Favre, Turner at opposite ends of the spectrum

Brett Favre came back, Norv Turner came back, and lots of people who follow the fortunes of the Green Bay Packers and the San Diego Chargers loudly wondered, "Why?"

Did Favre still have it?

Did Turner ever have it?

Both questions were given a workout Sunday in Green Bay. And after Favre passed for three touchdowns to tie Dan Marino's career record and lead the Packers to a 31-24 triumph over Turner's Chargers, few were offering Favre the free (and awfully cheap) advice to "Do yourself a favor and retire now."

The same can't be said for Turner, who in three games accomplished what Marty Schottenheimer needed 16 to achieve in 2006: lose twice.

Considered a Super Bowl contender a mere three Sundays ago, the Chargers, now 1-2, would rank no higher than third if they were members of the NFC North. Considered pro football's worst division this side of the NFC West, the Not Formidable Conference's North Division has a 3-0 team in the Packers and a 2-1 team in the Detroit Lions. The Chargers did defeat the Chicago Bears, now also 1-2, but that 14-3 victory pales in comparison with Dallas' 34-10 drubbing of the Bears in Chicago.

Favre's third touchdown pass of the day, going to Greg Jennings with 2:03 left to erase a 21-17 San Diego lead, left Favre with 420 scoring passes, same as Marino. About a minute later, Favre had the ball on the Chargers' one-yard line and a chance to break the record, but instead stepped aside and handed to ball to rookie Brandon Jackson, who scored to make it 31-21.

The record can wait. The Packers, now 3-0 with a league-best seven-game regular-season winning streak, apparently cannot.

An intriguing sidebar to Favre's 418 . . . 419 . . . 420 countdown was how Marino might react to it. First Peyton Manning overhauls Marino's once-considered-to-be untouchable season touchdown record. Then Favre -- refusing to yield, budge or walk away -- stubbornly holds on to reach lofty 420.

Having watched Marino's body language on TV when questioned about his legacy during recent seasons -- Hey, Boomer Esiason! Duck! -- you suspect the proud ex-Dolphin isn't thrilled.

In Friday's Times, I joked about Marino interviewing Favre and being more interested in Favre's pursuit of George Blanda's all-time interception record of 277 (Favre is two away). Judging from my e-mail, Favre's interceptions total is a touchy subject among some of his fans. One reader, Chuck Cohen, sent me a lengthy statistical examination comparing Favre's 3.31 interception percentage with that of such Hall of Famers as Warren Moon (3.41), Dan Fouts (3.38), Jim Kelly (3.66) -- and Marino (3.02) -- and noting that although Favre "is a bigger gambler than most . . . he's really no more-interception prone than the average NFL quarterback."