Leave it to Brett Favre to swoop in and play hero when everything around him is falling apart.

Lord Favre has stolen most of the headlines this season in Minnesota, from his Jenn Sterger junk mail scandal to his eroding play. But thanks to Brad Childress’ decision to waive Randy Moss before running the idea past his owner, as well as almost coming to blows with Percy Harvin on Friday, Favre had an opportunity to put the spotlight back on him (uh, in a positive way) and he ran with it.

In his 293rd career start, Favre threw for 446 yards (a career high) and completed 77% of his passes in the Vikings’ 27-24 come-from-behind win over the Cardinals on Sunday. Trailing 24-10 with roughly three and a half minutes in the game, Favre engineered two touchdown drives to tie the score at 24-24 and then helped the Vikings win in overtime on a 35-yard Ryan Longwell field goal.

In typical Favre fashion, there were plenty of fist pumps, hugs and “He sure does have fun out there, doesn’t he!” moments. I’m not the biggest Favre fan, but it’s hard not to be impressed when he puts together one of these performances. Given his age (82) and the amount of issues he’s had this season with injuries and poor play, it’s still amazing when he does what he did on Sunday.

Of course, not even a little Favre magic will save Childress’ job. He’s fortunate his team rallied for victory against a bad Arizona team, but he’s not out of the woods yet. Zygi Wilf isn’t pleased with Childress in wake of the Moss fiasco and once the euphoria from the come-from-behind win wears off, he’ll remember that he still has a clown for a head.

According to ESPN’s Ed Werder, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf nearly fired Brad Childress after the head coach waived Randy Moss earlier this week before talking to Wilf about the decision. The report states that Wilf was “furious about being circumvented” and almost kept Moss.

I’m actually surprised Wilf didn’t fire Childress. His front office went out and traded a third round pick to acquire Moss and his lame-brain head coach waived him four weeks later because he doesn’t know how to handle big personalities like the ones Moss and Favre have. Given Wilf’s reaction to the situation, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Childress overstepped his boundaries here.

Either way, I don’t see how Childress keeps his job past this season. He managed to get the Vikings to the NFC title game last year but now that everything has fallen apart, it’s apparent he has no idea how to right the ship. Granted, not having Sidney Rice has been a major blow to the offense and there’s no doubt that he was vital to the Vikes’ success last season. But this is still a talented team and it’s up to Childress to figure out ways to win when one of his star players goes down with an injury. That’s what he’s paid to do – that’s what his job is and he hasn’t delivered.

That said, I credit Wilf for not making a snap decision and firing Childress the moment he heard about Moss being waived. He might as well stand by his head coach now and let Childress hang himself as the season wears on. Because the Vikings are toast – they’re not coming back. Wilf just has to ride out these next nine weeks and then he’ll have everything he needs to tell Childress to hit the road. (Even though the head coach still has three more years left on his current deal.)

Per the Minneapolis Star-Tribune…

After catching only one pass for 8 yards in the Vikings’ 28-18 loss to the New England Patriots, Moss walked into the visitors’ locker room where Wilf and other executives stood. According to an NFL source familiar with what transpired, Moss told the Vikings owner in no uncertain terms that Childress wasn’t a good coach and should be fired.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and sometimes those desperate measures involve risks that completely blow up in your face. Here we have a coach, who will likely be fired at the end of the season, waiving a talented yet temperamental receiver (whom he just acquired four weeks earlier at the cost of a third-round pick) without even consulting ownership. And as it turns out, that receiver, just four weeks into his stint with his new team, called for the dismissal of the coach.

You can’t make this stuff up, people.

Brad Childress didn’t say much to the media on Wednesday about the Randy Moss situation, although he did admit that trading for the troubled receiver was a “poor decision.”

Not to mince words, but I actually disagree with Childress’ take on the Moss trade. It wasn’t a poor decision – it was a horrible decision. A horrendous decision. A decision that should cost Childress his job.

I don’t know who the genius was behind the Moss trade, but Childress is the one who should take the fall for it. He signs off on whom he wants on his 53-man roster and obviously he put his Herbie Hancock on the deal or else it never would have happened. Then, after he shockingly couldn’t handle Moss’ rotten attitude, he waived him four weeks later.

In the grand scheme of things, losing a third round pick in a trade that doesn’t pan out isn’t the end of the world. It happens all the time in the NFL. But when you give up a third round pick for a guy who you know is a malcontent and then you waive him four weeks later because he was being a malcontent, said trade falls into the unnecessary and idiotic categories.

