Seeing Brett Favre on the cover of SI got me to thinking – what would’ve happened had he not hastily retired in 2008? The ol’ pervert gunslinger gave general manager Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy the perfect opening to turn the team over to Aaron Rodgers. But would they’ve had the cojones to make that move had Favre not opened the door? Or would the incredible career of No. 12 be taking place in another city?
We’ll never know the answer to that question, but my gut tells me Favre did the Packers a humongous favor a little over seven years ago. While Thompson and McCarthy were clearly ready to see what their talented young quarterback could do, they clearly weren’t ready to alienate an entire fan base by forcing Favre out – especially following one of his finest regular seasons. And had No. 4 played for Green Bay in 2008, chances are Thompson would’ve been forced to trade Rodgers after the season, since he was not only growing increasingly impatient, but he was also entering the final year of his contract.
As much as I still resent Favre for what he did to the franchise in the summer of ’08, I guess I have to also give thanks to Jenn Sterger’s biggest fan. His “retirement” – as brief and as ill-thought out as it was – allowed the Packers to give the keys to the car to Rodgers, who has driven it like Jimmie Johnson for the past eight seasons.
OK, so now I know how to keep myself from dry heaving when Favre is feted by the Packers on Thanksgiving night. I’ll simply make believe he’s being honored for the unintentionally unselfish thing he did on March 4, 2008. After all, it wound up being the best thing he did for the franchise since leading it to a Super Bowl win over a decade earlier.
I’ve read/heard several things over the years regarding all of this. I’m not sure how much/if any of it is true, but there’s probably at least some truth to it. McGinn wrote much later that the organization began to internally move on from Bert after seeing what Rodgers did in that game in Dallas in 2007. They moved further away from Bert after he basically no-showed when GB was blown out in the cold in Chicago later that season. At halftime of the championship game when Bert once again no-showed in the cold, MM reportedly screamed, “If that wasn’t Brett ***king Favre, I’d bench his ass!”
Point is that yes, Bert opened the door for all of this, but MM and TT may have prompted that by immediately telling Bert after the NYG debacle that they wanted a decision from him ASAP. Bert “retiring” was his petulant way of thumbing his nose at them. As you said, it all ultimately worked out as well as possible for the Packers.
That’s true and all, but Ted wasn’t exactly coddling Bert either. LOL. They were slowly getting rid of guys who would go along with Favre changing the plays in the huddle and doing his own thing. Drafting Aaron, etc. They weren’t catering to Bert or making him happy, IMHO.
If they were really smart, they’d have benched him at halftime of the ’07 NFCCG. I was yelling at the tv, TOO COLD FOR YOU BERT? GO BACK INTO THE LOCKER ROOM AND WARM UP! I have witnesses too.
Favre announced his retirement in March of 2008. TT and MM were already tired of Favre’s annual flirt with retirement routine, so they couldn’t have been more relieved with Favre’s emotional retirement announcement. Rodgers was ready to be the starter and he was everything Favre was not: team first guy, great locker room guy, great qb room guy, and great leader. TT also couldn’t wait to close down Favre’s private dressing room at Lambeau Field and ship his locker to Mississippi. Then Favre suddenly remembered he left $25M on the table. So Favre quickly unretired in order to leverage that $25M into a much larger number, extending his playing career with one year in NY and two in Minnesota, gaining national and large market endorsement deals, and a much larger cut of jersey sales. He played the retirement card again in NY and yet again in Minnesota. The cynic in me believes that Favre’s repeated retirement threats were rewarded with incentives to play another season, except the first actual retirement announcement in 2008. Thus Favre’s animosity toward TT.