If you saw Brett Favre play against Miami yesterday, you know CBS analyst Dan Dierdorf pulled about 17 different muscles trying to make excuses for Favre’s horrid – and I mean horrid – play. The game had all the trademark Favre mistakes: deep passes that have NO hope of being caught by his own team, passes thrown directly into the breadbasket of defenders, and gut-wrenching turnovers just when his team could least afford them.
It was like the last minute of the NFC title game stretched to three full hours, and it was horrible. By the end of the game, even Dierdorf conceded that the Vikings were terrified of throwing the ball, lest it be picked off, and that Favre felt the exact same way.
There’s very little reason to think Favre will pull it together and end up having the kind of season he had a year ago. His coach is awful. His offensive line isn’t anywhere near as good as some may think it is. His best wideout is hurt and he seems unconcerned about getting on the same page as his second best wideout, who suffers from debilitating migraines. He’s another year older, and playing on a bad ankle.
But most of all, though, Favre is just bad. Wretched. Putrid. Terrible. Anything else is just an excuse, or a cherry on top of the turd sundae. He’s making poor decisions and poor throws, and it’s hurting this team.
I think Favre was revitalized by the thrill of the new a year ago. He had a new team, and he finally had the chance to stick it to Green Bay that way he had always wanted. But that’s all been done now. There’s nothing new for him here in Minnesota this time around, and surely it’s as obvious to him as it is to us that Brad Childress isn’t a championship coach. You heard it all over the place yesterday: Favre doesn’t look like he wants to be there. The question now is: will he?
Favre was given a substantial pay raise to come back to Minnesota this year, and given that Childress had to publicly get on his knees for Favre to get him to come back, it’s doubtful Favre will get the hook for Tarvaris Jackson quickly. But if everything spirals out of control for Minnesota and they end up 0-4 or 0-5, eventually Childress’ hand will be forced. And I just don’t see any way that Favre sticks around to the bitter end of that kind of disastrous season. I bet he’s already thinking about bolting back to his supposedly cherished farm in Mississippi, where he’ll tend to his daisies for three weeks in front of Peter King before signing on with FOX to be a studio analyst.
Because while Favre may say he’s a team player, the truth is that he’ll always do what’s best for him, and not the franchise he’s playing for. I can see no more fitting ending to his career than quitting on a team midseason. After exhausting the rest of the world with his BS, perhaps this is the year Brett Favre finally tires of himself.
