I’ve been one of the main people that has spoken out about being tired of Brett Favre.  I’m tired of him not telling the truth to EVERYONE.  You have to think it has gotten so bad that he even lies to himself about if he wanted to play or not.  But now that he has finally (HOPEFULLY) decided to come back for the last time the REAL truth can be told.

This deal for Favre didn’t just come down yesterday.  Obviously, with the plane being in Mississippi at 9am there had to be some planning.  And with news that Favre is starting Friday in their next preseason game we have to believe there were conversations going on for a while now.  There is no way Favre goes to his first practice 3 days before the game and is expected to be ready unless there was some behind the scenes discussion.  He had to be studying the playbook the last few days just to be prepared.  There is no way he can walk onto the field at quarterback without some kind of preparation not ONLY by Favre but also in conjunction with someone from the Vikings organization before he got on the plane to Minnesota.

Brett Favre right now is one of the top 20 quarterbacks in the league.  He obviously isn’t in the upper level of QB’s in the league.  But right now for ONE season he is better than half of the QB’s in the league.  And he is coming to a team that has the #1 rush attack and #1 rush defense in the league.  So Favre isn’t going to be asked to win games on a consistent basis.  He in only going to be asked to make a couple of key throws a game.  And the legend of Favre is better that Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson.  I say the legend because he obviously isn’t the player he used to be.  But teams at least at the start of the season until he proves otherwise will respect him as a passer more than they ever would Rosenfels and Jackson.  Last year in the playoffs the Eagles showed the blueprint to beating the Vikings, make Tarvaris Jackson beat you instead of Adrian Peterson.  That will still be the right strategy, but it might give them a different result.

Brett Favre will try to be a game manager at Quarterback.  I hope Favre isn’t coming to the Vikings expecting to be the main cog of the offense.  This offense is about Adrian Peterson and that is all.  This is going to be a completely different scenario for Favre.  Even going to the New York Jets last year the team depended a lot on the play of Favre.  The Vikings need Favre to make a couple of plays a game to keep the 8th and 9th man out of the box for Adrian Peterson.  Favre has a tendency to make a couple of questionable throws a game.  He won’t get that completely out of his system, but Favre never played with a running back this good.  And I think once he sees how great Adrian Peterson is he will realize that all the blame will go to him if he throws a couple of those dumb interceptions that cost them a game when Peterson was rushing for 150 yards.

Brett Favre may completely ruin all the need for OTA’s and mini camps.  Teams spend months in the off season practicing in voluntary and involuntary camps.  Players and coaches spend hours and hours going over the nuances of the play books.  Occasionally a veteran will holdout and come to camp late and still will have a successful season.  But in most of those cases they have been with that team and know the system.  I know we keep hearing that this offense is very similar to the offense Favre ran in Green Bay.  But that doesn’t take into account actually running the plays with the new teammates.  Favre has never thrown a pass to any of the receivers on the Vikings.  All we hear about is the timing and feel that a quarterback and receivers need to develop.  There is no way that timing and feel can be developed in the next month.  So if Favre is able to have a decent season and lead the Vikings deep in the playoffs what does that say about the need for all those OTA’s?  And you might have more veterans decide to pull a Favre in seasons to come.

Brad Childress can’t bench Brett Favre under any circumstance.  I don’t care how bad Favre plays throughout the season he can’t be pulled for poor play.  The only thing he could hope for is an injury that Favre couldn’t play through.  I don’t think the Jets backup last year was as good as Favre, but from what we heard about the shoulder injury after the season maybe he should’ve gotten a shot.  But you know Favre isn’t going to take himself out for an injury he can play through even though it may hurt his performance.  If Favre plays a couple bad games in a row can Childress really bench him?  Bringing Favre in this late basically ties this whole season to Favre unless he gets hurt.  You don’t go through all the trouble they did to get him and not give him the year.  Will he really be able to go to Rosenfels or Jackson with any confidence after the way they were treated?  It seems everyone on the Vikings was in on this except them.

Brett Favre will never be loved as he once was in Green Bay.  Going to the New York Jets was bad enough for Packers fans.  But to go the rival team in their OWN division and play them twice this year is going to be hard for them to stomach.  Imagine if he leads the Vikings over the Packers once or twice this year, and then Packers miss the playoffs by one game.  No other loss will be remember by Packers fans except the loss to the Vikings.  And what if the Favre were to lead the Vikings to a Super Bowl or god forbid a Super Bowl win.  Do you actually think Packers fans would be able to watch the NFL Films history of the Vikings 2009 season and not have more than a little hate in their hearts for Favre?  He will always be remembered as the quarterback of the Green Bay Packers.  His legend as a QB could be improved by a great season with the Vikings, but a great season with the Vikings will hinder his legend as a Green Bay Packer.

The final truth is that the NFL is better for having both Brett Favre and Michael Vick back.  No matter what your feeling about either player the league will be more interesting because of them.  And no matter how much you say you hate both if a Eagles or Vikings game is on you will be more likely to watch than almost any other team besides “YOUR’ team.  Get your popcorn ready…