Favre Giveth, and Favre Taketh Away!

The Super Bowl is set. There are only two teams left in the NFL and neither of those include the name Brett Favre on their rosters. Is this a good thing or bad thing? Well considering how disappointing it will be for everyone this off-season while we will be forced to wait and wonder if Favre will play next season or finally hang up his guns for good...I'd say its a bad thing, regardless of who you were rooting for! At least if the Vikes had won the whole deal we'd know for sure that he'd retire and go out on top...but alas, it wasn't mean to be, that easy on us.

The thing that makes Brett Favre so great, the thing we love about him so much, is also the same thing that makes him a failure and makes us hate him so much! He is the definition of a gunslinger quarterback! Favre can win games by doing what he does best and he can definitely lose games doing the same thing. All season long we watched a 40 year old man chunk a football down the field and get lucky 98% of the time. Early on in the season it seemed he couldn't make a mistake...everyone just kept waiting for the true Brett Favre to rear its ugly head. And it never did. He threw 33 TD's and 7 interceptions all season long, his best season ever. He threw 13 picks a few times in his career...but seven is a phenomenal number, plus he posted a career high in completion % at 68.4%. And including the playoffs he threw 39 TD's and 9 picks. Favre did not make the mistakes we became accustomed to seeing him make in the regular season...and played a nearly flawless game against the Cowboys (unfortunately). But, some of us just knew...somehow, someway, that he would goof...whether it was against the saints or in the Super Bowl...it just had to happen! And it did!

One of those 9 interceptions made its way into history by being the last pass Brett Favre threw this season. That means the last three seasons he has ended by throwing major picks in big games...two in the conference championship games! Favre is almost like watching a really tense mystery thriller, every time he throws the ball you hold your breath until its caught. Knowing the situation in Sundays game, I definitely held my breath on that last throw and like a good thriller...it didn't disappoint. The interception was made and I found myself feeling a little bit sorry for Favre. While this season and last I have slowly but surely lost all the respect I'd had for the man...but in this moment...this one defining moment that he so epically failed at I couldn't help but remember how I rooted for him back in '96. And how truly great a career he's had. So in a moment of reflection I felt he deserved credit...credit for taking the Vikings where Tarvaris Jackson would never and will never take them. Credit for having the best year of his great career and doing all of this while being 40 years old. Congratulations to Brett on a great season!

Then I got over that and remembered why I'd learned to loath him and have been praying ever since that he'd swallow his pride and retire...even though I truly believe he will come back to the Vikings to finish the job he started. I know in my heart that he won't (can't) swallow pride and the fact that his last pass in the NFL was game losing interception will not sit well with him. But hopefully he can do this off season thing the right way this time and instead of waiting till the week before the regular season, how bout telling us his decision before the NFL draft...that way if he's not coming back the Vikings can draft anyone to replace Jackson. And in the event he does return, this is my hope...I hope he gets them back to the playoffs...I hope he has as good a season or better than he did this year...and I hope with all my heart that he'll lose the NFC championship game to the Dallas Cowboys in Dallas and retire with that taste in his mouth!