Favre Finally Inactive

Wow, I have a Law named after me. I'm asking Moddy for a raise

 

I do come in with a "Favre is a Coach Killer" frame of mind.

Peter King of SI had it right in one of the stories a few years back (Favre's SportsCentury, perhaps) in that Favre was the ideal player at the ideal time in Green Bay. In 1991, the Packers were a bargain-basement operation.

Not much money flowing in and out. No free-agent signings to speak of. Just trying to get Terrell Buckley to sign. Majkowski was doing his Derek Anderson-one-hot-year-and-cash-in-for-five-years phase.

Favre lit Lambeau up right away. Excitement. Wild wins and losses. In 1993 and 1994, Holmgren nearly pulled him for Mark Brunnell but got talked out of it.

I truly believe that Favre's success under Holmgren was two-faceted: Holmgren pushed Favre all those years and kept Favre's weaknesses under wraps.

Also, and this does not get brought up too much 15 years after the fact but when Favre had the most success in Green Bay (1995-97), he actually wasn't the biggest personality in the locker room. That was the late Reggie White. I think because of White's death in 2004, his impact in Green Bay has not been recognized as deeply as it was at the time.

During the Favre MVP "stretch" of 1995-97, for post-game interviews, sure, you went to Favre but they also had Reggie White, Eugene Robinson, Sean Jones, LeRoy Butler -- personalities that were massive. I believe that took the pressure off Favre.

By the time those guys were all gone - or at the tail end - in 1999... the dynamics had changed. Holmgren was gone. Ray Rhodes became the first in the long time of "coaches killed" by Favre. Rhodes. Sherman. McCarthy escaped this fate by trying to "reign Favre in" in 2007 and it worked for a while that year. Mangini. Childress.

By 2000 in Green Bay, Sherman was in as head coach. Chmura was off the team, leaving Favre only with center Frank Winters as a close friend. He was 31 and the "old guy" on the team. Different sets of rules started to "creep in" -- one for Favre and one for everyone else, all on Sherman's watch.

At the same, Favre went through a transformation on the field. In 2000, he began to actually WIN indoor games (he had a masterful win at Minnesota that fall). Only... he started to struggle in the cold weather of December.

He didn't win every indoor game (6 picks in St. Louis in 2001 divisional round) nor did he start losing lots of outdoor games. But the January 2003 Lambeau playoff loss to Atlanta was full of Favre mistakes. By this point, he is pushing 33 and looks miserable in the snow. I remember him blowing off the media after that loss and I felt as if I was watching him age in-person during the game.

So by 2004, the Packers are left with a QB who cannot be trusted in playoffs, Dallas or cold weather. That's a problem if you want to make the Super Bowl except no one wants to run off Brett Favre. Not after the playoff losses: 2001 St. Louis, 2002 Atlanta, 2003 Philadelphia (the OT pick), 2004 Minnesota (home loss).

In 2005, Favre's 29 picks finally got Sherman fired and brought out the first "will he retire or not" trips to Mississippi. Ted Thompson looked ahead and brought in Aaron Rodgers as a draft pick. Shrewd move but one Favre did everything to fight at age 35.

McCarthy was able to get through to Favre in 2007 but, towards the end of the season, Favre's season was starting to go off-track at bit. He was fading. Injured at Dallas but an injury that allowed Aaron Rodgers to put together his first NFL action where he looked like he belonged. A horrendous cold-weather loss at Chicago. The Packers were beating inferior teams on the way to 13-3.

Then EVERYTHING broke the Packers' way in the playoffs. Dallas (home field advantage) loses to the Giants so Favre gets to play at Lambeau against the Giants -- GB beat the Giants by 22 points three months before.

And Favre still threw the pic in OT. Even with the perfect set up coming into the game, the Packers lost...

That was the moment when Green Bay management knew a change had to be made.

In summer 2008, Favre wants to come back but doesn't attend early workouts in Green Bay while Rodgers is running the team. After the Jets trade, Favre again fades late, turning 8-3 into a 9-7 season with no playoffs. More bad losses to inferior teams in cold weather.

