Round two of the Brett Favre vs. Green Bay saga continues today No. 4 making his trip to the visitors’ locker room at Lambeau Field. The Pack have recovered quickly from their defeat to the Vikings back in week four, coming off their bye week with back-to-back wins over Cleveland and Detroit, where they held both to a combined three points. Besides the hoopla of Favre’s return, there is an actual game to break down.

Offense: Green Bay has picked up the offense in the past two weeks, particularly from Aaron Rodgers, Ryan Grant and Donald Driver. But the real key in the first matchup was  the lack of protection from the Packers. Jared Allen dominated the game with 4.5 sacks. Green Bay brought back Mark Tauscher to help compensate, and Chad Clifton, who missed the first game, will be able to play this time around, too. Besides pass protection, look for the Packers to attack the Vikings’ secondary, minus Antoine Winfield.     Minnesota will look to make Green Bay one-dimensional again, shutting down Grant and the running game and helping out the secondary in the process.

Defense: From a defensive standpoint, the Packers are left with a tough decision. If they continue to try to focus on stopping Adrian Peterson, Favre will have plenty of time to find open receivers and pick apart their secondary. If they work on Favre, that will open up running lanes for Peterson. With both Percy Harvin and Bernard Berrian banged up, the Vikings may be looking for Green Bay to choose the latter. When Minnesota does throw, look for the Packers to blitz off the corners, especially from Charles Woodson. If they’re able to pick it up, it could set up more opportunities down the field for Favre to exploit. Just as important is when Minnesota gets in the red zone, don’t settle for field goals.

Special Teams: This should be a stalemate. Green Bay has not really found anyone to effectively take over Will Blackmon’s role since he was hurt back in week four. Meanwhile, Percy Harvin could provide another big play for the special teams unit. The weather won’t be much of a factor, with temperatures only in the 40s, so punts and field goals shouldn’t be a big deal.

Prediction: So far, Minnesota has passed two of the three midseason tests, though last week did result in a loss. To get through the third, the Vikings have to have another strong e

ffort from Adrian Peterson and their pass rushers to make plays. This has all the makings of an overtime game. Look for Green Bay to get the lead early and the Vikings to comeback in the fourth quarter and overtime, so Favre can exact a little more revenge. Vikings 20, Packers 17.