The Scores Report - The National Sports Blog » Brett Favre Vikings Super Bowl

Two reasons why Brett Favre and the Vikings won’t win the Super Bowl

Anthony Stalter — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 22:15:23 +0000

Even though his annual retirement dance has long become an absurd spectacle, I’ve always maintained that Brett Favre can do whatever he wants.

Play. Don’t play. Sit on your tractor. Take pictures of weird people at Wal-Mart – I don’t care. Who am I to say when an athlete’s time is up? It’s not my decision.

With that in mind, no, I don’t think that it’s a mistake that Favre has decided to come back. Regardless of whether or not you’re entertained by his offseason antics or he makes you want to give yourself an at-home lobotomy, there’s no question that he can still play. And play at an elite level, for that matter.

But will he lead the Vikings to a Super Bowl? I think there are two distinct reasons why he won’t:

1. His Health.
Two years ago, Favre suffered a biceps injury and it played a huge role in sinking the Jets’ playoff hopes in the final month of the season. Last year, he made it all the way to the NFC title game, but he suffered a nasty ankle injury (the same ankle that required surgery in the offseason), which was one of the factors in the Vikings’ demise. Say what you want about Sir Fickle, but the man is a warrior. He’s never missed a game throughout his career and I suspect he never will. But at 40 years old, does anyone really think he’s going to stay healthy enough to lead the Vikes to the Super Bowl? Granted, no player is healthy by about Week 10 of the season, but they’re not 40 years old either. Let’s just play the trends here; the last two years an injury has sunk his team’s Super Bowl hopes. So let’s make it a third this year.

2. Brad Childress.
The Vikings proved last year that with Favre under center, they’re going to compete for a playoff spot. That said, I don’t think Brad Childress is a Super Bowl-winning coach. Why? I think he has troubling developing talent (Adrian Peterson still can’t block and still can’t hold onto the football, Sidney Rice was the next Troy Williamson before Favre arrived, Tarvaris Jackson is arguably no better now than when he was drafted). I think he mishandles situations with players (see Favre, Peterson, Matt Birk, Dwight Smith to name a few). And I don’t think he does a good job of masking his team’s weaknesses (especially when he has a hole to fill on the offensive line). So the question of whether or not Favre can win a Super Bowl with the Vikings gets a little convoluted when you remember that Childress is still the man in charge. Can anyone say with any certainty in their voice that they can envision Childress making the right decisions in crunch time of a Super Bowl? I can’t.

Let’s also keep in mind that Sidney Rice isn’t healthy and Percy Harvin continues to deal with migraines. Both players should be ready to go by Week 1 (Harvin definitely will), but there’s a good chance that the Vikings will regress in 2010 regardless.

Favre gives the Vikes their best chance of winning this year, which is why they had no problem waiting until mid-August before he announced his return. But I still see this team coming up short again this season.

If Favre retires, was signing worth it for Vikings?

Anthony Stalter — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 17:09:43 +0000

Before their win over the Cowboys in the Divisional Round two weeks ago, I proposed the question of whether or not signing Brett Favre was worth it for the Vikings. Now that Minnesota has been knocked out of the playoffs and the annual Brett Favre retirement dance has begun, I’m proposing a similar question.

If Favre does decide to hang ‘em up this offseason, was signing him for one year worth it for the Vikings?

Had they lost to Dallas, I would have empathically said “no” to the above question. The Vikings won the division and reached the playoffs with Gus Frerotte and Tarvaris Jackson in 2008. So for all intents and purposes, had they lost to the Cowboys the Vikings would not have improved under Favre and therefore, his signing would have been a waste. After all, Minnesota didn’t jump over all the hurdles to sign Favre last offseason just so they could win another division title and be bounced in their first playoff game. And had he retired after a loss to Dallas, the signing would have looked even worse.

However, my stance has changed after the Vikes advanced to the NFC Championship Game because that meant they did improve with Favre under center. They weren’t knocking on the door of a Super Bowl last year with Jackson at quarterback and although we’ll never know, I highly doubt they would have reached the NFC title game with Jackson or Sage Rosenfels this season.

