Brett Favre's Return: Good for the Lions?

I thought this time it was over.

I thought, after drawing the ire of both his once-devoted Green Bay fans for his constant “will he, won’t he” drama, and half the city of New York (or whatever percentage the Jets contingent makes up nowadays) for his late-season collapse, Brett Favre would realize the damage he’s doing to his legacy and stick to his decision to hang up the cleats this time.

Clearly, I underestimated him. Either his stupidity, his competitive spirit, or (most likely) his desire for some juvenile revenge against the Packers knows no bounds. Yet, here he comes again, this time to the Minnesota Vikings.

Admittedly, I rather hate devoting column space to his name, much less a full article, but as a Lions fan, seeing a quarterback continue to delay his induction to the Hall of Fame by returning to the NFC North carries heavy implications.

I’m not going to get into my personal feelings about Favre,  because those are irrelevant, and increasingly mixed. This is about what Favre’s return (and it’s happening, don’t fool yourselves) means in a football sense.

It’s hard to argue that the Vikings don’t get better with Favre. I’ve tried to make that argument myself, but the reality is that the Vikings’ quarterback situation is abysmal.

Tavaris Jackson is an awful quarterback, and won’t get any better. Three years is how long it takes to judge a draft pick, right? Well, in 2006, most experts thought the Vikings reached about two rounds too early for Jackson when they took him as the last pick of the second round. Three years, a 138.7 passing yards per game average, and a 76.5 QB rating later, it looks like they were right.

Sage Rosenfels was to be the answer for the Vikings, joining the team after three years of being deemed less valuable than Matt Schaub and David Carr in Houston. He has shown flashes of brilliance, but has also been marred by inconsistency, and tends to look like a low-tier backup immediately after looking like a stud.

Favre will be an instant starter. Whether it’s warranted or not is irrelevant, because Favre won’t sign otherwise. After all, he’s not some washed-up veteran quarterback who continues to try even though his best days and the majority of his skills are behind him.

Of course, that’s exactly what he is in every mind except his own, but as long as he thinks that way, Favre gets what Favre wants.

And Favre wants to start. He wants to play, and he wants to beat the Packers wearing purple. He may say things about Super Bowls, contributing to the Vikings, making the team better, the community, whatever.  He’s going to lie. What he wants is to perform a Lambeau Leap without a yellow and green helmet.

So what do the Lions want? As a rebuilding organization, the Lions don’t really care about Favre.

There is zero effective organizational memory in Detroit from Favre’s Green Bay days, so head coach Jim Schwartz and defensive coordinator Gunther Cunningham have no advantage drawing up a plan for one quarterback over another. The only difference is that there is more game film to study on Favre.

In fact, the Lions have something to gain from Favre’s return. The Minnesota Vikings badly need to address their quarterback situation in a long-term sense, and anybody who thinks Favre will accomplish this is delusional (and probably named Brett Favre).

Favre would be nothing more than a stopgap in Minnesota, a guy to take some snaps and win some games for a year or maybe two, while they figure out who is the future.  The ironic thing is, the longer Favre plays, the longer it takes for the Vikings to fix their most glaring problem.

The Lions, on the other hand, don’t really care about 2009. The season has more or less been shot since the team finished with a zero on the wrong end of its record and half the organization was tuned over.

Therefore, whether Brett Favre makes the Vikings better in 2009 or not is an unimportant question to the Lions. Kevin Smith is the only guy in Detroit thinking “playoffs." If Favre drops 10 touchdowns against the Lions this season, it’s not going to mean much in the long run.

On the contrary, if Favre loses to the Lions, it’s a huge boost to the team. The Detroit Lions have not won at Lambeau Field since Brett Favre started playing the professional game, which means the Lions have never beat Brett Favre at home.

With his return, now they have one last chance. If they lose, it’s business as usual. But the possibility of a win at the Metrodome, against Brett Favre, is also a possibility to remove yet another monkey from the Lions’ back and make a statement about the direction of the franchise.

And in 2010, or 2011, or whenever Favre decides to leave the Vikings via retirement, change his mind in the spring, and look for another franchise with a weak QB situation to prey on, the Vikings will be back to square one. The QB situation will still be up in the air, Adrian Peterson will have a few more miles on him, and the Vikings’ window will begin to close.

Meanwhile, the Lions will have Matthew Stafford ready to go, and will have more drafts and offseasons to fill team needs. Regardless of past managerial errors,  the Lions  appear to actually get it this time, so there is some relative confidence for the first time in a while that the team can and will get better.

The Vikings can get better, too. If they wanted to, they could match the Lions step-for step and ascend to a 12-4 record as the Lions ascend to 9-7.

Instead, they want Brett Favre. They want to relegate Rosenfels to a backup role again, and put Jackson’s career in limbo.  Like a baseball team trading prospects for a big-name pitcher with an expiring contract, the Vikings are mortgaging the future to win now.

And maybe they can. Maybe Favre is the long-lost answer, an unforeseen puzzle piece that fits in and makes the Vikings’ offense glow with an unearthly quality. Maybe they win 14 games with him at the helm.

The Detroit Lions could care less, because once Favre’s latest run is done, the Vikings will be right where they are now, with a core that has a year or two less open window space, and another quarterback controversy.

And when that happens, the Lions will be right where they need to be to hit the gas and jet past them.

Dean Holden is the "Voice of the Lions" on NFLTouchdown.com. Check it out for in-depth analysis on the Lions and all 31 other NFL teams.