Favre Nearly Benched; Vikings Perform Badly After Clinching Division

In the NFL week 15 of 2009, Brett Favre had a heated discussion with coach Brad Childress during the first half of the game against the Carolina Panthers. Brad Childress wanted Brett to sit on the Bench after being just one point ahead in the game. Brett was getting hit pretty hard by Carolina defensive player Julius Peppers. He said he was definitely feeling the "pressure." In his press conference, Brett admitted, "Brad wanted to go in a different direction, but I wanted to stay in the game. We were up 7-6." But "It didn't feel like we were up." Brett did not think that was justification for benching him, no matter if it was for protection, or any other reason. The Panthers stepped it up a notch and in the second half they killed the Vikings, 26-7. Brett said there wasn't time to argue, he just wanted to "stay in" and "win this ballgame."

The Vikings clinched the division for the playoffs just before the game against the Carolina Panthers, and although they're not admitting it, that may have deflated some of their players drive. Brett said he was concerned about holding together the team's confidence. "We're still in a good position," he said, "we have three losses and 11 wins, and that's pretty good." Then he added, "You can be beaten any time, any place. We gotta make the plays and we didn't do that. Until it's over for good, we line up again and we make amends for it."

The last few weeks have been a roller coaster ride for Brett and the Vikings. "We gotta get back in the rhythm." After the loss to the Cardinals, they beat the Bangles, but then lost again to the Panthers. "The last few weeks have not been as productive as it needs to be. I wanna feel good going into the playoffs," he said. Bret was aware that they were not playing as tough as the Panthers, even though they were one point ahead in the first half of the game. His experience told him this was going to be a tough game. And he was right.

Sidney Rice was still sick, and earlier in the week was questionable for the game, but he lined up with everyone else and played it out. Percy Harvin just got over an illness that had him out of practice for two weeks also. Brett said he thought Rice "rose to the occasion" and Harvin did his part but you could tell the team as a whole just didn't have the momentum they showed at the beginning of the season. He said he felt really close to both players and was proud of what they accomplished in the game despite being sick and missing practice in the week's prior.

The Vikings still have two games before the playoffs. They will play the Chicago, Bears on Monday night after the Christmas weekend and then play their final regular season game against the New York Giants the week after that. Brett said he was very confident about winning the game against the Bears after their last match up with the team that gave them their 10th win of the season with a wide spread score of 36-10 in week 12.

He didn't comment on the game against the Giants. The Vikings have yet to play them this season. You can tell he wants to continue to play, but that will be up to Brad Childress, who obviously would like to see Brett sit out and save himself for the playoffs. If Brett does continue to play in the next two games, his team better step it up a notch and stop letting those big guys like Peppers through the Offensive Line. I would like to see him get a shot at the Super Bowl one more time before he retires.