Brett Favre Staying Retired; Minnesota Vikings to Pursue Michael Vick?

The Brett Favre Saga is finally over and Favre is staying retired. Brad Childress, the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings, told The Star Tribune that Brett Favre won't come out retirement to play for Minnesota. Childress also told the Tribune that Favre didn't want to put himself through the grind of another football season. In the last few days, Favre, who will turn 40 later this year, had said that he was 50/50 on whether to return or retire for good.

Favre talked to ESPN's Ed Werder and said: "It was the hardest decision I've ever made. I didn't feel like physically I could play at a level that was acceptable. I would like to thank everyone, including the Packers, Jets and Vikings -- but, most importantly, the fans. I had to be careful not to commit for the wrong reasons. They were telling me, 'You went through all this, you had the surgery and you've got to finish it off.' But I have legitimate reasons for my decision. I'm 39 with a lot of sacks to my name."

Childress made a statement on the team's Web site that read: "It was a rare and unique opportunity to consider adding not only a future Hall of Fame quarterback but one that is very familiar with our system and division. That does not detract from the team that we have. As we have consistently communicated, we feel good about our team and they have put forth a tremendous effort this offseason preparing for the season ahead. With this behind us, we look forward to getting to Mankato and getting training camp under way." Childress still thinks that the Vikings are a good enough team to win a lot of games, and make another playoff appearance, even without Favre.

The Minnesota Vikings currently have four quarterbacks on their roster, but Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels are the two veterans who will now compete for the job. Jackson had been inconsistent at times last season, but had most of the playing time in the regular season for the Vikings, playing nine of the sixteen games. Jackson started and played all four quarters in their playoff loss against the Philadelphia Eagles last season. The other two quarterbacks on the team are John David Booty, who is entering his second season with the team and Gus Frerotte, who is entering his sixteenth NFL season.

The Vikings training camp opens on Wednesday, with all Vikings players having to report to the camp on Thursday, and the first practice will take place on Friday.

Should the Minnesota Vikings go after Michael Vick now? Vick was recently, partially reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and is free to sign with any NFL team. There is a list of teams that have shown no interest in Vick, and have said that they will not even consider Vick, but the Vikings are not on that list. There is only a small chance that the Vikings will pursue Vick and even if they do sign him, Vick would not be able to start a regular season game until Week 6.