For Packer fans, it seemed that the past weekend answered one question and raised another. The answered query concerned Brett Favre: Does the future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer, at 37 years of age, still have enough game to compete in an ever-evolving faster, stronger NFL? The question after his team knocked off the Minnesota Vikings in a historically unfriendly venue: Is there still hope for the Green Bay Packers to be a playoff team?
The answer to the first is a resounding yes. To the second, it is not a no, because the two questions are inextricably linked, and the Packers find themselves only one game back of the wildcard with seven games remaining.
As early as the end of the last season, any number of people were hoping that Favre would hang his cleats up after an abysmal season. Green Bay suffered through a 4-12 year, and No. 4 was partly to blame. He threw the fewest number of touchdowns (20) since the beginning of his career and the greatest number of interceptions (29), which contributed to the lowest quarterback rating of his otherwise illustrious quarterbacking tenure.
To many, it signaled the end of an era and a down cycle for a team—a concept that is difficult to understand in Green Bay. But after biding his time, Favre decided to give it another go, conditioning his return on the acquisition of help on the offensive line and elsewhere, where deficiencies more than anything may have led to his deflated stats.
Packers General Manager Ted Thompson drafted several linemen to help protect the NFL's most durable player and a wide receiver who quickly gained Favre's trust to help on offense. On defense, the franchise underwrote a major check to Charles Woodson, who lately has been playing like the Pro-Bowler he was during his first four years in the league.
Whatever you want to attribute it to, Favre is turning in a better year through the first nine games of this season. He is making better decisions with the football in his hands, which may result in one of his lowest interception totals. And he has wideouts that he can trust to catch the ball, something that he desperately lacked last year. It all leads me to believe that the Favre-naysayers were just plain wrong—imagine where this team would be without him. It certainly would not have rebounded from a 1-4 start to win three of its next four games, a run that has given the Packers an outside shot at the playoffs.
For that to happen, though, a lot has to go right. The team is merely one game back of the wildcard in a watered-down NFC as it stands, heading into Week 11. Four teams —Dallas, Philadelphia, Carolina and Atlanta—are a step ahead, but each has or will play each other this season, which always leaves possibilities.
The Packers, of course, have to worry about their own schedule. They blew games against beatable opponents, and now have to compensate by beating better teams. It starts this weekend against New England, where they can regain some legitimacy by getting back to the .500 mark.
E-mail Jon at bortin@wisc.edu if you think he is dreaming.
