Brett Favre Will Be a Viking If Brad Childress Lets Him

Vikings coach Brad Childress has given Favre a deadline of this week to inform the Vikings on his plans to play this year. As far as a news story, this means nothing.

Brett Favre probably won’t adhere to the deadline, because, as those good old “sources” say, Favre isn’t sure if his arm will hold up at this point. ESPN’s Ed Werder said this morning that he thinks Favre will ask the Vikings to wait until the end of June, when Favre “has a better understanding of how his arm will be.”

Right.

I believe Favre will do something similar to that, believing that if he requests it, he doesn’t have to participate in all of the boring “team” stuff that he hates, and he can show up just in time for training camp.

If the Vikings don’t grant him that request, he can just go on his public relations tour, telling any media outlet that will listen that the Vikings didn’t do exactly what he wanted them to do.

That way, the Vikings fans that thought he was the most overrated player in the game and loathed him for years (but now think he is awesome) will pressure the team into signing him.

A friend of mine, a lifelong Viking fan, wants Favre on his team under certain conditions. If he is healthy and wants to be a member of the team, he wants him. If he, however, doesn’t want to do anything until training camp, and wants his own private office to be away from everyone like he did with the Jets, he thinks Favre should stay home.

Well, Brad Childress feels the same way.

Brad is a no-nonsense kind of guy, and either Favre wants to play, or he doesn’t. It’s obvious to everyone who slightly follows football that Favre wants to play for the Vikings, but the problem is that he wants to play for them on (SURPRISE!) his terms only.

If the Vikings don’t follow his terms, the fan backlash will be large. The only question remaining is—Are Brad Childress and the Vikings willing to do what Favre tells them to do?

Fran Tarkenton Was Right About One Thing About Brett Favre

I read what Fran Tarkenton had to say about Brett Favre. The next day, I listened to a very entertaining discussion between Tarkenton and Paul Allen, a radio host for a sports talk radio station in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and the radio announcer for the Vikings.

Paul Allen was listening intently to Tarkenton, respectfully disagreeing with some things, and agreeing with others. But one comment Tarkenton made turned the discussion into an argument.

Tarkenton simply said that Favre couldn’t play a full season anymore. Allen’s rebuttal was that in the first 11 weeks of last year, there were few better quarterbacks than Favre.

After Tarkenton reminded him that there wasn’t an 11-game season, Allen reminded him that Favre was hurt the rest of the year.

The fact that Favre was hurt was Paul Allen’s defense for the remainder of the interview, forgetting to mention that maybe the Jets would’ve been better off having someone, anyone, other than Favre be the quarterback at that point.

There’s one problem with Paul Allen’s argument: In the last four months of December combined, Favre has thrown 13 touchdowns and 31 interceptions.

Yes, that number was 31.

Not only am I a nice guy, but I am a Favre fan as well. So, i’m going to remove 2005, when the Packers were just a bad team all around, and 2009, when Favre was hurt, from those numbers.

In December of 2006, Favre threw 4 touchdowns, compared to 8 interceptions. That’s a 2-1 ratio, right on the button.

In Favre’s magical, some said best year of his career 2007, he threw 6 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Not as flat out bad as 2006, but still mediocre at best.

The 2007 playoffs were a perfect example of Favre’s late-season play. Against Seattle, he looked brilliant in a 42-20 win.

Against New York the next week, he looked horribly erratic, with most of his passes too high, a few yards behind or in front of the receivers, or hitting the ground at their feet.

Anyone who watched Favre as long as I have (his whole career) felt the interception in overtime long before it happened.

As much as I love Brett, the circus that is his retirement saga has to end. I’ve actually learned to respect Brad Childress for wanting an answer now, instead of allowing Brett to let it go as long as he wants to.

But we’ll all sit and wait, again. We’ll hear about how much better the Vikings will be with a first ballot Hall-of-Famer as their quarterback, without mentioning that the Hall-of-Famer in question is already past the twilight of his career.

Until we all learn to let him go, and realize that players don’t play forever, the better off we’ll all be.

And nobody has to realize it more than Brett Favre.

My Last Thoughts on Brett Favre

As most of you know, I’ve been a lifelong Packer fan. Being that, I had very strong feelings about Brett Favre.

Until now.

After the 2005 debacle, Brett Favre played a long game of chicken with Ted Thompson, with neither person wanting to be the bad guy. Favre wanted out of Green Bay, and waited as long as he could to “make his decision” on playing again, hoping that Thompson would eventually say “enough” and release him.

