Jeff: Swan Song

Before last night, I hadn't bought into the whole "ooooooh Favre could retire at any time" train of thought. THe guy was still playing relatively well, and he's probably the most competitive guy in the league. I figured he'd give it a few more seasons, and play until he really felt like he couldn't contribute. After seeing the worst loss in Monday Night Football history, and one of the worst in Packers history, that time may be now. I thankfully didn't have to sit through the game last night, but I imagine that even John Madden, who's love for Favre borders on Brokeback Mountain proportions, might have been running out of nice things to say about the guy. I don't hate Brett Favre, but I've always hated that he gets a free pass from the media because he's won one freakin Super Bowl, and "he just has so much fun playing the game!!" As he throws his third dumb interception of a game, the announcers are still fighting over who can say the most nice things about him. I appreciate the fact he's competitive and has fun, but since the Super Bowl loss to the Broncos in '97, he has not played well in each season-ending playoff game since.

Although the Pack admittedly rank higher than the Vikes on both offense (17th to 24th) and defense (8th to 24th), I still don't think the Pack are a playoff team next year. Would they be better served to build around Rogers and get younger, or to keep hanging on to try and make Favre happy? Yes, they've been decimated by injuries at the skill positions, and in this age of parody, you'd like to think Favre could will a healthy team to the playoffs. Problem is, he's gotten the Pack to the playoffs with worse supporting casts than this one when the conference was much more competitive. He's already set a career-high for interceptions, and still has two games to play. Although the arm is still there, his decision-making looks to be as bad as its been since his early years. I have wondered that because he's so competitve that, like Michael Jordan, he'd hang on too long, and would want to prove his critics wrong. However, Larry Bird was as fiery as MJ was, and Bird left the game and never came back. Yes, he's still around the game of basketball with his front office job with the Pacers, but like Favre, he wants no part of the spotlight. As much as Favre cares about the game and his image, it's obvious the media won't let this year tarnish his gaudy image, and they'd give him a eulogy fitting of one of the best of all-time.

The past few seasons I believe Favre's retirement talk has been to take the spotlight off of friend Mike Sherman's horrible performances, but after last night I think there's some real substance to the idea this really could be it for him. Cheeseheads, it's not so bad. Sure you're losing the guy you worship, but hey at least you'll get Reggie Bush or Matt Leinart...wait, no, no you won't. Ok so no Favre and no Reggie and no Leinart next year, but hey you've got Aaron Rogers...ok maybe you want to have a couple more cases of Old Milwaukee to take your minds off of things.