Favre will do more to hurt Vikings than help them
By Clark Judge | CBSSports.com Senior Writer Follow ClarkIf we can keep this conversation to purely football, I have a question for you: Which quarterback will make his new team better, Brett Favre or Michael Vick?
Give me Vick, and I'll tell you why: At this point of his career I don't know what he is ... but I do know what he could be, and that's an explosive playmaker who is a mismatch for linebackers or defensive linemen trying to tackle him. So he has been away from the game for more than two years. Give him time. Then give him the ball.
With Favre, on the other hand, I do know what he is, and I do know what he will be -- and that's an old quarterback waiting to break down as the season wears on. Favre turns 40 this year, and old quarterbacks get hurt, throw interceptions and, basically, have trouble making it through an entire season. Favre offered a demonstration a year ago when he self-destructed down the stretch with the New York Jets, throwing two touchdown passes and nine interceptions in their final five games -- four of which they lost.
When Jets fans wondered how in the world they blew the playoffs, they started with No. 4. As games became more meaningful Favre became more dreadful, unable to get the ball downfield and committing critical mistakes at the most inopportune times -- like an interception returned for a touchdown in the season-ending loss to Miami.
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OK, he was hurt. But remember what I said: That's what happens to old quarterbacks. The Vikings are taking him on because they believe he is better than what they have, Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson. Maybe they're right. But are we talking four games? Eight games? Twelve games? I guarantee you that what you get from Brett Favre in September is not what you get in December. Or maybe November.
So big deal. That's when you turn to one of the other guys. Sure. You tell me who tells Brett Favre to sit down ... and sit down for Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels. Favre isn't going to Minnesota to hold a clipboard for someone else; he's going to resurrect a career that won't quit, and too bad for Minnesota.
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| Brett Favre's one-year Jets tenure ended with a Week 17 defeat that kept New York out of the playoffs. (US Presswire) |
"The problem with guys like [Favre]," said an NFL head coach, "is that they come in on their terms. They do what they want to do. They buy into the program only until they decide they don't want to buy in. Then, it's a disaster."
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Of course, Minnesota has Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor, so the Vikings won't have to rely so much on Favre. But he still must throw, and he must throw in big games. And if he does what he wants and not what the Vikings need, Minnesota is cooked. The Jets could have kept him, but they didn't -- and they didn't because Favre couldn't get them where they wanted to go, which is down the field and into the playoffs. Instead, they turn the ball over to someone younger.
Minnesota could do that, too, but coach Brad Childress' fascination with Favre won't let him. But it's more than that. Childress is under fire to win -- now -- and desperate people make desperate decisions. In taking on Favre, Childress is gambling on a quarterback who couldn't beat Seattle and San Francisco down the stretch last year -- clubs with a combined record of 11-21.
"I think," Childress told me last month, "that I want to make sure I have a viable alternative. We've used two quarterbacks every year since I've been here. In this league they say if you've got depth you got nothing. We don't have an heir apparent here. We don't have a guy who's entrenched, so you want to make sure you have someone who's been in the system, who has been in a very good system."
Favre has, and he has been so successful that he is a dead-bolt cinch as a Hall of Fame quarterback. But John Unitas was a cinch, too, when he went to San Diego. That was a bad idea for everyone. Joe Namath tried it in Los Angeles with the Rams, and that one didn't work out so well, either. Now we have Favre trying it with Minnesota, and I'll be shocked if the results are better than they were in New York.
Look, the Vikings went to the playoffs a year ago largely because Childress got smart and pulled the plug on Jackson early. Two games into the season he was gone, and Gus Frerotte went 8-3 as a starter. That brought Jackson back, and he was a different quarterback, a guy who won a critical game in Arizona and steered the Vikings into the playoffs.
Is he the answer? No, probably not. That's why the club went after Rosenfels, a smart move if you're looking for safety nets. But now both he and Jackson sit on the sideline and watch Brett Favre run an offense that doesn't need the mistakes he commits far too often at this stage of his career.
A year ago, the Jets had success when they reined him in in the middle of the season, but then Favre went back to doing what he does -- which is make a lot of questionable throws -- and the results speak for themselves. Brad Childress, be careful what you wish for.
"Look," said Childress, talking about his interest in Favre, "I didn't see there was a downside either way. If you could add a guy you believe gives you a better chance, that's great."
I guess that's where he and I differ. I believe Michael Vick can give Philadelphia a better chance to win. I don't know that he will. But I believe that he can. I don't believe Brett Favre makes Minnesota better. In fact, on an indoor surface where the game is faster and more suited to younger, faster, more athletic players, I believe he could make the Vikings worse.
It's Brad Childress' gamble. Here's hoping he knows what he's doing.
