Pack it in, Brett

July 14th, 2008 at 12:17pm Wally Haas

Remember Joe Montana playing for the Kansas City Chiefs? How about Johnny Unitas throwing passes for the San Diego Chargers?

If you do remember, it’s probably not too fondly.

So it’s difficult to picture Brett Favre in anything other than a green-and-gold Green Bay Packers jersey. Favre wants to unretire and wants to be released so he can have a shot with another team.

Seeing Favre in another uniform would be like listening to Ozzie Osbourne sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch at a Chicago Cubs game. We all know how bad that turned out. (You can still catch it on YouTube.)
Montana and Unitas were great quarterbacks who were traded after their teams no longer had any use for them. The same scenario could play out in Green Bay, where Packers management seems to think Aaron Rodgers is the best person to lead them to the Super Bowl.

Professional football memories are short. Favre led the Packers to within a game of the Super Bowl last year. The Packers lost to the New York Giants who went on to beat the seemingly invincible New England Patriots for the NFL championship.

Could the Packers have had that good of a season without the record-breaking Favre? I doubt it.

Although Favre probably still can play at a high level, he should stay retired. If he has any question about whether he wants to play — he retired once so you know there has to be some doubt — he should enjoy his autumn and winter on the sofa. To be anything less than 100 percent focused on a violent sport like football could be hazardous to your health.

But we’ve come to expect late heroics from Favre. Maybe we’ll see one last comeback.

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