We know the drill by now. Favre has been waffling about his future for the better part of a decade, so why should this year be any different?
Favre has cried "wolf" too many times for us to believe him this time around.
The Vikings’ title hopes are shot without Favre, and the Packers will vault into the favorite’s chair in the NFC North Division. But no one in the Packers’ locker room was celebrating because they know it’s only early August.
Favre has the perfect situation in Minnesota, with a head coach that allows him to basically do whatever he wants and a team talented enough to make another Super Bowl run.
It’s true Favre produced his best season in 2009 and fulfilled his desire to stick it to Packers General Manager Ted Thompson with a season sweep over his former team. He would risk tarnishing his legacy if he returns and falls on his face, but since when has a fear of failure stopped Favre?
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Give him a few extra weeks of summer vacation and Favre will be raring to play football again.
— Mike Vandermause
Green Bay Press-Gazette
• • •
High fives and hope are the order of the day in the NFC North. Well, everywhere in the NFC North except in Mankato, Minnesota.
If the reports are true that Brett Favre is done, the NFC North, the NFC and indeed the entire NFL are different places.
Favre was the difference in the Vikings last year. His presence is what made them an elite team. They remain a strong team without him at almost every position on the field — except one. They have a big question mark at the most important position, quarterback.
Of course, no one would doubt if Favre had another change of heart and was under center on opening night for the Vikings in New Orleans. Even he has made fun of his own inability to decide his future, spoofing himself in a TV commercial.
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All the people who are happy to see him gone -- his opponents who can't beat him, the Packers fans who think he is a traitor and those who have grown tired of his dramatics -- should remember one thing today: Brett Favre was very, very good for the NFL.
I, for one, am going to miss him. But outside of Minnesota, I feel I don't have much company.
— Dan Pompei
Chicago Tribune
• • •
Brett Favre deserves nothing but our skepticism, especially after announcing his retirement in March 2008. And July 2009. And, privately, several more times in between. Someday, it will be for real. But the only way we'll know that is if the season comes and goes without Favre in uniform.
There might be more going on than we know. But this roller coaster is turning into a joke. I'm here at the Detroit Lions' training camp and the first five Lions people I talked to all expressed the same reaction that you and I have. As in, let's just wait a minute and see whether this really plays out the way it's being suggested it might.
History can't always be our guide, and I'm sure some of you probably think I'm just in denial. Trust me, I'm not. You're not using your capacity as an intelligent human being if you don't have deep, deep reservations about the sincerity of Favre's mindset right now.
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His status will be day-to-day until all 32 NFL teams don't want him to play for them. As long as there is one, just one, he remains a possibility to be in uniform.
— Kevin Seifert
ESPN.com
• • •
If Brett Favre is to be believed this time and he doesn't want to continue playing the Vikings just went from being a first-tier Super Bowl contender to a team that might have to scratch and claw its way to a playoff berth.
The thought of an all-or-nothing year being placed on Tarvaris Jackson's shoulders can't be a comforting thought in Minnesota.
With or without Favre, I thought the Packers were the team to beat in the NFC North this season, but the balance of power in the division would shift significantly toward Green Bay if the 40-year-old ex-Packer follows through on this retirement.
The Vikings have no one to blame but themselves for finding themselves in this position, of course. They saw Favre drive Green Bay to distraction with this same dance a few years back, and given the opportunity to buy themselves insurance at quarterback in the form of either a trade for Donovan McNabb or a young passer in the draft, they did neither. Now they might pay for that sense of overconfidence in Favre.
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— Don Banks
SI.com
