NBC's Madden: "It just gives me chills when I come here"

BRETT FAVRE AND THE UNDEFEATED PACKERS HOST THEIR ARCHRIVALS, THE BEARS, ON SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL

NBC's Madden: "It just gives me chills when I come here"

NBC's Collinsworth: "If it's an annual dance, this year it's a cha-cha"

NEW YORK � Oct. 4, 2007 � Last week, Brett Favre broke Dan Marino's NFL record for most career TD passes. Sunday night, he leads the undefeated Packers, arguably the best story in the NFL this season, against their archrivals, the Bears, in the oldest rivalry in the NFL on "Sunday Night Football" from Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. Coverage begins at 7 p.m. ET with "Football Night in America."

Al Michaels (play-by-play), John Madden (analyst) and Andrea Kremer (sideline reporter) will call all the action. Bob Costas (host) and Cris Collinsworth (co-host), Keith Olbermann (co-host), analysts Tiki Barber and Jerome "The Bus" Bettis, and reporter Peter King of Sports Illustrated, comprise the "Football Night in America" studio team.

NBC Sports today conducted a media conference call with Madden and Collinsworth to preview the highly anticipated match-up.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CONFERENCE CALL:

MADDEN ON COMING TO GREEN BAY: "You think of Green Bay and Brett Favre and that whole city and you think, 'Gee I've done this so many times,' but it just gives me chills when I come here. You go to Lambeau Field and you're right in the middle of a small town and the leaves are changing here and the Bears are coming in. There's just something about the Bears at the Green Bay Packers, Lambeau Field, its just football. It's America. It's the history, the tradition, the passion; it's everything I love about the game. When you come to a Green Bay game it's not just the city of Green Bay, Wisconsin, it's the whole state of Wisconsin. We're driving in on a Thursday afternoon, fans are coming in now for a Sunday night game. It just doesn't get any better than this."

COLLINSWORTH ON GREEN BAY: "I can remember the first time we ever called a game there. I had never been to the stadium, and we came in and we started driving down the road, you think you're in my hometown of Titusville, Florida. There's a little 7-11 on the corner and a drug store. You're just driving and all of a sudden, Lambeau Field comes shooting up out at you and it really is something. It really is a different place than anywhere else I go in the National Football League."

MADDEN ON THE BEARS' STRUGGLES: "Right now, they're doing everything that a bad team does. There are interceptions, there are fumbles and there are penalties. Offensively, they're not good enough to live with all those turnovers and penalties. They bring Brian Griese in for Rex Grossman and Brian Griese throws three interceptions. Their offensive line isn't playing that well either, so it's not just all the quarterback. They're having the problems now of a bad team."

MADDEN ON THE BEARS QB PROBLEMS: "That seems to be the dilemma for the Bears for a while. Every time you do a Bear game and you talk about quarterbacks, you ultimately get back to Sid Luckman. Well that was before I was born I think. They had a little Jim McMahon and some guys, but the Chicago Bears, for whatever reason, can't get quarterbacks."

MADDEN ON FORMER PACKERS GM TRADING FOR FAVRE: "When he made that trade to bring Brett Favre from Atlanta into Green Bay, that wasn't a popular thing. It was a big move at the time and it was a great move at the time and look what that's done for the Green Bay franchise."

ON FAVRE'S RETIREMENT "DANCE":

COLLINSWORTH: "If it's an annual dance, this year it's a cha-cha. I haven't heard anybody say he's going to retire after this year, yet. I think the most remarkable thing to me is that if Brett has played better football than he has in the first four weeks at some point in his career, and he probably has, it's hard for me to remember it. It just looks to be that he's playing better than he has in years. That's pretty impressive for somebody 36, 37, whatever he is."

MADDEN: "I don't think Brett Favre's putting everyone on with this. I think he really feels that this could be his last season. If it's his last season and he gets to his last game he wants to enjoy it and remember it. Then he starts to feel better, he has a little surgery and that goes well. A couple months later he gets tired of cutting grass and starts thinking, 'I still love playing football so I'm going to go back.' I think he'll go through that same thing next year."

ON KICKING THE BALL TO DEVIN HESTER:

MADDEN: "I think when you punt to him, you have to directionally punt. Either punt the ball out of bounds, or pin him between the numbers and the sideline. I think on the kickoffs you squib kick it, you leave it on the ground a little longer. Eventually, he's going to get it anyway. You assume that if you squib kick it, then someone in the wedge is going to get it, but the wedge just lets it go right through. He's still going to get it on those kickoff returns. But the answer is yeah, I would never kick it to him."

