Crazy idea

I’ve been thinking about this ever since the Vikings started pursuing Brett Favre. Okay, we know there’s some concern about Favre wearing down late in the season. The Vikings are monitoring how many throws he makes in practice. Brad Childress is talking about getting him some rest during the season. He’s got that tear in the rotator cuff and he’s talked about maybe having a cracked rib. The regular season hasn’t even started. There is a decent chance Favre might not be able to play all 16 games, and even if he does, he might be so beat up doing so that we could witness a repeat of last year’s debacle with the Jets.

So here’s a wacky idea. How about Brad Childress just tells Favre he’s going to limit the games Favre plays in during the regular season – regardless of how the ole’ gunslinger’s body feels or what he says?

Seems to me if the Vikings are so worried about Favre, who will be 40 in October, being fresh and healthy late in the season, then maybe he should only play in, say, 12 regular season games instead of 16. Brett’s already said he’s all about winning, right? So he should have no problem sitting out some games for the ultimate good of the team. And what’s good for the team is having Favre in almost as good shape in January as he is now.

And the Vikings have two pretty good backup quarterbacks on the roster already in Sage Rosenfels and Tarvaris Jackson that can help make this work. They’ve had their moments when asked to start in this league. They’ve helped their teams win some games. So the drop off from Favre to them isn’t that great at this stage in his career as it was five or 10 years ago. This strategy gives Favre’s old body needed rest and it keeps your two other QBs game-ready in case Favre gets seriously hurt and you need them to play for an extended period.

You could also potentially cherry pick the games Favre sits out. I mean, do you really want Favre playing against Pittsburgh on Oct. 25 when the weather could be bad in Pittsburgh, against a hard-hitting, hard blitzing defence one week after playing a hard-hitting, hard blitzing Ravens defence? Save some wear and tear on Favre. Stick Jackson or Rosenfels in there and see what happens.

There are probably three or four games this season – if the Vikings play up to their potential – that Brad Childress could sit Favre for and still not cost the Vikings a divisional title, a first round bye and home field advantage. And once the playoffs start, three or four less games played and several dozen less hits taken should give Childress a healthier Favre, a Favre whose body feels good, whose arm feels good and who is ready to roll come playoff time.

Of course, it will never happen. Favre would never voluntarily sit out games (there are more records to break and a legacy to build upon) and Childress wouldn’t ask his buddy to do it anyway. It would also be such an unconventional, risky move – one that might cost him his job if it doesn’t work – that Chilly would never consider it.

But just because it’s a wacky idea doesn’t mean it's devoid of merit.

So this is progress?
I agree with Childress’ decision to keep both Jackson and Rosenfels on the roster (so far) to backup Favre. But now Chilly isn’t saying who the backup is going to be and that it might change week-to-week.

Do you suppose Sage Rosenfels wishes he was back in Houston now? Here is a player who knew he wasn’t going to start in Houston because Matt Schaub was Gary Kubiak’s guy. He also knew that Minnesota was a good football team with a bad quarterback situation that had tried to acquire him previously. So he lobbies to get traded here and it happens. He’s happy. He figures all he has to do to get that starting job is beat out Tarvaris Jackson – who isn’t very good. It should be a slam dunk.

But then the Favre-to-Minnesota rumors start. Then the Vikes finally sign Favre. There goes the starting job. Then Rosenfels hurts his ankle and can’t play in the second preseason game against Kansas City while Jackson plays very well. And now after thinking he could finally be a starter in this league with a playoff-ready team like the Vikings, he learns he might be the team’s third quarterback on some Sundays.

In Houston, he was a backup, but a backup for a guy who misses a lot of games. There was a good chance he'd get to play at some point this season. With the Vikings, there's now a good chance he'll be inactive on gamedays. I feel for him a bit.