Favre Will Compete If Healthy

The Vikings have a difficult schedule this year and it looks a lot more difficult lacking Brett Favre.

The Vikings will still be featured a lot in 2010 as they play four prime-time games including the opening game of the year on Thursday, September 9th against the New Orleans Saints. Currently, Minnesota has decided to start Tarvaris Jackson at quarterback instead of Favre.

The Minnesota Vikings may still be a Super Bowl contender as the rumors surrounding quarterback Brett Favre’s retirement were overblown. Favre said that he’ll play this year if he is healthy. Since Favre is coming off ankle surgery, though, that is a huge question mark.

NFL ratings of the Minnesota Vikings have gone up and down with the rumors relating to Favre’s retirement. Minnesota is a top Super Bowl contender with Favre, but they are not considered one without him. Favre has a meeting coming up with Dr. James Andrews who conducted the surgical procedure. Just like past seasons, the speculation has been widespread, and Favre has yet to declare whether he is returning for the 2010 year. Last Tuesday, accounts came out that Favre was going to retire, yet the next day those reports were refuted by Favre. He has said that his decision will be dependent on his health and not anything else.

Favre has told the Minnesota Vikings when he plans to declare his decision, but that date has not been made public. It obviously will not be until after he has seen Dr. Andrews. The Minnesota Vikings have reportedly offered Favre more money to return this year. He was scheduled to make $13 million and the Minnesota Vikings have put up another $3 million plus another $4 million in incentives so Favre might be making $20 million this year for the Minnesota Vikings.

The influence that Favre has cannot be overstated. Since he led Minnesota to the NFC Championship, he is coming off one of his best seasons ever. Favre is an 11-time Pro Bowler who has thrown for more than 3,000 yards in 18 straight seasons. He has 12 straight years of throwing 20 or more TD passes. Even though the interception he threw in the NFC title competition cost the Minnesota Vikings a shot at the Super Bowl, he threw for 4,202 yards and 33 TDs with only 7 interceptions last year.

Before the news about Brett Favre retiring came out, the Minnesota Vikings were one of the main contenders to win the Super Bowl. Minnesota still has an excellent team but questions remain about how well Jackson will play at quarterback. The schedule does not make things easy on the Minnesota Vikings, as they have their bye week early and confront a number of challenging games down the stretch.

A popular computer simulation rated the odds of Minnesota reaching the playoffs at over 90% with Favre at quarterback but only 53% without him, so it’s easy to understand how much of a difference he makes.

write by Aurora