Brett Favre, Are You Kiddin’ Me?

August 19, 2009

By The Phoenix

He may be here.

He may even make fans in Minnesota cheer.

But I’m telling Vikings fans to get over it.

In a (not so shocking) turn of events, Brett Favre came out of retirement for the — I don’t know; I lost track — time. Last year, Favre sobbingly retired from the NFL only to come back to the New York Jets: gray beard and all.

The Mangini/Favre marriage seemed to be working. We saw it all pan out like Cliff and Claire Huxtable as the Jets started 8-3. Next thing you know, the Jets lost four of their last five games, and the Mangini/Favre wedding appeared to be more like Al and Peggy Bundy.

Favre retired again … thankfully. He wasn’t the three-time MVP I grew to enjoy in the mid and late 90s. Like a beautiful butterfly maturing from a cocoon — but in reverse.

Naturally, when reports of Favre coming out of retirement (again) to play for the Vikings, my immediate reaction was: Why?

Why won’t he just walk away?

Why do teams think Favre still has it? (after rotator cuff surgery, by the way).

I just couldn’t wrap my head around a logical explanation. Here I am hours later, and at this point, the Eagles signing of Michael Vick makes more sense to me.

The Vikings and their fans need to accept they aren’t getting the mid 90s Favre. They aren’t even getting the early 2000s Favre, which would have been better than the 2008 Favre: a quarterback that’s like an operating system with more bugs than (pick any Windows operating system).

Remember when Brad Childress said that he could groom Tavaris Jackson to be like Donovan McNabb? What happened with that? Towards the end of 2008, it looked like Jackson was putting it together while Favre was falling apart. Compare the last four games of both QBs:

Week 14

Tarvaris Jackson
8-10, 105 yds, TD (one half)

Brett Favre
20-31, 137 yds, INT

Week 15

Tarvaris Jackson
11-17, 163 yds, 4 TD

Brett Favre
17-30, 207 yds, TD, 2 INT

Week 16

Tarvaris Jackson
22-36, 233 yds, 2 TD

Brett Favre
18-31, 187 yds, 2 INT

Week 17

Tarvaris Jackson
16-26, 239 yds, TD, INT

Brett Favre
20-40, 233 yds, 1 TD, 3 INT

Jackson may have lost some of Childress’s confidence after the playoff loss, to Philadelphia, but at least Jackson’s performance (115.4 QB rating) kept Minnesota in the playoff race. Favre’s play down the stretch (53.3 QB rating) reminded me of the Alex Murphy killing in “Robocop”: gruesome to watch and traumatizing to children.

If Vikings fans think Favre’s return will transform their passing attack into something more powerful (like Megatron’s transformation to Galvatron in the ‘86 Transformers movie), they’re sadly mistaken.

Weren’t there any other feasible QB options in free agency or the draft for the Vikings? You know, options that aren’t coming off of rotator cuff surgery and 22 INT season, which was tops in the NFL last year by the way.

Where were the Vikings when Jay Cutler was being shopped around? Maybe they didn’t have the pieces the Broncos wanted, and I accept that, but there were plenty of serviceable quarterbacks if Jackson wasn’t going to be the guy.

If the Vikings were looking for a 39-year-old quarterback to inject some life into the passing game, wouldn’t Jeff Garcia would have been a wonderful start. Garcia may not be the flash in the pan he used to be (refer to the 49ers stats from the 2000 season), but in 11 games last year, he did have a 65% completion percentage, 2,700 yards and 12 TDs.

Not good enough, Brad?

How about a 29-year-old quarterback was putting on the ‘Stella hat’ and getting his groove back? Before injuries, Byron Leftwich was a steady quarterback who could throw for about 3,000 yards a season. He had a one-year stint in Atlanta, and then went to Pittsburgh where he kept the Steelers afloat when Big Ben started to get nicked up.

Don’t even get me started about the fact that the Vikings were one of the teams in need of a QB that passed on Texas Tech QB Graham Harrell. If you think you need a quarterback, how exactly do you pass up the NCAA’s all-time leader in touchdown passes and the only NCAA player to post consecutive 5,000 yard seasons? How?

Another question, Brad. If you are trying to get a winner at quarterback, wouldn’t it be nice if the QB you seek at least has a winning record on your home field?

Favre is 6-10 lifetime at the Triple-H Metrodome. Favre supporters use the excuse he was the opposing QB, but in 38 career indoor games, Favre’s QB rating is only five points better than his rating outdoors.

There are only so many ways I can destroy the argument of bringing in Favre, but I guess the most important argument centers around the following question:

Didn’t the Vikings win the NFC North without a real passing attack, anyway?

The Vikings averaged 184.9 yards per game through the air with the tandem of Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson, but the Vikings still went 10-6 and won the NFC North by a game. Want more proof of what drives the offense? The Vikings had a 200+ yard passer in seven games last year and won only three of those games. Six times last year, Adrian Peterson had games of less than 100 yards, and the Vikings lost HALF of those games.

Its no secret Peterson drives the offense, and even when teams were stacking up to stop him, Peterson still produced.

Sometimes, I wonder what owners, general managers, coaches and teammates are thinking when they make moves. When the Bills signed a one-year flyer for Terrell Owens, I said, “Ok. I’m cool with that.”

When the Eagles signed Michael Vick, I said, “Sure, why not?”

The Vikings signed Brett Favre (for two years, by the way), and now that I’ve written against the signing for the last two hours, I gotta ask myself:

Why?

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