A Favre-less Monday Night Football in Lambeau...
As I turned on ESPN to watch the game last night and saw the team run out of the tunnel it just didn't feel right. I knew it was coming, but I still wasn't prepared for how wrong it was to not see #4 running out of the tunnel with them. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad this whole ordeal is over, but it hardly ended as most of us Packer fans desired.
I won't even mention how the commentators didn't even "commentate" on the game...all they did was rehash all the off-season drama between the Favre thing and Chad Johnson - you would have never even known there was a game going on in the background. But the thing that frustrated me the most last night was how "Korn-ball" and the rest of the commentators were so "shocked" that the Packer fans supported Rodgers when he took the field. Get it through your heads, people, I've said it before and I'll say it again - this has NEVER been about NOT liking Aaron Rodgers. It has ONLY been about the fact that given our choice as Packer fans - we believe that Favre is the better QB right now. I believe that Coach McCarthy felt the same way, but at the end of the day the Green Bay Packers sign his paycheck so it didn't matter because he had to do what Thompson and Murphy wanted to do when it was all said and done. He did and I'm afraid we'll all pay for it. Give us Packer fans some credit, people - the city owns the team and we're all insanely passionate for the Pack. Nothing will change the way we feel about our team - not even extreme egos in upper level management in the organization and trading our starting QB that we've grown to love and accept as family. We'll always consider him part of the Packer family, but we'll support any and all players that suit up in the beautiful green and gold.
Granted, Rodgers wasn't horrible last night, but I don't see how we could be better than a .500 team this season. I hope that I'm wrong, but I don't believe that I am. The defense looked really good, but that wasn't really a question - there are a lot of issues on offense - not the least of which is at running back with Grant injured and, of course, back up QB.
Furthermore, how much impact can ONE player make? I'm referring to Favre at the Jets. They're still basically the same three win team from last year. I asked former QB, Jay Barker (who I have a huge amount of respect for as a brother in Christ) that very question this morning. He brought up a great point about the fact that there is now automatically more stability with Favre in the huddle which can make a huge impact immediately. I agree with him, but I'm still not convinced that it's enough to make them an instant success...better maybe, but if they win four games it's better. People's expectations are way out of control. I'm a fan, but I'm also a realist.
If some crazy miracle happens that some people have incorrectly predicted and the Jets meet the Packers in the SuperBowl while Favre is still starting for the Jets it will not be a conflict of interests for me. Please quit asking me and the other Packer fans this question...it was asked of a fan last night during the game. The answer is the same - we're Packer fans FIRST and Favre fans second. We will ALWAYS pull for the Pack no matter who is traded or playing for the other team...even someone who ended up larger than life for us for 16 years in a Packer uniform. Again, thanks 4 the memories, but GO PACK GO no matter what!!