Reflections on Favre

It was a nearly perfect weekend for Packer fans. Not only did Green Bay demolish the Lions at Lambeau, but the Bears lost in Atlanta, and the Ravens almost broke the Vikings' hearts in Minnesota. Just a better kick -- and it was a makeable kick -- and the Vikings would have suffered their first loss. So close.

Instead, however, Minnesota remains undefeated, and they are being talked about as part of the cream-of-the-crop in the NFC. Yuck.

And, of course, Favre worked his 4th-quarter magic. Again.

During halftime of the Packers game, the FOX crew did their ususal fast-paced coverage of other action from around the league. And in describing the Raven-Viking game, Terry Bradshaw remarked, "No one throws more touchdowns inside the 5-yard-line than Brett Favre."

I don't think that Bradshaw was citing stats from the Elias Sports Bureau. It was just an off-the-cuff observation. But in light of the Packers' own struggles to seal the deal once they got inside the Lions' 30, it was interesting to consider how proficient Favre is in the red zone.

Again, I bear no malice toward Aaron Rodgers. I think he's terrific. And I suspect that Favre is surrounded by a better team right now than Rodgers is. Still, I can't help but revisit Ted Thompson's willingness -- dare we say, eagerness? -- to jettison Favre and move on to Rodgers.

Colin Cowherd (ESPN Radio) made an intersting observation about Favre last week. He compared Favre to Tiger Woods. Woods, he said, doesn't win a tournament by 15 strokes. He wins it by four. That means, Cowherd observed, that he's just one stroke a day better than the next guy. Just one stroke a day.

That, Cowherd argued, is the thing about Favre. He's just one or two plays a game better than Rodgers. Rodgers will put up good numbers and play very nicely, but those one or two plays that are part of Favre's greatness will mean more wins in the long run.

That's clearly not how Thompson reasoned it. But I'm not sure that "reason" was the real motivating factor in the decision anyway.