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.

But since Brett has started 291-straight games, this is an issue – although it shouldn’t be.

The only thing that matters in the NFL is winning. Personal achievements and milestones are great and should be celebrated, but head coaches don’t lose their jobs when an aging, hobbled quarterback doesn’t start his 292nd-straight game. They lose their jobs when they stick an aging, hobbled quarterback out on the field and he continues to throw interception after interception instead of doing the smart thing and getting his backup ready to play.

This isn’t a debate about whether or not Jackson is capable enough to start. He should start because Favre isn’t healthy and the Vikings are trying to get back into the NFC North hunt. It’s up to Childress to game plan around Jackson’s strengths and weaknesses and steal a few wins before Favre is ready to take over the reigns again. This isn’t that hard of a concept – injuries happen every week in the NFL and it’s the teams that overcome them that prosper.

Put aside his ego, his fickleness and Jenn Sterger for a second – Favre is a warrior. The man is 41 years old and he proved last year that he could still play at an elite level. How he’s made it this far is a testament to his toughness and his desire to play the game. But Childress’ allegiance is to the Vikings – not to Favre’s personal achievements.

Childress needs to put a game plan in for Jackson, give the ball to Adrian Peterson 25 times and rely on his running game and defense to get him by while Favre recovers. If Brett comes back and he’s just as ineffective, then Childress needs to deal with that then. By that time, Jackson would have a few starts under his belt and Childress would have a better idea on what to do.

Of course, if Jackson stinks up the joint, then Childress may just have to live and die with Favre. He sold his soul to get Brett to Minnesota, so he might as well let Favre do his thing for the rest of the year. Once he’s healthy, Childress might as well go with the quarterback that he wanted all along.