Is he looking for a life after football?
Well, nuts.
He says he'd leave today, quit on the spot, if a decision had to be made forthwith. He says he can still play, can still perform at a high level, but hey -- maybe he just doesn't feel like it anymore.
Brett Favre contemplates retirement today. Actually, he isn't so much contemplating it as he is considering it. Seriously. So seriously that he says if Packers management needed an up or down vote this morning, it would be "down".
"I still know I can play," Favre said in an ESPN interview. "I still love to play. But there's just so much more to it than that now. I never thought it would be complicated, never thought mentally I would give out before I did physically."
Favre's off-the-field worries have been well-documented: his father's death, his wife's bout with breast cancer, his family members' displacement by Hurricane Katrina. And toss in the Packers' 4-12 2005 season, marked by Favre's career-high 29 interceptions, and you can see where the only man to win the NFL MVP Award three times might be looking longingly at a post-playing career.
But Brett -- listen up: you have to stay one more season. You have to give our Detroit Lions one more chance to beat you in Green Bay. We haven't done it, you know. You became the Pack's quarterback in 1992 and since then you've beaten the Lions 15 straight times in Wisconsin, including one playoff game. Even 2005's stinker team came back and won -- on ESPN no less.
So I figure it would be only fair to strap it on for one more season, at least thru the next Detroit game at Green Bay. Give our new coach Rod Marinelli a crack at the apparently uncrackable nut that is Brett Favre -vs- the Lions in Green Bay.
For it will not be nearly as gratifying to win in Green Bay if Brett Favre is not the Packers' quarterback. It's like beating the Bulls without Michael Jordan. Or the Eagles without Donovan McNabb's mother serving Chunky Soup. In fact, if you do hang 'em up, and the Lions do in fact win at Lambeau Field in 2006, it will forever be viewed as the reason why they were able to win.
Don't let the Lions go 0-for-Favre in Green Bay, Brett.
Besides, I want to try our new staff out, especially if the Lions hire Mike Martz as their new offensive coordinator. The Packers have been the beneficiaries of popgun Lions offenses for too long now. Time to give them more to think about than a draw play on 3rd-and-8, or a screen pass on 3rd-and-12. Maybe the team will even throw on first down every now and then.
But all joking aside -- was I joking? -- the Packers won't be nearly as fun to watch without Mr. Favre leading the charge. I don't even remember who the Packers' QB was before #4. Don Majkowski? That was when Tony Mandarich was being shoved into the backfield as a bust offensive tackle. Anyhow, you always want to beat the great ones, and though Favre has slipped -- he's 36 after all -- he is still the second best QB in Packers' history, behind Bart Starr. So if the Lions beat anyone else at Lambeau....well, what's the fun in THAT?
We've been tormented by our share of villains in the Motor City: Favre, Patrick Roy, Larry Bird, Claude Lemieux, the Minnesota Vikings, Manu Ginobili and Robert Horry -- to name a few. However, in most instances, you eventually gain a healthy respect for those bad guys (Lemieux, of course, excluded). This is because you realize, in the end, the reason they're villains -- most of the time -- is because they are pretty damn good players.
As Isiah Thomas once said, "People don't boo the benchwarmers."
So Brett Favre can't retire -- not just yet.
All we are sayyyying...is give Rod a chance!
5 comments:
Brett Favre: QB Coach - Detroit Lions.
I know he'd never do it. Doesn't have the personality for it. And even if he did, he'd likely do it in GB. But it would be a fun thought.
Kevin, beware of what you wish for!
With Favre as the QB coach, the Lions would end up with QB's that throw off their back foot, constantly force balls into double and triple coverage, and blindly fling the ball downfield when they could actually run with a better chance getting yardage. It take a special talent to get away with all that.
Seriously, the older Favre has gotten, the more his risk taking style hurt the Pack. He doesn't have the arm strength, or the supporting cast, that once allowed him to throw the ball fearlessly. Thing is, he still does, but with not near the effectiveness.
Greg, it's too late. The Lions had their chance to beat Favre in Green Bay this past season and blew it. They let Samkon Gado run over them like Kevin Bacon at the end of Animal House.
With Favre as QB coach, at least there would be the possibility of NFL analysts everywhere genuflecting at some aspect of the Detroit Lions. You think Lions QBs were criticized before? Wait until "They don't have that riverboat gambler in them, like Brett. If only they'd listen. He has so much to pass along to them."
What is Madden suppose to talk about now? I mean, even when the Packers are not playing and he is covering the game it always comes back to Brett Favre. Madden scares me with his "man love" for Favre, I can already see him in some corner somewhere, stroking his #4 Packers jersey, sobbing and saying "Please Brett, say it isn't so?!?!"
My apologies to all readers for that terrible visual I just put into their heads.
I think we've all had enough Favre for one lifetime. Send him to pick up his vomit colored sportscoat and get him off the field.
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