Brett Favre Retiring This Time?

By: Stephen Patterson

There have been reports throughout the day that Brett Favre has sent text messages to teammates saying "This is it", and that he is planning to finally call it a career after 19 seasons in the NFL. While there have been several reporters claiming the news is legit and Favre is done, I'm going to wait until the season opens up and the Minnesota Vikings meet the New Orleans Saints. As a matter of fact, I won't believe it until the season ends. Neither Favre nor the Vikings have confirmed the reports.

Even if I had heard the words come straight from his mouth, I still wouldn't believe him after the past three summers of retirement talk. Favre has talked about retirement since we was still a Green Bay Packer. He has since played with the New York Jets and the Vikings, only spending one season with each franchise. He even went on record in an interview in February 2009 saying he was done and would never play another game. Looks like he was a little off with that statement.

Favre is recovering from offseason ankle surgery and has said that it would be the determining factor in his return for a second season with the Vikings. There have been reports over the past several weeks that Favre would almost certainly return, including the Viking's owner, who thought his star quarterback would return for another season. 

If he chooses to walk away from the game at this stage, he will own almost every single record for quarterbacks in NFL history. He has records for the most career touchdowns, completions, passing yards, interceptions, and consecutive games started. While he has never openly said it, I think one of the main reasons Favre fights with the retirement issue each offseason and always comes back is because he wants to put a lock on his records. If he walks away now, with his records standing where they are at, there is a very decent chance Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts will break a lot of those records before he retires.

While the Vikings would obviously prefer having Favre as their quarterback heading into the season, they are prepared to move on with Tavaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels. If Favre does indeed retire, some Vikings fans will be unhappy with his timing. If he had made the decision earlier in the offseason, the team could've found a replacement in the draft or potentially made a move to acquire Donovan McNabb, Jason Campbell, Michael Vick, or Ben Roethlisberger (when the team was still shopping him). 

Vikings head coach Brad Childress doesn't believe the reports, and has said he would rather "hear it from the horse's mouth." After all of the flip-flopping Favre has done over the past few offseasons, I don't understand how anyone could take his word for it after his previous decisions. Coming off the best season of his career, I would be heavily surprised if Favre doesn't join the Vikings at some point during this season, even if he says the words out of his own mouth that he is calling it quits.