Give it up to #4, everyone. He's managed to do what few players in the history of the NFL have ever done. Favre is now more of a story off the field than he ever was on the field. While the other 31 teams benefit from the rare pleasure of flying under the radar as Favregate enters its most critical period to date, Brett and his former bosses have woven a tapestry like none other in the history of the NFL.
While I've long been a critic of Favre holding his team mates and employer hostage come the April showers, I find myself in an unusual space for this chapter of the never retiring story.
Favre's "does he or doesn't he" act wore thin with me the very first time he engaged the media in his musings. I think it's incumbent upon every professional athlete, especially those integral to a team, to manage their communication more considerately than Favre has done. The impact of Favre's off-season vacillations has, and should have worn thin among the Packer brass after the first two spring-flings. Players constantly resort to the tried and true "hey, it's a business" rap in contract negotiations, and they have a right to do so. At the same time, resource management is as critical a part of the NFL business as exists. So why not apply the same ethic to the NFL business as any employee in any other business considering retirement would do. Announce one's retirement when one is retiring, shut up until then. The pitch and yaw of Favre's externalized internal discussion is disservice to every co-worker upon whose future organizational stability is built.
It's been sickening watching the last few offseasons turn into the Wisconson Favre watch. It's clear that throwing season busting picks isn't enough to keep the Bayou baby engaged for the non-football months. Although he could spend his time wondering why he heaves hail marys into DB's hands at the worst possible moment, or why he jams January spirals into the hands of the opponents, sending his 52 team mates to the golf course of their liking.
But aside from John Madden's glee of the extension of his annual man-crush, this offseason has gone from uncertain to gut wrenching in a blink. It's a different sitchoo because Favre and his employer had "crossed the Rubicon". Favre uppped the ante considerably once he announced his spirit was willing, but his body was unwilling although still able.
Then the Packers, maybe more tired (of watching every season of the last ten end in a loss) than they care to admit, held the "get out of Favre free card" Mike McCarthy can't tell the cheeseheads he coveted. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure McCarthy appreciates all that Favre has done to elevate the organization. But there are a lot of very successful coaches who pin their success on caretakers rather than gunslingers at the QB spot. McCarthy, regardless of his positional history, likes to win with defense and strong fundamentals. Now who is Mike Mac more able to mold at the QB spot; a living legend or an unproven commodity? It's this idea that makes me think Favre may have "crossed the Rubicon" (much like Bill Cowher in Pittsburgh) with a gentle shove. It's this idea that makes me think that much more of this year's drama sits in the hands of the Packers FO than #4.
And that's ok. Just like every player has the right to retire or un-retire, every team has the right to move on.
Here's what's not ok. Every NFL team has the right to pay a player as contracted, to play them or not play them. It's not always fair, but it's what both sides agree to when they sign at the bottom line.
The Packers, in their infinite wisdom, have chosen to play the NFL slavery card. They not only want Favre not to play for them, they want him not to play for anyone. Because the Pack own Favre's rights, they're exercising the right to preserve #4's legacy against his wishes. In trying to do so, they have already tarnished their legacy mor than Favre's annual immaturity has tarnished his own.
The Packers have geometrically outFavre'd Favre with this ugly circus, and it's incumbent upon them as a respectable organization to do not what best serves them, but best serves the game. Favre, regardless of his antics is still among the best regular season QB's in the game. He wants to play. The Packers were among the best teams in the NFL last year, in large part due to an excellent young defense and emergent running game. They want to move on with Aaron Rodgers.
It's not the easy thing, it may or not be the best short term answer for the Packers, but the right thing to do is let Favre go to play where he's wanted.
Legendary QB's have finished their careers in different colors before, and franchises lived to tell the tale. No one thinks of Joe Montana as a KC Chief (and he won 4 SB's as a 49er by the way), so the Packers' insistence that they're trying to preserve a legacy doesn't hold much water.
It's become abundantly clear that the Packers FO is trying both to eat their cake and have it too. Every day that passes only makes them look more piggish.
So please, Packers potentates, let the man go. As John Madden says, two Favres don't make a Favre.
Regardless of where one sits on the relevance of the Brett Favre career calculations, his long overdue departure set in motion a series of noteworthy discussions. Among them:
1. Is Favre the best QB ever?
2. Is Favre one of the best QB's ever?
3. Is Favre the best Packer QB ever?
4. Was this year the "right" year for #4 to retire?
They're all great questions, but it merits mention that one must first define "greatness" before even entering the discussion.
1&2.
If you love stats, there's no question Favre is one of the best ever. He stands atop a class including Moon, Marino, Fouts, Kelly and a handful of others who piled up great regular season records/stats in a game more defensively hamstrung with every passing year.
It's kind of ironic for me though, that Favre reminds me of my favorite and the original GOB, Gunslinger QB, Terry Bradshaw though. Actually, it just makes me wonder how Bradshaw would have performed under the same rule set.
But if one cares about winning, the real winning, Brett Favre has more in common with Trent Dilfer than Joe Montana. That's why it's hard for me to even consider him an elite, top ten performer. The rush by the media to anoint Favre as the King of QB's is about as undeserved as as awarding the Nobel Prize in Physics for the Clapper.
Bradshaw even went on record as saying his greatest accomplishment was that her never lost a SB.
But doubtlessly, there are some greats that have lost a championship. The one that most comes to mind is the phenomenal Otto Graham. 10 Championship game appearances in ten years, and seven championships.
No one even mentions Otto Graham. Even though he played in a era where defenders abused receivers and QB's like they were inmates at Alcatraz, and Graham was the poster boy for developing the face mask after a blow to the jaw left him with 15 stitches.
Ten years, 7 Championships, 86.6 passer rating, 105-17-4 record and 88 TD's.
