A Favre return could help Vikings

By Jonathan Mohr  |   Thursday, July 03, 2008  |  Comments( 21 )

Minnesota Vikings
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If you're a Vikings fan, the news this week that Brett Favre still has an "itch" to play in the NFL has to make you smile.

(Before we proceed, let's get all the genuflecting out of the way: Yes, Favre is one of the greatest players of all time. Yes, he can still play. And yes, his return to Green Bay would be only slightly less newsworthy in Wisconsin than Jesus Christ himself throwing out the first pitch at a Brewers game.)

Were Favre to play again for the Packers, the boost Green Bay would get from having a player of his caliber on the field would be significant, which obviously wouldn’t be good for NFC North rival Minnesota. But that possibility seems remote.

What’s more likely is an even more intense version of the drawn-out Favre soap opera that’s become the norm over the last couple of years, where rumors fly back and forth about whether he wants to play this year and, if so, where.

That’s not a good situation for a team most consider the favorite to repeat as NFC North champion.

The fans worship him, but there have long been subtle signals from the Green Bay organization that the team would prefer to put the yearly speculation about Favre's future to rest and move on to life after Favre. As ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported in breaking the story, the Packers have spent this offseason preparing Aaron Rodgers to take over as quarterback. In doing so, the team's offensive scheme has "evolved."

And Green Bay didn't draft Brian Brohm and Matt Flynn a few months ago so they could hang out with Rodgers and keep his spirits up while he spends another year on the bench.

What this means for Minnesota will depend on who ends up under center when the Vikings open the season Sept. 8 at Lambeau Field.

Favre was already scheduled to be at the game to have his number retired, but if No. 4 is on his back rather than affixed to a wall somewhere, the atmosphere will be electric. Leading his team to victory under those circumstances might be more than Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson can handle at this stage in his development.

However, if Favre isn’t at Lambeau at all, perhaps because he’s suited up for another team, that atmosphere will be unplugged. Mortensen and several other sources have reported that Favre's discussions with the Packers may already have included a request that he be released.

And as Mike Florio wrote in a column for the Sporting News, if Favre wants to return and Green Bay wants that too, his $12 million base salary for 2008 will be fully guaranteed if he's on the opening-day roster.

That would be a tough hit for the franchise to absorb, although there's always the possibility of restructuring. But if Favre doesn't agree to that, the Packers would either have to take him back or let him go. Faced with that choice, it’s hard to see how they could keep him, modern-day hero or not.

If he's willing to walk and Green Bay is willing to let him, Favre should end up playing somewhere else that weekend in early September. There's even a slight chance he could take the field on that Monday night with a Vikings helmet on his head.

Whatever the outcome, Favre's unwillingness, or inability, to say once and for all that he will never play in the NFL again is not helping Green Bay. And the longer this plays out, the greater the distraction will be. If it persists until training camp, the ramifications could continue long after the season’s opening weekend.

But imagine what the reaction at Lambeau will be that Monday night in September if, after watching Favre lead some other team to victory the day before, the Packer faithful see Rodgers throw an interception on his team's first possession.

That's an atmosphere Tarvaris Jackson can work with.
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About Jonathan Mohr

A lifelong Vikings fan, I live in the Twin Cities area (about a mile from Winter Park) and work as an editor at a boating magazine. As with all long-suffering Vikings fans, I patiently look forward to the day when Minnesota finally breaks through and wins a Super Bowl. Until then I eat my ...
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CommentsComments: 21  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
bardley80		09:52 AM
07/04/2008
I think Favre likes all the attention that these sort of "will he or won't he?" rumors get. As if people, particularly Packer ...
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No.2
Hindi		10:21 AM
07/04/2008
Favre motivates that team like nothing else could. It's like when Bobby Boucher came back and led SCLSU to win the Bourbon ...
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No.3
RedskinFan21ST		10:39 AM
07/04/2008
It would be absolutely horrible if Brett Favre came back for the Vikings. The Vikes have enough of this guy it would be a ...
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