That never happened. The next two years, Favre made quick decisions to continue playing, and had his last hurrah in 2007. When the Packers lost to the Giants with a vintage time-it-with-a-stop-watch Favre interception, I assumed that it had to be over.

We all, including Brett, knew Favre would never duplicate that season again. Believing it, however, was a different story.

After watching Favre’s teary-eyed press conference announcing his retirement, I assumed it was over for good. Little did I know (according to Brett), that he told Ted Thompson that he “might want to play come July, so be prepared.” Ted Thompson was no mood to put the entire organization and franchise on standby, and the Packers moved on.

Favre was then traded to the Jets, which saddened me. I didn’t dis-like Brett for it, he gave Packer fans his heart and soul for how many years. But I knew it would end badly. That was the saddest part.

With Favre being the secondary option to Thomas Jones, the Jets stormed out to an 8-3 record. Favre (with admission from him) went to then Jets coach Eric Mangini after that game, saying that the Jets needed to be more aggressive.

Oops.

A 1-4 finish by the Jets left them out of the playoffs, while Favre struggled badly down the stretch, adding to an already horrid recent December play.

Now, Favre was recently cut by the Jets, after numerous requests from Brett that they do so. But, he doesn’t want to play. His agent made that clear. And just to be even more clear, Brett went on the record to say that at this time, he was still retired and had no intention of playing football again.

Just like Brett, leave that door wide-open with those first three words, “at this time.” So now, we all sit and wait. We sit and wait to see how Brett Favre’s world will turn today. We sit and wait to see what kind of news story gets so much attention that Favre has to do something to undercut it. (Remember Favre retiring when A-rods steroid story broke?)

We sit and wait, and soon will hear everyone’s opinion on the radio and TV. We sit and wait and talk about this non-stop on Bleacher Report, because that’s what Favre wants us to do. Talk about him.

Brett Favre is a Packer icon and a Packer legend. He deserves to be in the ring of honor and the Packers hall of fame, with his jersey retired.

But, this is the most publicity I have ever seen a very sub-par quarterback get. If he does play again, whichever team he goes to and that teams fans will be highly disappointed this time next year. They will think that they are getting a savior, when they’re getting a has-been.

They think they will be getting a super bowl win, when all they will get are timely, game-killing interceptions.

That’s the Brett Favre we’ve watched for the last decade. That last sentence describes the last 10 years of his career.

For me, this is it. I just can’t talk about him anymore. No amount of thanks will ever be enough for what he did for the Packer organization, but I’ve had enough.

Let the debate begin without me…

Brett Favre: Here We Go Again

As a Packer fan, I am supposed to be furious. I’m supposed to rather die than see Brett Favre in Vikings purple. I’m supposed to think of the glory years, when Favre was leading the Packers to the Super Bowl and winning MVPs.

Vikings fans are getting excited. The player that they loved to hate for so many years, the man they said over and over was the most overrated interception-prone piece of you-know-what, may be their next quarterback.

There is one problem—none of us should care.

In the last four years, Favre has thrown more touchdowns than interceptions only once. In those same four years, he has 88 touchdowns and 85 interceptions. Only one of those four seasons could you say that he played better than very mediocre.

But, there is a reason for Favre going to the Vikings. In four home games last year, local TV stations had to buy up thousands of tickets to ensure that the Vikings game wouldn’t be a blackout in order to get their advertising money. The NFL had to give Minnesota two extensions to sell out their first home playoff game in many years, which they were able to do. (Thank you Eagles fans.)

Brett Favre would certainly alleviate those problems. By drafting Percy Harvin instead of Micheal Oher, the Vikings made it clear that excitement was more important than improving the team. Harvin is a major weapon, but with a lengthy injury history, small frame, and no set position.

If excitement is what you want, Favre can bring it. If a team atmosphere is what you want, turn the other way.

The last few years in Green Bay were tough for Favre. After being treated like royalty by Mike Sherman, he was treated like an NFL player by Mike Mccarthy and Ted Thompson.

After getting traded to the Jets, they burst on the scene to an 8-3 record, behind Thomas Jones and short-quick passing by Favre. After their win at Tennessee, Favre went to head coach Eric Mangini, and said they had to be more aggressive. He was happy they were winning, but not the way they were winning.

If you put aggressive and Favre in the same sentence, two touch downs, nine interceptions, and a 1-4 finish is what you get.

The Minnesota Vikings have two very average quarterbacks on their team. Why not a third? In his Star Tribune column, Partick Reusse said it best: “We’re [vikings fans] big enough suckers who would fall for a washed-up legend.”

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