Why the Vikings didn’t sit down with Moss and give him a new contract immediately after acquiring him is beyond me. I mean, you made the decision to give up a third round pick and you knew he wanted money, yet you don’t pay him? Don’t you think it would have been smart to make a financial commitment to a guy who mails it in if he’s unhappy about his contract? How unbelievably stupid and shortsighted. What did Childress think, that Moss was going to be a good boy and play on his current deal because he got the opportunity to play with Lord Favre? Dude doesn’t care about Favre – he cares about money. And he wasn’t going to take the Vikings to a Super Bowl with Favre playing as bad as he was.

The Minnesota Vikings will never win a Super Bowl with Brad Childress as their head coach, their offensive coordinator or the person in charge of scrapping the gum off the Metrodome seats at the end of games. He clearly doesn’t know how to handle NFL personalities, his play calling is a joke in pressure situations and he can’t be trusted to make big decisions in terms of personal.

This Randy Moss situation is an absolute mess.

The only thing that mattered to this guy four weeks ago was a new contract and then after he realized he wasn’t going to win, he had no problem trashing the Vikings (a team that gave up a third round pick to acquire him) in an attempt to get the Patriots to welcome him back with open arms. How pathetic.

Moss doesn’t miss the Patriots — he misses the opportunity to play for a winner. He realized very quickly that the Vikings aren’t going to win, so he did the only thing he does well off the field: resort to being a malcontent and a distraction.

Make no mistake, Moss has a ton of talent, even at his age. He’s a game changer when he has his head on straight and he even commands double-teams when he’s really trying.

But when is that? He wanted out of Oakland so bad that he didn’t say a word for the first couple of seasons in New England. He was a choirboy because all he wanted to do was be a part of a winner. But when he got that, it wasn’t enough and the second his contract only had one year remaining on it he reverted back to the old Moss.

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Brad Childress must be confused because apparently he thinks he’s Bill Belichick and has the authority to make big boy decisions without first consulting his bosses.

According to NFL.com’s Jason LaCanfora, Childress informed Vikings players in a meeting on Monday that Randy Moss would be waived but apparently some within the Minnesota organization weren’t on board with their head coach’s decision. Furthermore, Moss hasn’t formerly be waived yet.

Rut-roh.

What was Childress thinking? He has the right to voice his opinion when it comes to the team’s 53-man roster, but this isn’t like cutting the No. 6 cornerback or a backup long-snapper. This was a major decision in which all of the Vikings’ brass should have been involved. You don’t just cut a player four weeks after the front office gave up a third round pick to acquire him. How stupid.

When he heard the news, my cohort here at TSR John Paulsen asked me this via Skype: “Do you think Childress gets canned before Moss gets waived?”

My response? “If the Vikings are smart – yes.”

In rather shocking news, NFL.com’s Michael Lombardi is reporting that the Vikings have waived receiver Randy Moss.

Or maybe it’s not shocking given what transpired following the Vikings’ 28-18 loss to the Patriots on Sunday. Moss essentially called out Brad Childress and the coaching staff for not listening to him more throughout the week while game planning to stop New England’s offense, then he waxed poetically about how much he missed the Patriots, then he didn’t even travel back to Minnesota with his teammates (he reportedly stayed in Boston with his family).

I’d probably waive him too if I were in charge, just so he knew he wasn’t bigger than the team. That said, it’s only been four weeks since the Vikings acquired him for a third round pick and now they’re going to give up on him? I don’t care what he said or how big of a malcontent he is – that’s just not smart. Obviously they knew Moss had a penchant for being a headache and they still felt the need to trade for him in order to revive their dead passing game. But the minute he acted up, they dumped him and essentially sacrificed a third round pick for nothing.

Don’t get this twisted – I’m not defending Moss. He completely disrespected the Vikings and it was embarrassing to watch him campaign for his return to New England just minutes after changing in Minnesota’s locker room. He’s too talented for a team not to pick him up on waivers, but why anyone would want this guy (who obviously hasn’t learned a thing since coming into the league) is beyond me.

After all this, how great would it be if he wound up back in New England? The Patriots trade him to Minnesota for a third round pick and wind up getting him back four weeks later? You can’t make this stuff up. (Although initial reports are that the Dolphins and Seahawks are interested and the Patriots are not.)

The Vikings are a complete and utter mess both on and off the field. Brad Childress has no idea how to handle big personalities like Moss and Brett Favre and will never be competent enough to lead his team to a Super Bowl. Favre has also showed his age and the team just dumped their biggest receiving threat. Unbelievable.

For as banged up as they are, the Packers have a clear shot at the NFC North crown. The Bears are an overrated mess and the Vikings are essentially dead. The second best team in the division may actually be Detroit, which could climb back into the race with a couple of wins. (It’s a long shot I know, but it could happen.)