In 2009, Favre is fueled by revenge to beat Green Bay. Shows up in Minnesota. Offers up "state secrets" to the Lions before Week 2. His 33 TD/7 INT season is incredible -- yet tempered by the fact they opened with: Browns, Lions, 49ers, Packers, Rams. They had an easier September schedule than Kansas State. Yet once Favre gets outside after Thanksgiving, he's playing worse and worse.

To me, Favre's career is broken into two distinct phases:
- Rise. 1992-98. The "gunslinger" who didn't need to be the 'face' of the team. Energetic, willing to do anything for a victory. Battled his booze and drug addictions but the 'edge' he lived with helped him on the field.
- Decline. 1999-2008. As he cleaned up and he became more of the 'face' of the Packers, Favre also seemed to lose his grasp on whatever it was that made him one of the best in the NFL. He seemed to think he could just "walk in" the second week of camp and make it 1996 all over again. Defenses caught up with him - they waited for him to throw the killer pick. In the playoffs, opponents knew Favre would get impatient at the worst time and fling one up for a cornerback or safety to snare it down.

As for the 2010 decline, that became apparent by August. Favre has not had two "strong" consecutive seasons in years. With the 2009 season being so strong, one would think a 40-year-old QB would show up in Minneapolis early to keep the momentum going.

Nope.

Facing a schedule that looked like 1-6 or 2-5 could be a possibility, Favre doesn't show up early. He needs three teammates to come on down and hijack him, in a rather pathetic chapter.

Don't think this doesn't breed resentment in an NFL locker room...where no contracts are guaranteed and players have to show up in July heat for training camp... and the Vikings pay a "part time QB" $20 million bucks? That's easy to bury when you are winning but it causes a grease fire at the first sign of trouble.

To put this in movie-form... Brett Favre is Dirk Diggler from Boogie Nights. Holmgren was Jack (Burt Reynolds). By 1998, Diggler and Burt had enough of each other. Same with Favre and Holmgren. They went their separate ways and, like in Boogie Nights, neither was quite as good as when they worked together. His 1992-98 phase was Diggler in the 1970's.

After 1998, it was the depressing "80's Diggler" for Favre. Favre's Sterger scandal was his "You Got The Touch!" moment. His sloppy handling of the 2008 training camp before the Jets trade was his "Botched Robbery of Alfred Molina" scene.

A very flawed but very talented quarterback, Favre will go down as one of the greats - no question. However, the NFL also changed drastically from 1992 to 2010. Gunslingers gave way to system quarterbacks. This also explains why very few NFL teams made noise about bringing in Favre.

He's a coach killer. In this climate, the 32 men with $2-5 million/year head coaching jobs don't want to return to being a coordinator for a quarter of the salary. Everyone is trying to hang onto a job.

The easiest way to get fired is to have a QB who throws too many picks, breaks apart the locker room and undermines the head coach. That is what Favre did for much of his final 12 years in the NFL.

 

Reminds me, my subcription to Dooleyfish has expired.

You take credit cards, or are you still cash only?

 

Cash, credit, barter, whatevs

 

Home crowd or not, a minus-25 degree wind chill isn't a perfect setup for anything but frostbite.

 

It's perfect when the other scenario that year would have been Favre playing at Dallas in the NFC Championship Game...where he was oh-for-career and had never even stayed within 10 points of the Cowboys.

 

Who's the gay Chinese boy-toy throwing firecrackers? Brad Childress?

Great comparison, though I'd make the Jenn Sterger stuff the botched robbery -- because it's a low point that is almost separate from his football travails -- and the '08 training camp, which was uber-hubris personified, as his You Got The Touch moment.

 

I hope we're not putting Childress down as one of Favre's coaching kills. Vikings fans wanted Childress and his "kick-ass offense" gone before Favre ever rode in from the airport. Yeah, everything that happened this year finally pulled the plug on Childress, but without Favre's brilliance last year, he's never getting that insane extension.

Blaming Favre for Childress' firing would be like saying Ted Bundy was killed by the guy who pulled the lever on the electric chair.

 

Childress played an active role in his own demise... Starting with pickup of Favre from the airport...

He is still on the list of coaches fired on Favre's watch.

 

I think he might have stayed retired if Stergergate doesn't come out. He probably needed as much time as possibly away from Deanna's icy stare. Seriously.

I joked that, because of her, he will probably play Arenaball until he is 57 just to avoid her.

 

They'll be divorced in two years.