Marketplace of Ideas Blog

Earlier this week, I was asked whether I was going to comment on Sunday’s Vikings–Packers game in this space.

My initial answer was that I wasn’t sure what I could offer that someone else hadn’t suggested before, and that I wasn’t sure I was more informed than any other commentator. (To which the questioner replied that that didn’t stop other commentators, a suggestion that my non-fans could throw at me.)

And then I did think of a less common angle to explore. Packer fans are upset at Favre for leaving and for going to archrival Minnesota, and at general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy for more or less showing Favre the door.

Well, were Packer fans upset that defensive end Reggie White left Philadelphia to come to Green Bay in 1993? Or that defensive end Sean Jones left Houston to come to Green Bay in 1994? Or that defensive tackle Santana Dotson left Tampa Bay to come to Green Bay in 1996? Or that Mike Holmgren left San Francisco to become the Packers’ coach in 1992?

People who hire and fire employees know what this is like. Some employees leave, and you don’t want them to leave; some can be lured back by a better offer. (But in the back of that employee's mind lurks the question of why he or she wasn't more valuable to his or her employer before he or she planned to depart.) Some employees leave, and you’re not particularly disturbed by their leaving. And some employees leave because you tell them to leave. The average NFL career is about 4½ years, and Packer fans had Favre for three times that amount of time. But ultimately every NFL career ends — sometimes as the player’s decision, and sometimes not, as Packer president and former Washington defensive back Mark Murphy can attest.

Favre is not the best Packer quarterback of all time (that would be Bart Starr, he of the five NFL titles and two Super Bowl wins), but he arguably has had more impact on the Packers than any other player in Packer history. No game was ever out of reach with Favre behind center. (For both teams, as Favre’s fourth quarter at Pittsburgh last Sunday — a fumble returned for a Steeler touchdown and an interception returned for a Steeler touchdown — attests.) It is most appropriate that Favre is the NFL’s career touchdown and interception leader; such has been the agony and ecstasy of watching Favre, which made him so compelling to Packer fans, NFL fans and the media.

But everything on this planet ends at some point. Thompson and McCarthy questioned how much of Favre's heart was really in what would have been his 2008 season, and so decided to move ahead with quarterback Aaron Rodgers. (About whom the jury remains out given not his statistics, but his win–loss record.) Favre felt he deserved more respect given the totality of his Packers' contribution over the years, but remember what the letters NFL stand for: Not For Long.

(Speaking of which: This is a bit tasteless given the Favre family tragedies over the years, and this is just plain weird.)

Revenge is a dish best served ... Sports Illustrated has a top 10 list of revenge games — players coming back to haunt their former teams. The list includes former Packer assistant and Oakland coach Jon Gruden moving to Tampa Bay and beating Oakland in Super Bowl XXXVII, former New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington defeating his old team (then quarterbacked by someone named Favre) to earn a playoff berth for Miami, and the first Packers–Vikings matchup of this season.

The Vikings should beat the Packers this weekend not because Favre is necessarily better than Rodgers, but because the Vikings' defense is better than the Packers' offense as a unit, and because the Vikings' running game is certainly better than the Packers' run defense.