COLLINSWORTH: "Watching the Bears offense, playing the way they've been playing, I want that offense on the field. I want to see their offense go sixty or seventy yards with it and not Devin Hester."

GREEN BAY AND CHICAGO ON PRIMETIME:

This is the Bears second appearance this season on "NBC Sunday Night Football" having lost to the Cowboys 34-10 in Week 3 in Dallas.

The Bears and Packers met last year in Green Bay in the season finale of "Sunday Night Football" with Brett Favre leading the Packers to a 26-7 win over the Bears. It was the Packers only appearance on SNF last season.

The Bears appeared three times last year on the inaugural season of "NBC Sunday Night Football" and went 2-1 defeating the Seahawks 37-6 in Week 4 last season and beating the Giants 38-20 in Week 9 before falling to the Packers in the season's final week. Chicago has an overall record of 18-34 playing on the NFL's premier primetime network package (MNF 1970-2005, "NBC Sunday Night Football" 2006-Present).

The Packers have an overall record of 25-23-1 when playing on the NFL's premier primetime package.

BEARS VS PACKERS; THE OLDEST RIVALRY IN THE NFL:

This is the 173rd regular season meeting between the Bears and the Packers in a rivalry that dates back to 1921. These two teams have played each other every season since with the exception of the strike-shortened 1982 season and the Bears hold an 87-79-6 advantage in the series. The only time the two teams met in a playoff game was back in 1941 when both teams finished the season 10-1 and the Bears beat the Packers 33-14 in the Western Division playoff game before defeating the Giants 37-9 in the NFL Championship.

WAITING ALL DAY FOR SUNDAY NIGHT:

Five-time Grammy Award-winner and multi-platinum recording artist, Faith Hill, performs the opening theme each week for "NBC Sunday Night Football," "Waiting All Day for Sunday Night." The song is set to the original Joan Jett song, "I Hate Myself for Loving You" was recorded with her longtime producer Byron Gallimore at Legacy Recording Studios in New York City. The video was shot at The Wiltern theatre in Los Angeles.

"NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL":

"NBC Sunday Night Football" the premier primetime game of the week, is preceded by the "Football Night in America" studio show, which kicks off NBC's regular season coverage each Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. NBC has assembled the most honored broadcast team ever: Joining Al Michaels, the commentator called "TV's best play-by-play announcer" by the Associated Press, and John Madden, the most honored NFL broadcaster of all time with 15 Emmy Awards, are Bob Costas, the most honored studio host of all time with 19 Emmy Awards, who hosts NBC's "Football Night in America" studio show alongside co-host Cris Collinsworth, the most honored studio analyst in history with eight Emmy Awards; co-host Keith Olbermann, named one of the Top Ten Most Powerful People in TV News for 2007 by Television Week; and analysts Tiki Barber, a three-time NFL Pro Bowler for the New York Giants, and Jerome Bettis, one of the most popular players in recent NFL history. "NBC Sunday Night Football" coverage also includes sideline and feature reporter Andrea Kremer, whom the Los Angeles Times has called "the best TV interviewer in the business of covering the NFL." Peter King, who covers the NFL for Sports Illustrated and is considered one of the country's foremost NFL reporters, serves as a reporter for the "Football Night in America" studio show.

"NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL" REMAINING 2007 NFL SCHEDULE:
Sunday, Oct. 7 � Chicago at Green Bay
Sunday, Oct. 14 � New Orleans at Seattle
Sunday, Oct. 21 � Pittsburgh at Denver
Sunday, Oct. 28 � No game scheduled due to World Series Game 5 (FNIA airs 7-8 p.m.)
Sunday, Nov. 4 � Dallas at Philadelphia
Sunday, Nov. 11 � Indianapolis at San Diego
Sunday, Nov. 18 � Chicago at Seattle (Flex Week, Teams Subject to Change)
Sunday, Nov. 25 � Philadelphia at New England (Flex Week, Teams Subject to Change)
Sunday, Dec. 2 � Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (Flex Week, Teams Subject to Change)
Sunday, Dec. 9 � Indianapolis at Baltimore (Flex Week, Teams Subject to Change) v Sunday, Dec. 16 � Washington at NY Giants (Flex Week, Teams Subject to Change)
Sunday, Dec. 23 � Tampa Bay at San Francisco (Flex Week, Teams Subject to Change)
Sunday, Dec. 30 � Kansas City at New York Jets (Flex Week, Teams Subject to Change)

CREDITS: Fred Gaudelli is the producer of "NBC Sunday Night Football" and Drew Esocoff is the director. This is Gaudelli and Esocoff's second season at the helm of "Sunday Night Football." The Emmy Award-winning duo came from ABC where they worked together for five seasons on "Monday Night Football."