A gunslinger until the bitter end
Brett Favre’s interception may have ended his Super Bowl dreams,
but it couldn’t have happened any other way

By Liam Britten, Editor in Chief

he final pass of Brett Favre’s first
Ts as a Viking could have been

a microcosm for the man’s entire
career.

The Minnesota Vikings, tied with
the New Orleans Saints 28-all in the NFC
Championship game, were at the New
Orleans 38-yard line, just out of range for a
Ryan Longwell field goal. All they needed
to do to get in range for that kick was
maybe five or six more yards; they were on
third down and 15 to go, but the first down
wasn’t necessary. With only seven seconds
left on the clock, that field goal, if good,
would have all but assured Minnesota’s
victory and earned them a fifth trip to the
Super Bowl in Miami.

As the play developed, New Orleans’
defence made what seemed a fatal
mistake—they figured Favre would go
for the pass and left a massive opening
for the former Packer, who had rolled to
his right, to make a run for at least five
yards, perhaps as many as eight to ten.

All Brett Favre needed to do was go for
that safe play and he would appear in his
first Super Bowl since 1997. He would
earn his chance to go out on top, prove the
doubters wrong and make his controversial
comeback a total success.

But that’s not how Brett Favre
operates. In his mind, a “safe play”
involves throwing to a young receiver
(Sidney Rice in this case) in heavy
coverage, against the grain, halfway across
the field.

So he made the safe play. And
cornerback Tracy Porter came up with an
easy interception for New Orleans, sending
the game into overtime and earning New
Orleans their first Super Bowl appearance
ever.

Analysts were shocked after the fact.
Brett Favre had only coughed the ball up
seven times all year, a career low, and it
seemed the Minnesota Favre had finally
kicked the bad habits of the Green Bay
Favre, who was at times a gunslinger and a
gambler at the worst possible moments.

But his improvements this season
were illusory. Of course he threw a low
number of interceptions—in 18 years of
play, this year saw him throw his fourth-
lowest number of pass attempts (531)
because this year saw him teamed with the
league’s most dominant running back in
Adrian Peterson. In all his years in Green
Bay it was pass offence all the way, so
when he finally got a ground game that
could be relied on for big plays game-in
game-out, of course he’s going to be throw
fewer picks.

But against New Orleans, he got

   

careless, or maybe just restless. But
either way, he decided he had to put the
game on his shoulders and make the big
play when it simply was uncalled for.

In a way, it reminded me of his worst
qualities while playing for Green Bay.
When adversity faced him, desperation
and frustration would set in, and he felt
the need to do it all himself. In fairness, he

- made it work more times than not; that’s

why we Green Bay fans loved his high-
stakes play so much, and were willing to
forgive the occasionally selfish miscues
he was prone to. But when Brett Favre
screwed up, it was usually just as dramatic
as his successes, as evidenced by this
championship game.

I was among many who were shocked
when Favre decided to make the move
to Minnesota after his forgettable season
in New York. I figured he’d make the
safe play; retire as the league’s leader in
touchdowns and passing yards (and of
course, interceptions) and then wait for his
inevitable induction in the Hall of Fame as
a Packer and his veneration as the Jesus of
Wisconsin.

But let’s not forget, Brett Favre
doesn’t define a safe play the way the rest
of us do. For him, taking his 40-year-old,
beaten-up body to play for one of his
strongest rivals for one more shot at Super
Bowl glory was a safe play, and damned if
he wasn’t close to making that play work.

I won’t lie and say I was rooting for
Brett to succeed—hell, I’m a Pack fan; I
don’t hope for anything good to happen to
the Vikings, ever—but I could see why so
many people were in his corner. After all,
he was just doing what he’s been doing
his whole career: taking huge a gamble to
get that big play. We loved him for it back
in Green Bay and we probably shouldn’t
have been so surprised to see him try it one
more time.

But if that guy puts us through nine
months of “will he or won’t he” over
retiring, he’s dead to me.

 

 

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