NFC Championship: Vintage Brett Favre

Ryan Longwell had this to say of former Packers and current Vikings teammate Brett Favre after Sunday's loss: "It was a pleasure to see him play the way he did this year, because he shut a lot of people up and I'm proud of him for that."

Not me. To me he proved everything that I already knew: Favre is mentally and physically tough, still an exceptional talent at age 40, and still the guy who can literally throw it all away with the judgment of a rookie. And that he competed like an eager rookie right to the end.

He had no business throwing that last pass, and the fact that he still does not see this is the only reason he should never be considered the greatest of all-time. When asked about his record number of interceptions by ESPN analyst Tom Jackson, he quipped, "I guess it means I was trying."

No Brett, it means you still cannot consistently make the right decisions.

• Like all the times you have retired and come to the conclusion that the team you quit on was to blame for not taking you back.
• Or that we did not want you because they refused to re-sign a aging and oft-injured lineman (Marco Rivera) who did not even play 16 games after he left the Packers, a fact that still seems to elude the grizzled warrior.
• Or that we should sign a receiver (Randy Moss) who, even in the most disciplined environment (New England) took only two years for his admitted lack of effort to resurface. (And of course the Packers have a top five receiving corps anyway.)
• Or that you could roll to your right and throw against the grain, a basic fundamental no-no every quarterback is taught, but you have never learned in 19 years.

I know some people will say he did this because he could occasionally get away with it. But a quarterback exercising the most basic judgment simply does not do it when the four yards he could have run would have set up one of the most accurate kickers of all-time for a game-winning field goal.

Even the nature of the rest of the game, with four previous turnovers including two by Favre, should have told him that. But we know he does not listen to anyone or anything since Mike Holmgren left for Seattle, as evidenced by his failure to follow the gameplan in his final years as a Packer and by criticisms he has gotten since. In 2007 alone this was apparent in every Packers loss:

1. Against the Cowboys, when Rodgers was successful while Favre's bombs-away approach dug his team a big hole.
2. In the shadow of his own endzone, he threw a dumb pass right into the hands of Brian Urlacher that got Chicago back in the game in their first contest, and audibled to pass on several occasions despite the high winds in the second.
3. In the NFC Championship Game, he threw the pick that was his past Packers pass even though it was an out pattern into the wind facing tight coverage.

And now it looks like he might make his last pass a pick again, although personally I think he will retire then change his mind again...at least this time, his indecision will be the Vikings problem. (He may have gotten them one big win and a division title over the Packers, but still no championship, so it was not worth the albatross that follows.)

This failure to learn from his mistakes and feeling he does not have to listen to coaches is why he has the only three home losses in Green Bay Packers history, and has managed no road wins in the post-Holmgren era (4-7 overall). It has been a theme in his new homes, too, as a refusal to recognize Coach Brad Childress' authority could be seen this year, and Thomas Jones was not alone among Jets players complaining of Favre doing his own thing.

It looked this year like he might finally have been learning, as he had his fewest turnovers ever and to me, his best season (he led the league in touchdown-turnover ratio). I admit, this only led all the more to my feeling betrayed: "Sure, you could not protect the football until you could show up the franchise that gave you your start and stood by you during your drug addiction!"

But in my mind, had he showed that he had finally learned and become the oldest quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl, he would have solidified his place as the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All-Time). Instead, he proved again to be the goat.

As a Packers fan and Rodgers backer, I must admit I feel vindicated and relieved. If I am lucky, his last official pass on all three teams will be an interception (with the Jets, his completion that followed the late interception had a penalty to him because he lateraled forward following it), because there is no question he makes the Vikings better.

But in all the gushing from the likes of Jackson about Favre playing the game like a kid in sandlot, the focus on the fact that champion players approach it professionally is lost. Favre never grew up as a player because he was not made to, and that has cheated us all out of his massive unrealized potential.

I originally wrote this article for Sports Scribes . You can also see my work on Packer Chatters and Lambeau Leap of Faith .