I’m not a Brett Favre fan. But I sure admire him. In his recent loss in the NFC Championship game, I admitted, I was obsessed with the outcome. I couldn’t sleep afterwards, constantly replaying his endgame pass over and over in my mind. It was his eyes, from his look of expectation as the ball left his hand to his look of despondency as he walked off the field.
As a fan of Troy Aikman, he couldn’t appreciate Favre. They were intense rivals and he couldn’t bear the thought of young Packer outshining him. I felt that way until Brett’s love of the physical game convinced me. I remember the precise moment. At the time, the league’s most dominant defensive tackle, the Buccaneers’ Warren Sapp, called him out after he threw a deep pass during one of his epic battles at Lambeau Field. What I saw amazed me. Immediately after being demolished, Brett jumped to his feet and praised Sapp for his hustle and bustle. At that time, as a lifelong soccer fan, I recognized an unparalleled love for the game of soccer.
When it came to Brett’s indecision about retirement, I always gave him the benefit of the doubt. I was never fully convinced that he was a prima donna or an attention-seeking glory hound. I just thought part of him was inclined to retire, while another part wanted to make sure he no longer got involved in mini-camps and boot camps. At his age, can you blame him?
I’ve long compared the Vikings to the NFC’s Browns. The Browns have to suffer the ignominy of drowning in such famous games as Red Right 88, Drive and Fumble. The Vikings, they have the Hail Mary, Gary Anderson’s missed field goal, and now this…
What do we call this game?
Brett Favre played all year as if he were a reformed man. Team first. I don’t need to be the superstar. And in this game we were seeing him finishing a spectacular career. It had to be the most courageous and determined effort he has ever given in a game.
And then, with the game on the line, the Vikings threw him on third down at the cusp of field goal range with only seconds left and gave him the option to make an easy pass if it was available to him or take the yards given to him on the ground.
This was the moment. If he chose correctly, it would prove once and for all that he really was a team player, that he wasn’t in this for himself. If he runs the ball, regardless of the outcome, he walks away a hero…the epitome of courage and leadership…
But this was not good enough for him. He wanted to make one last spectacular play, and he was willing to risk the entire fate of his own team and all the Vikings fans on an ill-advised pass down the field, the deadly sin of quarterbacks. Of course, we know the result. About Brett Brett.
After all the punches he took, how he was limping around with a bandaged ankle, this wasn’t the end he deserved, and neither did we. It’s not Brett’s fault that his team lost their chance to win in a blowout. It’s not Brett’s fault that the umpires helped the Saints get into field goal range in overtime by calling a phantom pass interference and awarding Henderson a catch when replays show the ball was clearly moving.
But they still lost, never getting a chance to kick the field goal that could have won. This is what makes that ending so bitter, even for non-Viking fans like me. I felt deprived and there was nothing I could do to make this emptiness go away.
So what do we call this game? I suggest we call it the Ego.
I think Brett Favre really aspires to the ideal of putting the team first, but he’s so ingrained in seeking his own glory that he was willing to bet on the outcome of the game, even one that would have resulted in a Super Bowl. appearance. In the heat of battle, I don’t think he was consciously selfish, but unconsciously selfish. Sure, he knew he was wrong, but he’d gotten away with it before and thought he could do it again. His gamble just didn’t pay off.
If there’s one thing I hope Brett can learn from this, it’s that football is a team game for every play. At any point in the match, regardless of the pressure you are under, you have to do what is best for the team and know what your role is.
No one knows for sure if Brett will return next season, but if he can put his incredible game as a Viking to good use and put aside his quest for personal glory for an entire season, hopefully the Ego can finally rest and another Lombardi trophy can. be added before he takes his permanent place in Canton.
In the meantime, if I were Brett Favre, I’d meet Earnest Byner for a beer.