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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