Bret Favre Saga- Did The Packers Make a Mistake (2009)
Bret Favre unretired again this year and has the Vikings to a 4-0 start, including a win over Green Bay last night. Did the Packers make a mistake in letting him go?
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Bret Favre led the Minnesota Vikings to a 30-23 victory over the Green Bay Packers last night to take them to 4-0. I wrote an article last year on whether the Packers made a mistake in letting him go to the Jets. http://newsflavor.com/alternative/bret-favre-saga-did-the-packers-make-a-mistake/) Favre made a rash decision at the end of the 2007 season and retired after an overtime loss to eventual Super Bowl champion New York Giants. Favre unretired months later and the Packers and Favre agreed to release him and play for the New York Jets. The Pack would take their chances with Aaron Rogers. It sure seemed that the Packers made a mistake in cutting ties with Favre when the Packers and Aaron Rogers went just 6-10 while Favre’s new team, the New York Jets, to a vast improvement of 9-7 and almost made the playoffs.
Now, it is 2009. Favre retired again and the Jets let him go. Favre months later changed his mind and signed with the Packers arch-enemy, the Minnesota Vikings. Favre has shown his magic of old in leading the Vikings to a 4-0 start. Favre is a good fit with a very good Vikings team. They just needed a quarterback to complement one of the best running games and running defenses last year. In spite of the lack of leadership at quarterback, the Vikings still managed to win the NFC Central with a 10-6 record.
In the Vikings first two games against hapless Cleveland and horrible Detroit, Favre was workmanlike in leading the Purple People to two wins. He did not throw a ball over 21 yards. However, he needed to take over and win the game last week against San Francisco. He went 24 for 46 for 301 yards and two touchdowns. Favre found Greg Lewis in the back of the endzone with 2 seconds left to complete an 80 yard two minute drive to complete a 27-24 victory. This was the 43rd come from behind victory for Favre in his long career. This was the Favre of the 90’s. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=290927016)
Favre continued this momentum last night over Green Bay. Favre went 24 for 31 for 271 yards and three touchdown as the Vikings are now 4-0. The King of Football, Aaron Rogers, did not play bad. He threw for 384 yards, a career record. (http://www.miamiherald.com/sports/football/story/1268594.html). However, it was not good enough. He had one lost fumble on the first drive and one interception.
Can Favre keep this great work up the entire season? That was his problem last year with the Jets. The old man faded. However, with Adrian Peterson and his supporting cast, he may be able to hold up through January. It will be an interesting season in Minnesota. We will see what happens. I think the Vikings are happy to take their chances with Favre. It looks like the Packers’ mistake of last year is continuing. We will see if Rogers blossoms and Favre fades. However, so far, the advantage is with Minnesota.
Emmie
9 Comments
excellent
Thanks for reading raman
Great Article Coach ! There is nothing any reasonable person can add or take away from that… Well said, very well said. You should write for your newspaper.
Coach
King of Football
I am interested in feedback, good and bad. This is from my friend, jamie, who is a big fan of the King of Football.
“”Couldn’t disagree more with the last sentence of the first paragraph. Look up Favre’s and Rodgers’s numbers last year and tell me again who had the better year.
Granted, Favre has a great supporting cast which may mean that his team does better this year. Or maybe his arm will die in November again. Still, I think the result may be a little different when these teams meet in Lambeau. I can’t believe people think that Green Bay had some sort of obligation to allow this guy to keep playing his little retirement games.
I also can’t understand your apparent disdain for Aaron Rodgers. I could understand indifference perhaps, but not disdain. He was just the guy the Packers drafted 5 or 6 years ago when Favre was getting old. After the fourth or fifth retirement, it was time to give him a chance.”"
Just my 2 cents.
I’m always amused at how much energy people put into the what ifs of the game. The season will answer all our questions.
http://sportales.com/football/bret-favre-the-first-quarterback-to-beat-all-32-nfl-teams/
List of Bret Favre beating all 32 teams
Agree with Guy Hogan. The season will play itself out. Let’s not overreact to any one week. If we did last year, the Vince Lombardi trophy would have been awarded to the Jets after they beat the undefeated Titans. Of course, the Jets didn’t quite make the playoffs but still–that’s the beauty of football!
It’s also worth noting a couple of Rodgers’s stats from last year: 28 TDs, 13 ints and over 4000 yds. Favre was something like 3400 yds, 22 TDs and 23 ints (though not sure exactly). I expect Favre to be better this year with his supporting cast, but still one has to admit that Rodgers’s numbers were impressive for a first-year starter.