Favre to the Vikings: A Bad Marriage All Around

The window of opportunity for a team to compete for and win a championship is small. Every sport has it's example of a team on the cusp that could never get over the hump because they were one or two players away from being great. The Marino led Dolphins never had a running game, the Utah Jazz never had an answer for Michael Jordan, and the Cleveland Indians never had enough pitching. That being said it is easy to understand the Minnesota Vikings infatuation with Brett Favre.

But, Brett Favre isn't the answer to the Vikings championship puzzle. Many would argue that all this team needs is a great leader under center. A guy familiar with the system who has experience is the final piece to turn a potentially good season into a championship one. That isn't the case though. This version of Brett Favre is not like the Joe Montana the Kansas City Chiefs got in 1993. The QB still had gas left in the tank. His time was up a year later, after he delivered one of the most successful seasons the Arrowhead faithful have witnessed.

Brett Favre already had his swan song though. He left everything he had on a field in Green Bay just two years ago. His time with the Jets was a sideshow. No true fan of NFL caliber football could deny that his collapse in the last weeks of the season wasn't time telling an all too familiar story about the finite nature of all athletes. Not even the best of the best can go on forever and unfortunately Brett Favre can't get that through his head.

The worst part about him hanging on for fans in general is that it prevents us from moving on. It also stirs up a great deal of animosity towards a player that for so long has embodied the greatness of an NFL quarterback. His yearly retirement circus though has left us all frustrated.

The worst part about him hanging around for the Minnesota Vikings in particular though is that he stands in the way of Vincent Jackson's development and the team's ability to truly evaluate him properly. He might not be their quarterback of the future, but it is better to find out now than waste a year with him on the bench. Let's also remember that the team brought in Sage Rosenfels to compete for a starting job. How disappointed is he now with the job automatically being handed to Favre.

The Vikings made a bad decision bringing Brett Favre out of retirement. The allure of a "perfect fit" seems more misleading than anything. A thirty year old Favre may have been right for this team, but now, at thirty nine, with an aging body, it might be best to leave the quarterback position to a player with youth over experience. This move may set the Viking back instead of propelling them to the Super Bowl. Only time will tell, but this organization may have very well gambled with their future and lost.