I'm Number One!

Bret Favre has held the Green Bay Packers hostage for the better part of a decade. There was a time when Bret was the best QB in the NFL. That was about 10 years ago. The Packers have ceased to be relevant to everyone but their own fans since they lost in the Super Bowl to the John Elway led Broncos in 1998. Favre performed at a very high level for years after the Packers were no longer a serious Super Bowl threat and is now approaching the career marks set by Dan Marino. The problem with Favre is that he is preventing the Packers from making any real progress.

It's clear that the Packers need to start grooming a QB for the future. They thought they had that when they drafted QB Aaron Rogers a couple of years ago. In the two seasons that Rogers has been with the team, he has thrown a total of 31 passes. So much for grooming a QB for the future. Is Rogers the QB of the future in Green Bay? They'll never be able to find out until Bret retires. And if he turns out to be a bust, then they will have wasted at least one more season to figure that out. Favre has done his annual "will I retire" dance for the past two seasons, but anyone who has been observing him had to have known that he would never retire with the all time records within his grasp. He has to know (as anyone who watches football would) that the Packers are not a serious threat to win anything, but he claims that he's coming back because he feels the Packers can make an impact in the playoffs. However, in order to make an impact in the playoffs, you must first make the playoffs. The Packers haven't done that since the 2004 season.

Favre was also complaining recently about the fact that the Packers didn't get Randy Moss. Now I have no idea if Randy Moss would have been any good in Green Bay (given the weather there, I personally doubt it), but I'm sure that Bret Favre is not the Packers GM. He may think that he is, but I've looked up his record and I can't find any story about him being named the Packers GM. It might have been funny to see Randy and Bret together. It would have been quite a competition to see who is, in fact, the most selfish player in the league.

Bret also prides himself on being a fantastic teammate and leader and yet I can remember a couple of instances where he inserted himself into a teammates contract negotiation on the side of management. He harangued one of his receivers into playing even though he was initially holding out for a long term deal. The receiver hurt his knee in the first game of the season and that long term deal was history. It's really easy for Bret to say that his teammates shouldn't be concerned with money since he's already made about $100 million. I'm pretty sure that Bret would have been less than enthused about a contract that was not among the highest in average salary among QB's. Of course he's never had to worry about that, because he's royalty in Green Bay. However, his teammates have never been so lucky.

Bret is only 6 TD passes and about 3,800 yards behind Marino for the all time records. He will definitely get the TD record and if for some reason he doesn't get the yardage record, expect to see him drag himself back out on the field for just one more season. He isn't playing for the team anymore. He's playing for himself. His best chance to win would be to demand a trade to a contending team and hope that the starter gets hurt. A team like Baltimore could have used him last year. Perhaps he would have been able to succeed in the playoffs with a team like that. So enjoy the records Bret, but don't try and lie to us and say that you are coming back to help the team. You're coming back to help yourself, plain and simple.