I want to clear the air that ESPN has once again turned into a fog that Beijing coal miners wouldn't walk into regarding our beloved Commander-in-Chief, Brett Favre. Everybody at our most trusted sports news network, save one man, Rick Reilly, has gotten this whole thing so wrong that I'm more irritated with them than I am with Favre (Jay Glazer of Fox Sports and Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel have been pretty close to the mark as well. Also check out ColdHardFootballFacts.com). Here is the way I'm convinced this went down and the things that the Packers can't say:
Favre has been terrible for years not only in the post-season but really in any big game where either a playoff berth is on the line or he's up against another Hall of Fame caliber QB. This was fine by then head coach and eventual GM Mike Sherman because our head coach and GM at the time was Mike Sherman.
Enter Ted Thompson.
Here's a guy who seems to live in a delusion known as 'objectivity'. It wasn't until this whole mess reached a boiling point that the scales, shaped like little #4 jerseys, fell off my eyes. Thompson never bothered to put them on. He was sporting a pair of something else. He saw Brett's post-season record for what is was and decided he was never going to win a championship with this guy. As a Favre loving Packer fan (still am really, just an all-grown-up one) I remember the knots in my gut going into any big game, not knowing which Brett would be taking snaps. It was never a question of if he was going to throw the ball to the other team or even how many times he would do it. The question was, "Is he going to throw the pick at a game-altering time and lose the game for us or at just an 'inconsequential' time?" (for those of you who need a little help, or perhaps with the scales still firmly in place, this is a ridiculous question). If there is one stat that you can absolutely count on in the NFL, it's that 81% of the time the team with the fewest turnovers wins. Just ask the post-season Rams of '02, the post-season Falcons of '03, the post-season Eagles of '04, the post-season Vikings of '05, a dozen various NFL teams that played us in the following '05 regular season, half of the teams that played us in '06, and finally in 2008 (following what might be Favre's best season ever), Corey Webster. Everyone else will tell you, "Oh, that's just Brett being Brett. Did you see that other throw he made?! Who else could have made that throw?!" Thompson doesn't see things that way. In other words, he's a good GM.
Thompson and Favre probably never got along. Most likely because Favre insisted on playing General Manager and because this causes problems when someone else is already getting paid to that. Thompson got rid of Darren Sharper (S), Ryan Longwell (K), Marco Rivera (RG), Mike Wahle (OG), Ahman Green (RB), fired Mike Sherman and refused to hire Steve Mariucci or sign Randy Moss (WR), all to Favre's dismay. He didn't like Thompson's decision making, although he seemed to like going 13-3 with, "The most talented team [he had] ever been on".
Brett Favre then retires, sensing that he's not wanted anymore. After years of team paralyzing off-season deliberation this finally puts him over the edge. It is what Thompson had wanted all along. Just go away peacefully and let us 'move on'. The Packers draft two more quarterbacks and it's over. The curtain closes and Brett bows to more accolades than any player in sports history had ever received.
Enter Brett Favre.
The Packers would have let Brett come back for another year, but he didn't want to. They would have let him come back again, but he didn't want to. They would have let him come back yet again, but he didn't want to. So they moved on to Aaron Rodgers, their first round draft pick in '05 who has practiced extensively with the team and knows the system they run very well. Quarterbacks are hard to come by in the NFL and with Rodgers and two more hopefuls on the roster there will never be a better time to make the transition.
And now, of course, Brett wants back. The key here isn't that they think Rodgers is a better QB than Favre. It's the timing. If Brett comes back for - who knows - another year (?) and Rodgers splits when his contract is up, the Pack will be left starting Brian Bhrom, a rookie without the preparation that has been put into Rodgers. The switch has to be made now.
Maybe Rodgers doesn't have what it takes, but Favre doesn't for sure. He's a brilliant player and more fun to watch than anyone I've ever seen. He's still my favorite athlete ever (why do we have favorite athletes?) and I'm going to brag to my kids that I got to watch him play, but what good is 13-3 (or 16-0, for you folks out east) if you don't win in the post-season? Favre use to be clutch. He's not anymore. Let's hope Rodgers is.
When Brett marched back into training camp to go head to head with the organization in what he likely thought would be the clash of the titans, Jim Rome called it a TKO for Favre. He had forced Thompson's hand. Brett wins.
Brett is now practicing with a 4-12 team outside our conference and the Packers still get to benefit from Favre's ability, receiving higher draft picks the better he does. Game-set-match, Thompson.
