It started with a hobble off the field of the Louisiana Superdome in January, a foreshadowing event that the end of Bret Favre was that much nearer.
A 28-24 loss Monday night to the team he led to two Super Bowls marked a bitter way for Favre to go. That same ankle he hurt in the NFC Championship game now is fractured in two places.
The Vikings are 2-4 and Favre is in jeopardy of ending his streak of 291 consecutive games played. But for now the streak is irrelevant.
The fall of Bret Favre began with a stumble in 2007–an interception in overtime during the NFC Championship game that put the Packers one game short of the Super Bowl, a slip up in 2008–three turnovers in a game that with a win could have put the Jets in the postseason, and a losing of one’s footing in 2009–interception at the end of regulation when Vikings were in position for game-winning field goal, but the massive fall happened in 2010–three interceptions that turned into 14 points in a loss to the Packers.
He’s been pushed down and this time, it appears he will not be able to get back up. 10 interceptions through six games, erratic throw after erratic throw, making people forget that he only had seven interceptions last season, and that the Vikings have matched last year’s lost column…in six games.
And is it simply coicidental or flat out ironic that the team to knock him down one last time is the team that helped shape and mold the persona that is Bret Favre, the player that all fans admired and adored, the epitomy of the franchise player.
Add the accusation of his lewd photos and voicemails sent to a former Jets employee when he was on the team in 2008, and you might call it karma.
But that’s not likely. Not from a player with so much swagger, a competitive drive and above all, a will to win like any other. But now the man who once led his team to victory is hindering his team’s ability to win. And so he limped off Lambeau Field, probably for the last time, in a different uniform and in a losing effort.
And with the same hobble that accompanied his walk to the locker rooms of the Louisiana Superdome; Favre limped off the media podium, hardly able to walk, as he gingerly went down the steps, a sight to see from someone who had never heard of the word injured. The gun slinger, ironman, franchise player, now limping away from the game, and gracefully is certainly not the best way to describe it.
And what has he decided?
“I’m willing to give it a try,” Favre told the USA Today Wednesday afternoon.
Give it a try? How about give it your all? Doctors might think he will not do any more damage to his ailing ankle, and season for that matter, but this is what we like to call the ceiling effect–the level of damage and pain has reached the highest peak, the top of the room, the highest shelf; nothing can make it any worse, but give it a try?
I love Bret Favre. I always have. But it’s kind of like when grandpa is in his 80s and is 75 percent blind in one eye, forgets to put the car in park, and drives on the wrong side of the road. Sure he can “give it a try,” but we all know its time for him to no longer have a license.
Favre might be able to try, but as the commander of the offense, when you kill the leader, they all fall down. Call it tough love, call it coming to terms with reality. But Bret Favre is not the same quarterback, and frankly never will be.
It’s time for Vikings coach Brad Childress to hand over the reigns to Tavaris Jackson, as hard as it may be.
Who said taking away grandpa’s license was easy?
Try telling a future Hall of Famer and someone who has never missed a game in his life that its time.