into the playoffs feeling pretty good about ourselves."

They will.