So yeah, the signing of Favre was worth it in my eyes. Did they sign him in hopes that he would advance them to the Super Bowl? Of course they did, but 30 teams fail to reach the Super Bowl every year and 28 of them didn’t get as far as the Vikings did this season. They knew they were a quarterback away from making a legitimate run and they did what they had to do in order to sign one of the best in the game.

But all this being said, one could still make the argument that because the Vikings failed to reach the Super Bowl, the signing of Favre was a waste. Keep in mind what he put them through last offseason in terms of making the decision about whether or not to return. Poor Jackson and Rosenfels had to field questions on a daily basis about Brett, all the while trying to compete for a job that may or may not have been available when the season started. Brad Childress essentially had to alienate the quarterbacks that were already on his roster in order to appease a veteran quarterback that he may or may not have the opportunity to coach. Then when Favre did sign, the Vikings still had to worry about what kind of an effect he would have on team chemistry and in the locker room.

In the end, the Vikings didn’t accomplish their goal of making it to the Super Bowl. If Favre retires, was everything they went through in the offseason worth it? Before you answer, keep in mind that if Favre doesn’t return the Vikings now have two quarterbacks in Jackson and Rosenfels who haven’t played in a year. And one of them (Jackson) is a restricted free agent.

If Brett does decide to come back for another season, then at least the Vikings had two cracks at trying to win a Super Bowl with the same roster. But if he doesn’t, then was all of this worth it for them to lose to the Saints in the NFC Championship Game?

If Favre retires, was his signing worth it to Vikings?

Photo from fOTOGLIF

If the Vikings lose on Sunday, would signing Favre have been a waste?

Anthony Stalter — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:29:55 +0000

The Minnesota Vikings didn’t just sign Brett Favre in the offseason: They jumped through every hoop and hopped every hurdle in front of them in order to acquire the ageless one, including alienating Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson in the process. (And while I can’t prove it, I also fully believe that Brad Childress sold his soul in order to sign Favre as well.)

That’s why if the Vikings lose this Sunday to the Dallas Cowboys, signing Favre would have arguably been a waste. A team like Minnesota doesn’t subject itself the way it did this offseason to sign a 40-year old quarterback to lose in the second round of the playoffs. It signs a 40-year old drama queen because he’s worth it and to ensure that the team is going to have a shot at winning the Super Bowl.

Okay, so there are no sure things in pro football. Signing Favre didn’t guarantee anything for the Vikings, but they knew that they were a legit passing attack away from being a Super Bowl contender and so far, suffering through Favre’s drama this offseason has been worth it.

But if they lose this weekend, then they would have accomplished nothing. Favre isn’t going to play forever (uh, I think) and the Vikings’ window of opportunity to win a Super Bowl has been shrinking since Week 1. If they lose to the Cowboys, then the Vikes will have won precisely the same amount of playoff games with Tarvaris Jackson under center last year: Zero.

Favre is 3-7 in his last 10 postseason appearances and the Cowboys are red-hot. The Vikings have also managed to somehow stop running the ball effectively despite having Adrian Peterson in the backfield, and Dallas will no doubt utilize its outstanding pass-rush to force Favre into making mistakes. In other words, the Vikings have quite the challenge on their hands.

There’s no shame in losing to a better team, but the Vikings are built to win now. Yes, their defense still has holes – especially in the secondary. But this team proved throughout the season that it’s one of the top three teams in the conference and has enough talent to reach the title game. Winning the division was a great accomplishment for Minnesota, but expectations have hardly been met. If they advance to the NFC Championship Game, then at least they could say that they improved from last year and was close to a Super Bowl berth.

But if they lose this Sunday, then what would signing Favre have amounted to? A division title? The Vikings already achieved that last year with a similar roster. No, this team signed Favre for much more and anything short of a Super Bowl appearance would be a grave disappointment.

If they lose this Sunday, would the signing of Favre have been a waste for the Vikings?

Photo from fOTOGLIF