Contrary to Popular Belief, This Isn't the Beginning of the End for Brett Favre

He's a wonder through the first 11 games, and a disaster through the final five. God help your team if you actually make it to the playoffs with this guy. Because from there, well, dear God.

This guy, being the legendary Brett Favre . This late-season slide, simply being yet another way for Favre-haters to unite and chuckle over coincidental stats, ignoring Favre's decaying supporting cast, or his own injuries that affect his performances.

I know, I know. What could any writer possibly come up with to excuse four straight seasons of late-season slides?

What could a writer possibly come up with that explains away Favre's two interceptions against the Arizona Cardinals (almost four), and proves that it won't happen for a fifth straight year?

It's actually fairly simple, especially if you look at the facts of each season and the severity of his "poor play" in the final five games of each season.

Favre actually played fairly well in the beginning of the season, despite beginning the season without Marco Rivera and Mike Wahle (who Ted Thompson let walk), and losing star receiver Javon Walker in the first game of the season.

Despite having  virtually no offense around him, very little protection, and losing Ahman Green in Week Five, Favre still managed to throw 17 touchdowns in the Packers ' first seven games, while tossing two or more in five straight games during that stretch.

At that time, Favre and the Packers were 2-7, and by the time his "11th game" came around, he and the offense were beaten up, tired, and lacking enough talent to compete against very solid defenses such as the Philadelphia Eagles , Chicago Bears (twice), Baltimore Ravens , and even the Seattle Seahawks .

Favre finished the Packers' 4-12 season with 29 interceptions (a career high), while many fans and experts deemed him "washed up," without thinking for a second about how little help he had during the course of the season.

Did he suffer a fade near the end of the season? Most definitely. But it is extremely arguable that any other quarterback would have struggled to do any better.

Verdict: The team failed Favre, and not the other way around.

Favre started the season with six touchdown passes in his first three games, and then took a backseat to a more controlled offensive attack, one that likely kept the Packers competitive, and held Favre back from trying to "rescue the offense" repeatedly, as he "only" threw 18 interceptions.

Favre did once again suffer a late-season slide, but not of epic proportions, as Green bay actually ended the season on a four-game winning streak to finish at 8-8, and Favre tossed for 285 yards in both of the final two games, and threw a touchdown in the final game of the season, a 26-7 win over the Chicago Bears.

Favre's offense was not without Javon Walker at this point, who was traded to the Denver Broncos , was balanced by an aging and slowed down Ahman Green, and had a fairly impressive rookie Greg Jennings who hit the "rookie wall" sometime around Week 10.

Verdict: Blame is 50-50. Favre didn't play great down the stretch, but he helped the team win four straight, and topped 285 yards in three of his final four games. Not the numbers or record of a man in decline.

Just two years ago, Favre built off the momentum he and his team garnered up from it's four-game winning streak to end the 2006 season, and began 2007 4-0.

Favre proceeded to guide the Packers to a 10-1 record, and eventually a 13-3 record, and a division title. Favre finished with 28 touchdowns and just 15 interceptions, as well as 4,000-plus passing yards.

Favre's so-called late-season fade didn't live up to prior expectations, as his 6-7 touchdown to interception ratio was neither amazing or horrific, as he simply had one horrible outing in frigid temperatures on the road against the Chicago Bears.

The other bad game? He threw two picks before leaving the Dallas Cowboys game with an arm injury.

However, in three of his last four games (all wins), Favre guided the Packers to 33-plus points, and threw for two touchdowns in each game.

Favre continued his "horrible slide" by putting the Packers on his back after two Ryan Grant fumbles, as he threw three touchdowns in a win over the Seattle Seahawks after being down 14-0.

The only real knock on Favre in the 2007 campaign was his average play in the NFC Championship, where he arguably played just as well as Eli Manning (if not better), as he threw for two scores and 236 yards, but had a misguided pass intercepted late in the game, resulting in a game-winner that sent the Giants to the Super Bowl.

Verdict: Outside of the interception against the Giants, Favre was money all season long, and without him, the Packers would have been lost.

This is probably the second easiest "Favre-slide" to explain, outside of the 2005 season, as Favre was playing great football en route to an 8-3 start for the Jets , despite joining the team late.

Favre then injured his arm and played terribly down the stretch, as he threw just two touchdowns to nine interceptions, as the Jets went 1-4 down the stretch to finish 9-7.

Verdict: There's not way the blame can't fall on Favre here, injury or not, but there definitely were many other issues with the team.

Stats showed that Thomas Jones and the running game was very ineffective past Week 11, the run defense couldn't stop anybody (even Peyton Hillis), and regardless of his arm injury, Favre's receivers had given up or quit on him-namely Laveranues Coles.

Here we go again, right?

Well, if you've been paying attention, you'd realize that the majority of Favre's struggles have happened when he loses a ton of talent and has to do things on his own, or he sustains a major injury.

None of that is happening in Minnesota right now. Yes, the Arizona Cardinals did a fantastic job and out-played the Vikings .

But this wasn't just about Favre. He actually looked fantastic on the first drive, and looked okay for most of the first half, but zero production from the running game and sketchy blocking from the offensive line resulted in Minnesota struggling mightily to move the ball.

On the other side of the ball, the Vikings didn't have an answer for Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald, or Tim Hightower. They couldn't even contain the Cardinals' return game, and constantly put their defense in bad situations.

Favre still finished the game with two touchdowns, and his final pass of the night ( a touchdown to Percy Harvin), was actually a thing of beauty. Yes, it was late and it didn't matter, but it also showed that when protected, Favre can get it to the receiver.

And that was the difference between Favre and Kurt Warner , as well as Favre and his former self in those other seasons. If his running game is even remotely helpful and his line can give him a few seconds, he's fine. If not, he can get hurt, or he can force bad throws.

We saw the bad on Sunday night.

Verdict: Favre had three interceptions going into his 12th game of the season, and despite the Cardinals giving up a ton of yards through the air all season, the real issue here was the pass rush.

The Cardinals threw a ton of different defensive looks at Favre and the offense, and when you're rushed on top of having to read complex schemes, the results are rarely good.

Regardless, no team on the Vikings regular season schedule poses this match-up problem, and two of the four remaining games are indoors, which benefits Favre greatly.

This writer does not foresee any extreme issues with Favre for the remaining four games, and as long as Favre is playing in a dome (either in Minnesota or New Orleans ) in the playoffs, there doesn't seem to be much cause for concern there, either.

The truth is, we just got a little reminder of what we hadn't been seeing out of Favre. We, NFL and Minnesota fans alike, had been spoiled. The Cardinals got to him and Adrian Peterson a bit, showed the Vikings they weren't invincible, and that they had things to work on.

And you can be certain that's exactly what Favre and Co. will address the weaknesses Arizona exploited.