Damn Vikings: Gunslinger who won't go away

In the words of Déjà Voodoo, "I wanna miss you, but you never go away."

Favregeddon — thank you, Daily Norseman — seems l like it might could soon be on like the former republic of Azerbaijan. It's the ultimate fan dilemma. Vikings fans want a Super Bowl appearance in the worst way. Getting there with Brett Favre as the quarterback would be about the worst way, assuming a 40-year-old passer whose arm couldn't make it through last season is the answer to their intractable quarterback problem. Isn't it really kind of a give-up play, akin to calling a draw play on third-and-long, as Vikes coach Brad Childress is sometimes wont to do?

A not uncommon reaction among Vikings blogs is that most would give up quite a bit to not have to weigh in on the topic at all. The notion of the former Green Bay Packer in purple is that touchy a subject. In all honesty, speaking as a Vikings fan, it seemed best to be open-minded about this since early last August, even though Green goddamn Bay was never going to let Favre go to the Vikings as long as they could exercise control over where he played.

The kicker from a football standpoint is that the Vikings have done the least of any NFC North to address their quarterback situation (sorry for sounding like a NFL commentator), but it's not even clear how much Favre would help. He flat-out reeked over the final month of last season with the New York Jets. The ESPN.com report (and keep in mind the four-letter likes to make a lot out of very little sometimes) notes, "Favre has not been working out and declined to have surgery to repair the torn biceps tendon that plagued him the final month of last season."

The cynical response is the quarterback doesn't need that strong an arm in Childress' notoriously staid offence. How much of a gun does the QB need to dump it off to Adrian Peterson or Chester Taylor on a screen pass every time it's third down and 10?

That's for someone else to answer. It's best, on this end, to focus on whether you can cross the Rubicon, in the parlance of our time, on a player you have pure, flat-out loathed for the better part of two decades. If he can still play, fine, but if he's going to be the me-first Favre that sank the Packers and the New York Jets, no thanks. The odds of it being any other Favre are not good.

(It might be too early to take a sheepish victory lap for once opining, "Vikings fans are resigned to the deep-down suspicion that No. 4 is going to torment us until the end of time." That sentence was never written with the idea of Favre throwing touchdown passes to Vikings players instead of interceptions, which he has been known to do once in a while.)

Related:
Source, Favre, Vikes to discuss playing (ESPN.com)