Brad Childress and Vikings Give Brett Favre All the Time in the World

Sometimes the worst decisions provide the best results.

When listening to my beloved footballguys.com podcast, The Audible , earlier this month, co-host Sigmund Bloom had a very interesting approach that the Vikings should take towards handling Brett Favre.

Bloom said he thought that rather than Minnesota imposing a deadline on when Favre needs to tell the team whether he is coming back, the Vikings should just plan on Favre not coming back and then welcome him with open arms if he decides to return for a 20th NFL season.

Forget worrying about how this messes with the psyches of backup signal-callers Tavaris Jackson (free agent) and Sage Rosenfels (under contract). Forget about the endless distractions that it would create in a mob scene training camp. Forget about the endless media coverage and bombardment of questions peppered at the Purple People-Eaters.

But I agree with Bloom: This plan will still work. How do I know? Because it worked last year.

Favre did not meet the Vikings’ team-imposed deadline of when they needed to know if he was joining them last year. Minnesota head coach Brad Childress said he moved on. But I guess he really didn’t.

Because what happened was that Favre said he was game for joining the Vikes and Childress met him the minute he landed in the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Then the 40-year-old quarterback proceeded to have arguably the best season of his career and came within a couple plays of taking the Vikings to the Super Bowl.

Well, nothing’s changed. Many Minnesota players have already said they’re on board with whatever Favre decides. Defensive tackle Kevin Williams said he was even good with the quarterback skipping two-a-days again.

Today Childress told reporters he wouldn’t set a deadline for Favre to make his annual decision , a sign he knows setting one would be meaningless anyway.

Childress gets it. By saying no deadline exists, it makes it impossible for reporters to question him about one. There’s also less pressure on Favre and the other Minnesota quarterbacks. They all know where they stand, and there’s nothing they can do. When Favre comes back, he’s the man. And Jackson and Rosenfels will prepare like he is gone until something changes.

This is a terrible way to run a football team.

Just terrible enough to work again.