It's like Favre never left

On July 28, it appeared as if the Brett Favre saga had reached its conclusion, once and for all.

He told Sports Illustrated’s Peter King that he had reached the hardest decision of his life. He would be turning down the Minnesota Vikings’ repeated offers to quarterback their franchise and live out his remaining days on a farm (or whatever media-perpetuated myth was floating around that week).

“By saying no, I know I’m leaving an incredible opportunity on the table, and that opportunity is not coming back,” Favre told King.

But on Tuesday, it became painfully clear that Favre isn’t going anywhere. Not for a long, long time.

FoxSports.com’s Jay Glazer broke the news that Favre would likely be returning to play professional football on Monday, with those reports being verified the following morning.

Yes, that incredible opportunity did, in fact, come back. Because Brett Favre is never to be trusted.

Yesterday, the 39-year-old Favre took his first snaps as a Minnesota Viking, who will pay him between $10 and $12 million to play quarterback.

Given that Green Valley has so many residents from Wisconsin and Minnesota, this is a story that has an enormous impact on hundreds (if not thousands) of our area’s football fans.

A team player?

If Favre is serious about returning to the NFL and leading the Vikings to the Super Bowl, he is going to need to win over his new teammates in a hurry — the same teammates that have endured mini-camp and the rigorous summer training camp.

While just about everyone else in a Vikings’ uniform has been enduring brutal two-a-days in sweltering temperatures, Favre has been casually tossing around the pigskin on a Mississippi high school field and giving misleading interviews.

Meanwhile, Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels were under the impression that they were battling it out to become Minnesota’s signal caller.

Neither quarterback has looked particularly good this preseason, and this position has been Minnesota’s major achilles heel since head coach Brad Childress threw his full support behind the maddeningly inconsistent Jackson three years ago.

Now, Childress has pulled the rug out from under Jackson and Rosenfels, as Favre will be immediately inserted as the team’s starter. It makes sense, given his Hall-of-Fame credentials, but that leads to the next question.

How good is he?

Is Favre even good anymore?

When he pulled this “will he or won’t he play?” routine last year, he ended up in New York, slinging the ball for the Jets.

Favre played well the first half of the season, but completely collapsed toward the end and kept the Jets from reaching the playoffs.

In the last five games of 2008, Favre and the Jets went 1-5, with the Wrangler-wearing “good ol’ boy” from Mississippi throwing nine interceptions compared to only two touchdowns.

He was bothered by a shoulder injury during that stretch, but his decision-making was exceptionally poor.

Outside of his strong 2007 regular season (his final year as a Green Bay Packer), Favre has been thoroughly mediocre (at best) during the last four seasons. His ability to freelance in the pocket (his strength during his MVP heyday) was limited by diminishing physical skills, which led to the kinds of boneheaded throws football fans typically saw from quarterbacks such as Aaron Brooks or (ironically) Tavaris Jackson.

However, Favre’s past greatness and his buddy-buddy relationships with many influential media members obscured these facts.

The media

Along those lines, it’s been comical to trace the mainstream media’s coverage of the Favre saga.

King, who used to be one of the sport’s most trusted reporters, turned into a Favre cheerleader the past few years, defending everything he said and did.

In his latest article for Sports Illustrated, King lays all the blame of this circus at Childress’ feet, because his friend Favre allegedly just wants to get out there and play.

The tired refrain we’ve heard during the past five years: “He’s like a kid out there!”

Meanwhile, Glazer continues to report circles around everyone. No major sport has a reporter as plugged in as Glazer. He seems to break almost every relevant story associated with the NFL, and he makes it look easy.

The conclusion

Yes, on paper, Favre makes the Vikings a Super Bowl contender.

They have the game’s most dominant offensive force in Adrian Peterson, a devastating pass rusher in Jared Allen, big-time playmakers in Bernard Berrian and lightning-fast rookie Percy Harvin, and a stout rushing defense.

Inadequate quarterback play and terrible coaching decisions have submarined this team’s hopes every year. If Favre provides any kind of stability and Childress learns from his mistakes, the Vikings could be a scary team.

But the words “Favre” and “stability” don’t belong in the same sentence. Not anymore.

The thousands of Vikings’ fans scattered across the globe must have serious mixed feelings about this signing. As our own Andrew Kneeland pointed out, this fanbase has been trained to revile Favre. As the face of the hated Packers, he’s done more to torture Vikings fans than anyone.

Meanwhile, Green Bay faithful can’t feel good about this, either. The man they saw as a hero is now wearing enemy colors. It'd be like seeing Lute Olson coach at Arizona State.

It just proves how frustratingly pointless being a sports fan can be sometimes.

A fan’s take

Editor’s note: Green Valley News intern Andrew Kneeland has been rooting for the Minnesota Vikings for as long as he remembers following the NFL. The news that Brett Favre would be signing with his beloved team left him with mixed feelings, to say the least.

Brett Favre to the Minnesota Vikings. Who would have thought? Actually, who didn’t?

In what was an almost foregone conclusion, Favre signed a deal with his former archrival and will take snaps for the purple during the 2009 season.

As a life-long Vikings fan, I have been trained to hate both the Green Bay Packers and Brett Favre. They are the enemy. I’m sure blood has been spilled between fans of these two teams.

When I heard the news that the same player I had been raised to hate was going to be the leader of my favorite team, I didn’t know what to think.

On one hand, this is almost a lose-lose situation for the Vikings. Either the same Favre that threw 22 interceptions last year will take the reins, bringing us all down with him, or Favre plays like the best quarterback this team has seen since those Daunte Culpepper days of old.

If the former is the case, we’re in the same position we’ve become all-to-familiar with: watching the playoffs on television. If the latter turns out to be true, Packers fans will never cease to torment us, but we could finally have a ring on our fingers.

On the other hand, this Vikings team is one quality signal-caller short of a special season. Four years from now, the best tailback in the league, Adrian Peterson, won’t be at his peak. In four years, our league-best run defense won’t be what it is now. In four years, this team won’t have the opportunity it has now. Clearly, the window of opportunity for Minnesota is rapidly closing.

If Favre can beat the odds and provide the gunslinger we need, I may consider thinking differently of him. For now, however, Favre will continue to be as he’s always been. That doesn’t mean I’m not rooting for him, though.

Andrew Kneeland

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747