Brett Favre: How Will He Be Remembered As a Minnesota Viking?

Brett Favre, for the third time, has announced his retirement. It will be a highly debated topic whether or not it's for real this time. Assuming Favre is hanging up the cleats for good, it's time to examine his only season as a Minnesota Viking.

It was a season that saw Favre recapture his youth, while throwing a career-low seven interceptions. Despite his last pass being an interception in the NFC Championship game, there were more highs than lows. 

He led the Vikings to a 12-4 record and brought them within a game of the Super Bowl. It can't go unmentioned that his poor throw that was intercepted by Terry Porter cost the Vikings a chance to kick the game winning field goal that would have sent them to the Super Bowl. Instead Minnesota added another disappointing NFC Championship loss that is up there with Gary Anderson's missed field goal and the 41-0 pounding the New York Giants handed to them.

It's hard to imagine that members of the media and Vikings fans will look at Favre in Minnesota as a failure. But the real question is should they?

The ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl was not accomplished and the ol' gunslinger's inability to make this decision months ago cost the Vikings a chance to add a veteran quarterback, such as Donovan McNabb. McNabb would have been the perfect fit in Minnesota, maybe even better than the soon to be 41-year-old future Hall of Famer, but that is besides the point.

Minnesota also passed on Jimmy Clausen in the second round, instead opting to draft defensive back Chris Cook, with the 34th overall pick in the 2010 NFL draft. That was a puzzling move at the time considering Clausen has the potential to be a franchise quarterback. The Vikings could have groomed Clausen for a year while he learned from one of the game's best quarterbacks of all time.

Having Clausen would have also provided an insurance policy in case Favre retired, which as of now is the case. Instead the Vikings made a move that signaled that they were confident No. 4 was coming back. All I can say is that there will be a lot of second guessing in Minnesota if Clausen pans out and Cook isn't at least a starter within the next few seasons.

Enough with what could (and should) have been.

Looking at Favre's season statistically as a Viking, it was one of his best, if not the best, season to date. He made the Vikings a Super Bowl contender, something that they weren't beforehand and aren't now, with Tarvaris Jackson behind center. We can't forget Favre's memorable bullet to Greg Lewis as time expired to defeat the San Francisco 49ers. 

On the field The Brett Favre Experiment was a success but his latest retirement leaves a gaping hole at the quarterback position for the Vikings. It will be a success if he comes back at some point this season—like many seem to expect—and produces numbers even remotely close to last year.

But if he isn't wearing purple and gold at some point in the upcoming months, the Vikings are a borderline playoff team still in need of a quarterback. Favre gave his best last year but wound up short and it's possible that his retirement could hinder the Vikings for years to come.