Would Brett Favre Become a Cleveland Brown?

On the eve of the NFC Championship, it’s worth asking what Brett Favre’s future may be.

It seems like every offseason for the last 10 years has had the WWBFD question surrounding it. I’m surprised they haven’t made bracelets for it yet.

Favre’s willingness to play next season comes down to two main factors: desire and winning another Super Bowl. Desire can’t be quantified, and even Favre never really seems to know if he wants to play the next season until late July/early August.

It seemed pretty obvious by his actions going into the 2009 season that while he still wants to play, he’s not very interested in attending training camp anymore. Judging by his early season performance, it’s hard to argue with his choice.

Should Favre lead the Vikings to a Super Bowl victory, this whole scenario becomes a moot point, because he’ll probably ride that victory into the sunset. It’s the perfect way to end his career.

But should Favre falter, either in the Championship Game, or at the Super Bowl, then that itch may present itself again next summer, and, depending on the Vikings situation, he may decide to try another venue.

His reasons for wanting to play for the Vikings clearly centered around "revenge" against the Green Bay Packers for moving on, and that's been accomplished tenfold this year. So with revenge out of the way, if he wants to play one more season, he may look to familiar faces.

With Mike Holmgren now firmly in place as the big boss in Cleveland with Eric Mangini as the head coach, Cleveland would present itself as the place with a lot of familiar faces. Holmgren shaped Favre into the Hall of Fame quarterback he is today and most likely would relish the opportunity to have his veteran presence on the club.

While Cleveland may not seem like a favorite to even make the postseason in 2010, stranger things have happened. With 11 draft picks and one of the strongest leadership teams in place, don't count the Browns out of anything next year.

The AFC North isn't the strongest division, and even a 9-7 record could win it next year, as the Bengals may not be able to repeat their success, the Steelers may be headed for a rebuild, and the Ravens have some holes of their own to fill.

Holmgren hasn’t publicly stated what the team is going to do about its two quarterbacks, but Holmgren’s lack of support for either Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson would indicate he’s probably going to move on.

The relationship between Mangini and Favre is an unknown, but it can’t be that great considering Favre threw Mangini under the bus for the Jets collapse down the stretch of the 2008 season. That being said, business is business, and if Holmgren and Mangini both agree a 40-year-old Brett Favre can help the team and is available, Favre could be suiting up in Brown and Orange.

While Favre always seems to bring a lot of drama with him into training camp, that drama traditionally has turned into victories once the regular season starts, so it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

One thing is for sure. Only Favre knows what lies in his future after this season, and nobody else will know until he steps onto the practice field or decides to call it a career.