Lions' Point Is, Sharpe Is Out : NFC playoffs: This time, Green Bay's injured receiver won't be around to beat Detroit in the final minute.

Lions’ Point Is, Sharpe Is Out : NFC playoffs: This time, Green Bay’s injured receiver won’t be around to beat Detroit in the final minute.

By BILL PLASCHKE

Dec. 31, 1994 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Across Lake Michigan and the state of Michigan, above a corner locker in the Pontiac Silverdome, hangs a wrinkled, discolored sign.

It was written by Detroit linebacker Chris Spielman two days after the end of the Lions’ 1993 season.

Even after nearly 12 months, the hand-written message flickers with anger:

“Final: Green Bay 28, Detroit 24. Playoffs. Out!!!”

Spielman was writing about last year’s first-round game against the Packers. About Brett Favre’s game-winning, 40-yard touchdown pass with 55 seconds remaining. About a scrambling, schoolyard heave that went against coach’s orders, not to mention all odds.

Little did Spielman know that the sign would last longer than the man who caught that pass.

Much to the Lions’ relief, lightning will not strike a second time today when the Lions play the Packers in a first-round rematch. Sterling Sharpe, the Packers’ splendid receiver, the man who caught that Lion-killing pass from Favre last time, will miss the playoffs because of a career-threatening neck injury.

“It’s a tragedy, to see such a great player possibly cut down in the prime of his career,” Spielman said.

But, he added: “From a competitor’s standpoint, the first thing you say is, ‘He’s not playing against us. Good.’ ”

The underdog Lions hope the loss will slow Favre, the league’s second-ranking passer, who completed more than one-fourth of his passes to Sharpe.

They hope the loss will force the Packers’ running game--which averaged only 88 yards in two previous meetings this season--to shoulder a burden it cannot handle.

They also hope the loss of one of only two non-kickers in the league to lead his team in scoring--with 18 touchdowns--means nobody else can find the Lambeau Field end zone.

The Packers, meanwhile, are hoping for a repeat of another sort of history.

Today is the 27th anniversary of the Ice Bowl, the last non-strike playoff game at Lambeau Field, a historic 21-17 victory by the Packers over the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL championship game.

That game was won on Bart Starr’s quarterback sneak with 13 seconds remaining. Favre thinks he could manage that. And why not?

He kept the Packers in the playoffs two weeks ago with a nine-yard touchdown run in the final seconds against the Atlanta Falcons. And guess who sends him encouraging Mailgrams every week?

“Bart Starr is really a nice guy,” Favre said. “Always encouraging me.”

So much that Favre contends that his streaking team--with three consecutive victories to end the season--will survive without Sharpe.

Even if it means that his top target will be a fullback, Edgar Bennett, and his two wide receivers will be guys named Robert Brooks and Anthony Morgan.

“In all honesty, I don’t think it’s going to affect our team that much,” Favre said. “We’ve installed the same game plan we always would in these situations.”

When that answer was greeted with disbelief, Favre scrambled.

“What else are we supposed to do?” he asked. “You tell me. We can’t, in three days, change our game plan.”

Later he added: “I don’t feel like anyone can stop me or this offense.”

Nobody seems to be able to stop anybody when these teams meet. In two games this season, they have averaged 33 points a team each game.

“Seems like we always have a shootout with these guys,” said Favre, who offered a not-so-expert prediction of light snow and temperatures in the 20s. “I think it will be the same today, no matter what the conditions are.”

At least the Lions, who have won four of their last five games, one a 34-31 victory over the Packers at Detroit in early December, will have their major weapon.

You surely didn’t need to be told it is Barry Sanders.

In the first game between the teams this season, Sanders, the league rushing champion, was held to 47 yards, and the Lions lost, 38-30. In the second, he gained 188 yards, and they won.

The only other running back who hit the 100-yard mark against the Packers’ defense this year was Emmitt Smith.

The winner of the battle between Sanders and the Lions’ offensive line, and defensive stars Reggie White, Sean Jones and Bryce Paup will probably be the guys who are found in the winning locker room.

If those winners are the Packers, somebody wake up the ghosts. If they are the Lions, somebody tell Spielman to tear down that sign.