Benedict Brett Favre? Not Necessarily

(Photo by Scott A. Schneider/Getty Images)

Favregate may be over for now, but what about when the season is over for the Vikings?  Will they play the retirement game, too? 

After listening to endless complaining, injury threats and whining from Packer fans calling radio stations, I am thoroughly disgusted.  Are there any level-headed people out there?

We, as fans, must understand that this is not your dad's NFL anymore.  Long gone are the days of players staying with one team their entire careers.  The NFL landscape has changed.  We need to move on and accept it.  After all, it was Paul Tagliabue's vision for parity in the NFL and we have it.

In 1991, it was free agency that fueled the NFL into what we have today.  The Packers (ironically) went after a defensive end from Philadelphia named Reggie White.  They wined and dined him, and he still could not make up his mind.

Playing to his faith, then-Packers coach Mike Holmgren left a message on White's answering machine that said, "Reggie, this is God and I want you to play for the Green Bay Packers."

As a player, who wouldn't like the attention given by a new team?  From a team standpoint, it is beneficial to have the player you just signed bring his old teammates over, as White did.  It's nothing more than player-to-player recruiting.  There were three former Packers on that same Viking team only a few years ago.

The "business" mantra has been put into these players heads so often, that they sometimes do not think twice about leaving their original teams or care about loyalty.  So what does this have to with Brett Favre?

It has everything to do with Favre and it also shows us how players are not the same anymore.  Players who stick with their original teams are a dying breed.  That's why when we have a Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Michael Strahan or Donald Driver, we support them to the fullest.  They are old school guys and there are not many left.

Favre wanted the Packers to woo him and persuade him not to retire.  They didn't do that.  From a Packers viewpoint, I understand, even though I do not agree.  Ted Thompson was looking out for the Packers team, not the player.  They had an aging veteran and a top draft pick riding the bench who was waiting for his time to shine.

So what would you do as general manager?  Would you keep him and wait for his play to decline and risk career injury (Steve Young, Troy Aikman), or keep him and tough it out?  If you think his play has not declined, look at these numbers.  Forget about regular season games, I want to look at the postseason, where championships are won.

Favre's passer rating in his last 12 postseason games was average at best—77.8.  In his last five wild-card games, he went 2-3 with more interceptions (nine) than touchdown passes (seven).  In his last three divisional playoff games, he went 1-2 with seven TDs and seven interceptions.  That's a 3-5 record with 14 touchdown passes and 16 picks.

Don't forget about his two most famous interceptions; the 4th and 26 game in Philadelphia and the most recent overtime championship game loss against the Giants.  Also, don't forget the famous six-interception loss against the Rams either.

It was a very tough decision, but both sides are still truly to blame.  Neither will admit their faults, but we will never know how it all really went down.  Like I said above, I understand it, but I don't agree.

Looking back, Brett Favre had plenty of opportunity to squash retirement talks from day one, but never did.  Instead, he would speak in riddles, give runaround answers and talk out of both sides of his mouth.  This was clearly not the Brett Favre of old.  Once the word "retirement" came out of his mouth during a press conference in 2001, it turned into a yearly topic fueled by his lack of an answer and the endless media hype.

What upsets me the most is that Favre never came out and said enough is enough.  It was his responsibility to do so and he simply did not do it.

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