TAMPA, Fla. -- You knew it was going to happen eventually.

You knew the Green Bay Packers' bold offseason moves at quarterback would come back to haunt them.

You knew that trading ironman Brett Favre, promoting oft-injured Aaron Rodgers and sticking with two rookies as backups would blow up in their faces against somebody.

Sunday, it finally did.

En route to a 30-21 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Packers flew directly into the Bermuda Triangle for quarterbacks. In what had to be their worst nightmare, general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy saw all three of their quarterback moves form into a perfect storm, one so strong it even managed to drop a little rain on the Milwaukee Brewers' parade.

Favre did something he had never done in his 16 glorious seasons with the Packers, throwing six touchdown passes in the New York Jets' 56-35 victory over Arizona. And he did it on a sore ankle.

Rodgers did something he had never done in his three solid starts for the Packers, throwing an interception. In fact, he threw three of them. Worse, he might have dislocated or separated his throwing shoulder.

And rookie Matt Flynn did something he's never done before, playing in a regular-season game. A seventh-round draft pick who is so obscure that Fox's cameras focused on better-known third-stringer Brian Brohm when Rodgers went down, Flynn played in a critical fourth-quarter series and succeeded only in looking like he didn't belong.

While Fox eventually got it right, the Packers never did.

At the same time Favre was wowing New Yorkers, Green Bay's offense came up short in a game the Packers could have won. Some of that was due to a non-existent running game, but some was due to Rodgers' injury and Flynn's inexperience.

Rodgers wasn't awful, but he played his worst game to date. His first interception, which bounced off Brandon Jackson's hands, wasn't his fault. Rodgers was more culpable on the next two, failing to sense pressure coming from the inside on pick No. 2 and not reacting to an unblocked end on pick No. 3.

At least Rodgers showed he can play with pain, something Favre was good at. Shortly after Rodgers hurt his shoulder, he returned and fired a 48-yard touchdown pass to Greg Jennings that cut Tampa Bay's lead to 20-14.

But after the Packers took a 21-20 lead on Charles Woodson's interception return for a touchdown and forced the Buccaneers to punt, Flynn took over on the 20-yard line with less than 10 minutes left.

It's hard to say how Flynn played because McCarthy clearly had no confidence in the rookie. On third-and-13, McCarthy ordered him to hand off. The surprise was he didn't tell him to take a knee.

"I'm confident (in Flynn)," McCarthy said. "We had plenty of ammunition as far as play selection, as far as things we felt comfortable with and as far as what Matt Flynn and Tom Clements, the quarterback coach, felt comfortable with."

Yeah, right.

You had to expect Rodgers was going to have a bad game sometime. Lord knows Favre had enough of them. And until the Packers get their running game revved up, too much of the offense will rest on Rodgers' shoulders.

Rodgers has already shown he can be an effective NFL quarterback if healthy. But depending on what the doctors find when they examine him today, the Packers, who declined to pursue a veteran backup despite Rodgers' injury history, are facing the possibility they'll go into next week's game against Atlanta with two rookies at quarterback.

After Sunday, playing without Rodgers has to be a major worry.

"I don't know about being worrisome," Jennings said. "We definitely would like for him to go (Sunday). He obviously gives us the best chance to win. We're confident in those guys backing him up, but Aaron's our guy. We definitely want to see him out there and I'm pretty sure he's going to whatever he can to be out there."

He'd better be out there or the Packers season could be the next thing to disappear into the Bermuda Triangle.

Contact Tom Oates

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