Could the Vikings Bench Brett Favre In Week 6 Matchup Against the Cowboys?

For those of you watching last week’s contest against the New York Jets, something obviously seemed amiss, out of place, and even downright wrong.

It wasn’t so much the Vikings' inability to separate themselves from the Jets; rather, it was the curiously off-target long balls that Favre was seemingly throwing with his eyes closed.

Now obviously, the perennial pro-Bowler wasn’t doing his best impersonation of Chris Angel and aimlessly throwing the football behind his darkened closed eyelids, he was simply showing signs of a nasty little ailment called tendinitis.

And therein lies a bit of a problem.

Tendinitis in the elbow doesn’t just magically go away with a little bit of treatment or rest, it has a tendency to stick around like your in-laws after Christmas Day. So with that said, the Vikings are expected to make a final decision about Favre’s status at game time on Sunday, despite other news reports that say he will, in fact, start.

But a starting gig only preserves Favre's record number of consecutive starts, it doesn’t guarantee he won't be pulled if he can’t get the job done.

Offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell was quoted in the Star Tribune as saying:

"If a guy's going to play, you've got to play it the way that you're going to play it...You're not going to be able to hide the quarterback. If he's got to make the throws, he's got to make the throws. If he can't make them, then you've got to put someone else in there who's going to make them."

In a nutshell, the Vikings are 1-3 and have to get something going to win, and if that means removing a legendary—but ineffective—quarterback, then the team will do what it has to do in order to afford themselves the best chance to win.

The Vikings thrive on a vertical passing game, especially with the addition of Randy Moss, and while Tarvaris Jackson is no Brett Favre, he is a healthy quarterback who knows the system.

If Favre can’t go the distance, or even one quarter, this team needs to pull the old man before Dallas—an explosive offensive team in their own right—goes bonkers on them and puts the game out of reach.

The Vikings are not without their own firepower with Randy Moss, Percy Harvin, Adrian Peterson, and the fifth-ranked defense in the National Football League, so it isn’t as if the Vikings can’t handle the Dallas Cowboys’ second-ranked offense and 12th-ranked defense.

This is where quality management really comes in handy.

The Vikings and ”Chilly” have come under heavy fire for their in-game management, but at this stage in the season, the Vikings simply have to make the hard choices if they want to pave the way for an easier road ahead.

If not, the Vikings could not only miss the postseason, but face a full-blown upheaval at the end of what could be the most disappointing season in recent memory.