So, Brett Favre has made up his mind now. Really. He’s gonna play. His mind’s made up. He’s now a Minnesota Viking.
Well…maybe I get surprised, but I can’t see how this works out well at all for Minnesota. Favre has had one good season lately (the year before last), but despite his “Iron Man” tendency to not miss starts, his physical effectiveness has gone down steadily, year by year, until last year he managed to lead the NFL in interceptions thrown. Passing accuracy and arm troubles generally aren’t the kinds of problems that start to reverse themselves as quarterbacks with enormous amounts of mileage reach the age of 39 and their sixteenth or seventeenth season in the league. I’m thinking that a lot of eyes popped in the Midwest today, and the eyes that did the most popping were the defensive backs at Bears, Lions and Packers’ training camps. They’ve all got to be salivating at the prospect of watching Favre for another year as he runs around and lobs grapefruit-like passes out of his refusal to accept that he just can’t make the throws he could make ten years ago when he was already four years past his Super Bowl title.
What does Favre bring to the Vikings? At this point, I have no idea. Yes, he brings fierce competitiveness. But that’s about it, I think. He’s not a quarterback who is anywhere near the top of his game. He brings a larger-than-life persona that could well undermine the efforts of a relatively new coach. And he delays, by a year and maybe two, the Vikings’ development of whoever they think their quarterback of the future is going to be. By bringing him in, it’s clear that they’ve pretty much given up, rightly or wrongly, on Tarvaris Jackson. But with Favre there now, he takes up a valuable year or two while the Vikes have a pretty good defense in place and a hell of a running back. If Favre plays both the years on his contract, by the time he leaves the Vikings will again be in transition. As a “win now” type of move, signing Favre doesn’t seem like the best idea in the world.
The Vikings were 10-6 last year, while Favre’s Jets were 9-7. Now, I think that the Vikes are better than the Jets, so the question becomes: does Favre make the Vikings better? I’m just not sure that he does. Maybe one more win, for 11-5. I don’t think that Favre makes the Vikes a team that can really contend with the conference’s best teams (the Giants and Eagles). So: with Favre, I think the Vikings have put themselves in a tough spot. By going for the old veteran, they’ve committed themselves to a very narrow window of opportunity for winning, and they’ve done it with a guy who just doesn’t seem like much of a winner anymore. I don’t expect that this will backfire to the tune of a 4-12 season and the franchise in shambles, but I do think that this will translate to 10-6 for a couple of years and then some rebuilding once the current defense gets too old to be effective.
In short, while I’m not sure that Vikings fans will come to hate the Favre signing (it’ll never come close to replacing the Herschel Walker trade in the Vikings’ annals of poorly-considered personnel moves), I do think that in five years Vikes fans will look back on the Favre era much as Bills fans now look back on the Flutie era: a couple of pleasant and maddening years that didn’t amount to much.
The spotlight beckons. Her siren song indeed so sweet. The strongest of spirit cannot ignore. A hungry ego cries out in need. Humiliation is the end. As talent once so bright
Is now lamented.
The greatest Quarterback ever Bernie Kosar said it is hard to ignore the lure of being the QB. He now is physically crippled, financially bankrupt, in the process of a messy divorce and yet still pines for the spotlight. This is a man who graduated in 2 years with a degree in finance beat out a much physically superior Vinnie Testaverdie to take Miami to a national championship. This is a man who when asked which team he would play for if he had his choice of ANY team, he said without a pause "The Cleveland Browns".
Even the great ones succumb to the call of the powerful siren.
I will say the same thing I said to my girlfriend, a lifelong Packers fan, who was incredibly sad at this news: "Get over it." Of course, I said, "I"m sorry" in a sympathetic manner first. Here's three things Favre has more of at 39 that Tavaris and Sage: (1) arm strength (2) knowledge of the NFC North and the Vikings offense (3) experience (4) swagger (5) intangibles. There's a narrow window for most NFL teams. The Vikings clearly lacked a seasoned, quality QB as one of their pieces. Now they have one. I surely cannot say they are better without Favre.
Also, I could give a crap about people who complain about flip-flopping his retirement. Are people allowed to change their minds? Can they not work for whomever they want? Are the rivalries sacred to only the fans and not to the NFL teams and players? Yes to all. Anyone who feels that Favre "betrayed" the Packers is way to close to this one.
Here in Minnesota I'm not sensing a lot of joy. Vikings fans don't have much love for Farve historically, after all, and as you say, he's past his prime. And he really, really jerked them around on this.
My husband, on the other hand, is a Bears fan transplanted to Minneapolis, and is thrilled. He says this will make beating the Vikings both easier and much more fun.
I personally feel a little sorry for Farve. The man obviously wants to play football, desperately. Age takes its toll on all of us, but world class atheletes get "old" so young, and football must be a huge part of Brett Farve's identity — who is he if he isn't a quarterback? I wouldn't want to be forced into retirement, to live the rest of my life as a has-been, at the age of 39 either…
I can spell "Favre", really… It's just that my fingers can't.
Favre will be far better than Sage and Tavaris. Good sign, I just wish he didn't waffle about it for 4 months to skip training camp.
Could it be that the Vikings are mainly hoping to fill a lot of stadium seats?
Even better than filling a stadium full of seats, the Vikings are going for the Prize: the only NFL team to play in five Super Bowls, and lose them all. You see, it's all a plot to make Buffalo look good. Farve will somehow manage to avoid too many interceptions until the very last game, the big one. At least it will be an entertaining season.
Good for Brett.
It's not that he's playing w MN that bothers me, it's the melodrama. So, Favre: whatever.
I hope Favre steps it up this season and does well for his team.