Even given Moss’s comments after the game, this is pretty surprising. He has always been very moody, even for a prima donna wide receiver. He was targeted two or three times on Sunday and had a chance to make a play when he drew a pass interference penalty on a deep pass down the sideline. Once the flag was thrown, he still could have made an attempt on the ball but didn’t bother to dive.

On the whole, this hurts Favre, who has really struggled with Sidney Rice out of the lineup. Rice now becomes the wild card. If he can come back at full strength, there’s a chance that he’ll be able pick up where he left off last season. He’s worth a stash if you have the room. I wouldn’t cut a productive WR to acquire him, however.

Here’s a shock: there are conflicting reports coming out of Minnesota about Brett Favre.

Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune says that head coach Brad Childress is leaning towards starting Tarvaris Jackson against the Patriots on Sunday. But ESPN’s Ed Werder reports that Childress wants to start Favre (who is dealing with a bum ankle).

While I would normally side with the beat writer who covers the team on a weekly basis (that being Zulgad), I find it hard to believe that a man who has allowed Favre to get away with murder since arriving in Minnesota last year would sit Brett against his will. When push comes to shove, Childress will always submit to Favre so if Brett wants to play, he’s going to play.

That said, if Favre is too injured to play, I wouldn’t be surprised if he handed the ball off to Adrian Peterson on the first play of the game and then pulled himself out to protect his consecutive starts streak. Your majesty will probably hobble off the field and tell the media later that he intended on playing the full game, but re-injured the ankle on the first play.

Either way, the Vikings’ quarterback situation looks bleak for Sunday. If Favre plays, that ankle can’t be in too good of shape to make it through an entire game and there’s a reason Childress sold his soul to bring Brett to Minnesota two years ago. If Favre is too injured to play, will the Vikings keep him active as Jackson’s backup or will he be inactive? If he’s inactive, who would be Jackson’s backup – Bernard Berrian? (Remember that Sage Rosenfels was traded to the Giants earlier in the year.)

It should be an interesting scene in Foxboro come Sunday afternoon.

Brett Favre isn’t ruling himself out for this Sunday’s game against the Patriots, but then again it isn’t his call to make, is it?

It has gotten to the point that it’s not “if” Lord Favre will play this Sunday and beyond, but “should” he play.

Brad Childress and the Vikings are in a delicate spot right now. At 2-4, they haven’t started off the season on a positive note but it’s not like they’re out of playoff contention. Far from it, in fact.

The Packers and Bears are currently atop the division at 4-3 but Green Bay is incredibly beat up and Chicago has too many issues to list. (Okay, I’ll list a few: Bad in-game management by their coaching staff, Jay Cutler’s love affair with the interception, red zone issues offensively and the O-line’s inability to pass protect.)

But as things currently stand, Minnesota isn’t going anywhere with the way Favre has played to date. He’s completing just 58.1% of his passes and his current touchdown-to-interception ratio is 7:10. He’s been bad when he’s healthy, but he’s been even worse since elbow and now ankle injuries have taken their toll.

He has two fractures in his left ankle. If it weren’t for his consecutive starts streak, nobody would be talking about whether or not he should play on Sunday. It would be obvious that Tarvaris Jackson would need to start and Brad Childress would be spending his time getting him prepared and not answering questions about Favre.

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Vikings’ head coach Brad Childress told the media on Monday that Brett Favre has been diagnosed with two fractures in his left ankle. While he doesn’t need surgery to repair the injury, he’s currently in a protective walking boot and is in danger of missing Week 8’s game against the Patriots.

Childress says that Favre’s consecutive starts streak won’t impact his decision on whether or not Brett will play on Sunday, nor should it. Childress’ allegiance is to his team – not to Favre or his personal accomplishments. If Favre isn’t healthy enough to play then it’s Childress’ job to make the decision to bench Brett and get Tarvaris Jackson prepared to play.

Everyone knows that Favre will say that he’s healthy enough to play. Then he’ll go out there, hobble around for four quarters and either dazzle everyone with a great fourth quarter performance or bury his team’s chances at victory with a couple of interceptions. Favre’s warrior-like attitude when it comes to injuries is admirable, but there comes a time when he actually hurts the team more by playing. (Of course given two of his last three performances, he’s going to hurt his team whether he’s healthy or not.)

Childress has to put the big boy pants on and not allow his love affair with Favre to get in the way of making the right decision. He considered benching his starting QB in Sunday night’s game against the Packers and if Favre’s health doesn’t improve throughout the week, then Jackson should start.