Now would be a great time for yours truly to let out a big, “I told you so!”

Now would be a great time for General Manager Ted Thompson to tell the world that he was right, even though he has rarely been popular.

As sweet as a 3-0 start feels, all three wins against playoff teams from a year ago, including Philadelphia, the New York Giants, and San Diego, there is still a long way to go for the 2007 Green Bay Packers.

Sure, they are the talk of the NFL now as they are one of only two unbeaten teams in the NFC and five in the whole league. However, they do not give out trophies in September. The Packers have yet to play a divisional game. That will change this weekend when Green Bay travels to play at Minnesota before coming home to take on a struggling Chicago Bears team.

But there’s no reason to think that coach Mike McCarthy won’t have his troops ready to go.

Coming into the year, the toughest three-game stretch on the schedule looked to be the first three games and nothing around the league in the first three weeks has changed that outlook.

At the moment, the Packers are riding the wave from a stout defense and spectacular play from quarterback Brett Favre, who in his last two games against New York and San Diego looks like the Brett of 1996, throwing for six touchdowns and one interception while posting passer ratings of 112.4 and 110.3, respectively.

To his credit, he is not letting his NFL career record benchmarks come before the team. The win over the Giants was the 149th of his career, passing John Elway for first all-time. On top of that, his 57-yard game-winning slant to Greg Jennings not only upset the Chargers in thrilling fashion, but it tied Favre for first all-time with Dan Marino with 420 touchdowns.

Favre’s right arm has made up for the lack of the running game. But it’s the Green Bay defense that’s giving him a chance to work magic. That group held its own against three very talented offensive football teams.

Now comes the chance to dominate, as they don’t face many offenses near that talent level until perhaps Oct. 29 at Denver. The key so far has been the outstanding play of middle linebacker Nick Barnett, who has set the tone by flying sideline-to-sideline. Cullen Jenkins and Aaron Kampman continue to put solid pressure from the end spots and Atari Bigby has been a significant upgrade at safety.

This team looks to have all the ingredients for an outfit that could win over 10 games and the division.

It’ll be up to the veterans of the league’s youngest team to keep them as focused on one game at a time, which they have been doing. Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher need to keep Favre upright. Donald Driver needs to continue to make plays. The tight ends need to continue their resurgence. Al Harris and Charles Woodson need to continue to play as well as possible at cornerback.

There’s a lot of football to be played and a 3-0 start doesn’t guarantee you a thing. But if the Pack continues down this current path, you can guarantee they’ll be playing football well into January.

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