Now tell me that Favre compares to that? Or even try to extrapolate what Graham would have done under the NFL-lite PI, IC and Roughing rules in place today.
When you consider what Graham did, it's hard to imagine that any of the talking heads have even as much of a clue about NFL history. Or even recent history.
Don't even get me started about Johnny U.
Bradshaw is on TV every Sunday. He won 4 SB's in six years. Montana is hardly an afterthought, with the highest QB rating ever in the post season, over 100. Aikman, yeah he shows up every so often.
And what About 3-1 Tom Brady?
So until we have a stats bowl to decide the best of the best every season, Favre is a very good, but not elite QB.
The sad fact is though, we'll never be able to compare these guys side by side. So the question borders on moot.
3. Bart Starr won 5 Championships. Favre won one. So this question is a joke too.
4. No. He didn't pick the right year, he should have retired four or five years ago after that six-pick with a pick-six, meltdown in the post season. The sad fact is, ever since Favre lost his babysitters, Mariucci, Gruden and Holmgren, he's been a pressure point disaster. He's the guy you can count on to make the worst possible play when it's all on the line. Once Holmgren left, and he had left before the Packers even blew that SB to the Ponies, Favre was cursed by his own hoopla. I honestly think he started buying into the hype.
Heck, Bradshaw had Noll, Montana had Walsh, Starr had Lombardi and Graham had Brown, who did Favre end up with? Yes, the Legendary Mike Sherman. What did we expect?
Don't get me wrong kids, I had to love Favre, if only for the literally challenged mis-pronunciation of Farvruh. But include him in the elite, much less anoint him the best? Come on.
All the hoopla tells me is how sorry the state of QB'ing has become since coaches took the game from the QB's hands and the NFL rule softeners made even the Kordell Stewart experience an option.
Favre was clearly an exceptional and durable athlete, and definitely an exceptional talent. But his career numbers, however inflated, do the talking. 17 years, one trophy.
That's one of my favorite lines, among many favorite lines, in the film "As Good As It Gets". Amazingly, Greg Kinnear managed to deliver a few gems in that film alongside the master, Jack Nicholson. Nicholson quickly sets Kinnear straight on his denial though, and I'd like to set Donald driver (and a legion of cheeseheads) straight on the Brett Favre no-show.
Favre has turned the entire Packer organization into a Miss Clairol commercial. Do you remember the "does she or doesn't she?" campaign?. In Favre's commercial, the question is will he or won't he? My guess is that he didn't show up and didn't bother to call because the Packers dared to put Aaron Rodgers #1 on the depth chart, because they intended to rest Favre.
But according to Donald Driver, that's not it at all, really. Brett just had things to do. Things that prevented him from respecting the team and organization and making a phone call. It's pretty nauseating to hear that Driver has fallen into the trap out of which the Packers FO can't dig itself. Meanwhile, John Madden's illegitimate son continues to lay waste to the team with his pre-adolescent antics. The Packers, of course have no one to blame but themselves. They could have stopped this silliness long ago.
As much as I despised the way Chuck Noll handled Terry Bradshaw in 1983, essentially telling an injured Bradshaw that "he should consider getting on with his life's work". I always liked the message that Noll sent to the team in general. Glen Edwards made the game ending pick in SB X and then held out the next season. Noll cut him. Bill Walsh made a difficult decision with Joe Montana. Jimmy Johnson traded Herschel Walker. That's the message great coaches send, no one player is more important than the team.
Favre disgusts me. He's living in a fantasy world where Mike Holmgren is still jammed up his ####, stopping him from those comical 6 interception playoff games or the underhanded, over the line of scrimmage game breakers. Favre is coming into his tenth season since Green Bay beat a hopeless NE squad in SB XXXI. In the meantime, Brett has delivered the worst playoff performance by a QB, ever, the first and second home playoff losses in Packer History, and gave away an NFC Divisional Game to the Eagles in 2004 with one of his bonehead specials to Al Harris, just to name a few lowlights.
So now, the Packer "legend" has decided that the best way to deflect the criticism he so greatly deserves is to question the Packers commitment to winning and personnel decisions. I couldn't agree more. The Packers have made the same mistake year in and year out with one player. If the Packers were serious about winning, they'd find a GM who hit his head on a rock this morning and trade the crybaby for a few players, or maybe a used tire or two. Favre is useless to GB, the team is not good enough to overcome the fact that he's regressed into the same guy who sat the bench in Atlanta. That's the problem with a little success, it makes stupid QB's think they have all the answers. The fact is, without Holmgren babysitting, Favre is a disaster waiting to happen. He proves it, year in and year out. Realistically though, Favre isn't the answer for any team though. He'll kill a good team in the playoffs or a bad team in the regular season. A few free agents in GB or elsewhere won't change that.
I guess the fans, press and FO in GB are still grateful for the one year "return to greatness" ten seasons ago. Favre should be glad he didn't play in Pittsburgh. Bradshaw won 4 SB's (that 4 times the number Favre won) for the Steelers. He got booed off the field two years later for a game ending pick against SD in the playoffs, and Chuck Noll questioned his desire to play the game even though he seriously injured his abdomen and elbow and played hurt for all of 1982.
I'm not saying that GB has to publicly attack or discredit Favre, like Noll and the Steelers did to Bradshaw, but it would make sense if they laid down the gauntlet. Favre's annual "Miss Clairol" act hurts the team he pretends to care so much about and stops them dead cold from moving on, which they must do anyway. The sickening irony is that Favre has no intention of making good on his threats, because he knows, deep down, that what the team really needs is to start over. But that wouldn't fill Brett's ego. In the meantime, a sorry bunch of players, executives and fans will continue to buy the BS that Favre is indispensable and gives the team the best chance to win. Not it at all, really.
