McCarthy swings like a hammer, Favre not in pack future plans

Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy demonstrated some serious leadership skills on Tuesday afternoon, indicating that Brett Favre isn’t in the team’s future plans and that Aaron Rodgers remains his starting QB. At a press conference McCarthy concluded that Favre “wasn’t of the right mindset” to be a part of the team and that if he was to play in the NFL it would be with another team.

For his part, Favre continued with his fawning pseudo-humility by trying to suggest that the “stalemate” with his former team was due to circumstances beyond his control and not his own calculated behavior. After McCarthy’s press conference, he seemed to blame NFL commissioner Roger Goodell—who did little more than try to manage the train wreck and sign Favre’s reinstatement request—for the current situation: “We all know the reason I'm here is because the commissioner [Roger Goodell] reinstated me so we have a lot of things to figure out.”

Favre, whose legacy as one of the all time toughest team leaders in the NFL continues to diminish by the hour due to his diva-like behavior during his “unretirement”, at least now seems resigned that he won’t be playing football in a Packers’ uniform. Finally conceding that the best thing is for he and the team to “part ways”, he gave little concrete guidance as to what his future holds. He concluded his comments with this inexplicable bromide: “It’s simple and complicated, both at the same time”.

Favre’s equivocation notwithstanding, its all pretty simple—after an off season of jerking around the Packers, Aaron Rodgers and his former teammates he’s no longer holding the cards. The Packers appear to have used Favre’s ego to gain the upper hand in the situation and now they’ve got a greater degree of control over his playing future and where he ends up playing. Much of the tactical opportunity for the team’s maneuvering is a result of Favre’s diminishing support among the fan base—in other words, even his most loyal “CheeseHead” supporters are growing tired of #4’s act.

At this point, the next move appears to be a deal sending Favre to a new team. The Packers are unwilling to trade him to a team in their own division. As much as the team would likely consider a deal with the Tennessee Valley Vipers of the A2 arena football minor league, Favre has his own input on the deal and so far Tampa Bay appears to be the only mutually agreeable destination. The problem now is that there’s little interest among NFL teams in bringing in a recently unretired QB that seems more interested in his own agenda than in being a ‘field general’.