FanHouse Chad Clifton

As we have done since the FanHouse began, I'll be taking a look every week at some aspect of line play. You can read more features in the series here. Check back every Thursday for a new Between The Lines.

It probably wouldn't surprise you to know that offensive line continuity is a good thing , but you may not realize just how important it is.

After looking at the first month of the season, it seems pretty clear that if you can keep your offensive line together, there's a pretty good chance you'll be a winner.

Five weeks into the NFL season, only 10 teams have started the same five offensive linemen every week. Of those 10 teams, seven have winning records including the surprising Bears. 49ers and Jets and the undefeated Giants. Combined those 10 teams are 28-18 this year.

We all know about the drama leading into Monday night's Green Bay-Minnesota game. Yes, much of it is media-driven, but you can't write a storyline like this for Hollywood.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Brett Favre wants to beat the Packers. He might say it's "just another game" or whatever, but you should know better. Similarly, the Packers might say it's just another game, but you know they'd like to get a few shots in and pick Favre off a couple times. For Monday's visitors, however, there is another motivating factor at work.

As we have done since the FanHouse began, I'll be taking a look every week at some aspect of line play. You can read more features in the series here. Check back every Thursday for a new Between The Lines.

When Marvin Lewis came to Cincinnati he arrived with a reputation as a defensive genius. But Lewis' brilliance quickly seemed to fade once he became a Bengal, much like his former boss Brian Billick's offensive genius in Baltimore. In six seasons in Cincinnati Lewis' Bengals have never finished in the top half of the league in scoring defense.

But thanks to Antwan Odom, Domata Peko, Tank Johnson and Keith Rivers, Lewis is suddenly smart again. They're 1-1 with a win over the Packers and would be 2-0 if not for a flukish tipped pass to Brandon Stokely. Odom not only leads the league in sacks; he's coming off of one of the best days a pass rusher has ever had with five sacks against the Packers.

There were massive changes made on the Green Bay Packers coaching staff after 2008 -- a season in which the team went 6-10, seemingly bottomed out on defense with a generally putrid season, and somehow couldn't score enough points with a highly-rated quarterback and potent offense to make up for all of it.

New coordinator Dom Capers brought promises of change with him, as he installed the 3-4 defense. However, an alarming performance Sunday at home against Cincinnati showed that Capers and his new staff still have a lot of work, as they try to pull the players out of a funk that threatens to ruin yet another football season in Wisconsin.

Even though they won last week, the Green Bay Packers knew they had some things to clean up, especially on the offensive line.

Despite a gut-wrenching defeat to Denver, the Cincinnati Bengals had to like the effort they got out of their defense. After all, the Broncos were held in check virtually the entire day. Because of that, there was plenty of reason for the Bengals to be confident as they visited Green Bay Sunday afternoon.

The Bengals sure played confidently. They virtually dominated the Packers the entire game, riding five sacks by defensive end Antwan Odom and a superb running effort by Cedric Benson to a 31-24 win.

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When the Green Bay Packers take the field at Arizona Friday night, they'll have in place their starting offensive line. The five-man group Green Bay used for practice Monday night is the group it will use against the Cardinals, and it's the group the Packers expect to use to start the regular season.

This was hardly an easy decision for the Packers, who feel like they have two starting-caliber centers on the roster. There also appears to be some uncertainty as to who will ultimately start at right tackle.

For the Green Bay Packers, Saturday's preseason opener against Cleveland is the start of a new beginning. The Browns, meanwhile, just hope to take a step toward figuring out a starting quarterback.

When the two meet at Lambeau Field, the only thing that is known is that the Packers will play a live game for the first time under new defensive coordinator Dom Capers. In the short time that the starters play, and in the normally-bland environment that preseason games against regular-season opponents can create, what should Packer fans look for?

This just hasn't been Green Bay's year.

Many fans are going to trace it directly back to the day the Packers decided to go with Aaron Rodgers as the starting quarterback, even though future Hall of Famer Brett Favre was contemplating a return from his short retirement.

Others will look -- more accurately -- at the day general manager Ted Thompson traded hulking defensive tackle Corey Williams to Cleveland to avoid giving him a huge contract. Or the day Thompson decided that second-year tackle Justin Harrell would be able to fill that void.

Coming from a Packer fan, there are too many people to point fingers at on this one.

While Rodgers is not at all immune, he's handled the spotlight very well. His teammates have praised his play on the field, and they've praised his off-field presence. This fan believes you couldn't have scripted a better transition from Favre to the next guy. Rodgers didn't ask for it to go down this way, and nearly all the criticism that's been thrown his way has been completely unfair.

He's played well. Others who carried high expectations into the season have not. The reality is that the Packers are 5-7, an extreme longshot for the playoffs, and Sunday's fourth quarter was a microcosm of the season to this point.

There were two facts about the Green Bay Packers' preseason that you might find startling.

For starters, an offensive line that has prided itself on protecting Brett Favre for so many years didn't do a very good job with Favre's replacements in the preseason. Aaron Rodgers, Brian Brohm, and Matt Flynn were sacked a combined 16 times in four games, the most sacks allowed by any team in the preseason.

Meanwhile, the Packers defensive line struggled to generate much of any push against their opponents. The defense picked up just two sacks, which ranked last in the NFL.

Yes, it's just preseason, but the Packers clearly have a little bit of work to do in the trenches.

Luckily for them, so does Minnesota.