Going Too Favre

Brett Favre is probably the most selfish football player ever.

Two years ago, he told the Green Bay Packers that he was going to retire, and the Packers promptly promoted Aaron Rodgers as their starting quarterback. But when Favre decided to un-retire not long afterwards, he gave the Packers such an uneasy time that they finally had to deal him to the New York Jets.

After a good year with the Jets, Favre signed with the Minnesota Vikings, the arch-rival of the Packers, and led them all the way to the NFC Championship game against the New Orleans Saints. But an ill-advised throw late in that game cost the Vikings a shot at the Superbowl.

Since the season ended, Favre has never told the Vikings whether he will come back for his 20th season. And so the Vikings, probably trying to please him, decided neither to draft any QB in the Draft, nor to pursue other high-profile free-agent QBs, believing he will return as their starting QB this season.

But a couple of days ago, Favre told his teammates (not even his coach!) that he intends to retire, which has left the Vikings in limbo.

A big-time limbo.

Had Favre let the Vikings know of his intention to retire a couple of months earlier, they would definitely have drafted a QB like Tim Tebow, Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy early in the draft. They could also have signed Donovan McNabb as a free-agent, who is very close to Vikings coach Brad Childress.

Instead, the Vikings now have the exciting Tarvaris Jackson, Sage Rosenfels and Joe Webb as their QBs in their roster.

Then again, the Vikings probably should have learnt better. They had two years to draft a young QB but they didn't. When the Packers drafted Rodgers in 2005, they were panned as Favre was still going strong at that time.

Compared with the plight of their arch-rival Vikings, that decision is now looking more and more smarter.