Brett Favre Scandal After Retirement Yrs

Packers Clean House-Favre Last On List

It's a lot clearer to me now. After watching Brett Favre lay out his reasons for a comeback and publicly air some dirty laundry, it's becoming apparent why he is no longer welcome to the Packer organization.

Plain and simple, it was Ted Thompson's job to clean house when he took over as GM. Favre was the last item on his check list.

It made sense for Thompson to take his time. He eventually got rid of Mike Sherman and personnel after the 4-12 season. He took care of the environment of shoddy players to redevelop the team the way he envisioned. But his toughest task would be the ouster of number four.

It took a long time. Favre had to suffer through some changes. This is especially true when Mike McCarthy took over as head coach. It's likely McCarthy had the job of teaching an old dog new tricks, to play a different way, to get on board with an overhaul of the team concept. But it could have been two fold -- to wear down the iron man or leave him to hang out in the elements to rust.

Favre may have been resistent to some things, or, there were just so many flaws the old gunslinger could not change, like in the decision making department. The Packers could prey on Favre's weaknesses, like putting him in schemes where he could throw a lot of interceptions, to see if he would crack. It would seem there plan wasn't working with the incredible season in 2007. They actually had to focus on winning ball games, rather than running Favre out of town. And ironically, the playoff loss to the Giants seemed like the proverbial straw that broke his back.

Those darn, nagging retirement rumors had kept surfacing year after year. It's like McCarthy was in Favre's ear to get the grizzled veteran thinking he had a lot of work ahead of him to return to former glory, maybe tried to take the fun out of the game. Favre may have seriously considered retirement each year. But it wasn't he who was alerting the media to a retirement watch, it was Thompson.

And now, after three plus years of listening to it, Packers fans are getting tired of it all. And many want to blame Favre, but it's not his fault. Who's the manipulator here? He didn't fake those tears at his retirement annoucement. That was a player who didn't feel he could give the organization what they needed anymore, because they were pressing him. Pressing him to work harder, to commit to playing another season before he could answer. He retired out of an obligation to the team, because they wanted to plan for a draft and the future of Aaron Rodgers. At that time, he may have naively believed he would step aside for the franchise. But something stuck in his craw that made him want to come back.

Watching Favre 'On The Record' with Greta Van Susteren just confirmed much of what I suspected. Packer management wanted a change and have been working tirelessly to get Favre out of the picture. I would go as far as suggesting they had the old man running for his life on the field. They may have gone as far as trying to stop his consecutive games streak and a career, but it wouldn't work.

All that work in 2007 paid off, rather than snuff out a legendary career. Did McCarthy and Thompson want to squeeze more out of the future hall of famer, knowing he couldn't give anymore? Perhaps, knowing this year, yes, this year, he would have to retire and they could move forward with their plans for life without Favre?

The Packer organization has a right to go in another direction. Even Favre said. It's the way they went about it. Thompson and crew thought they would catch it from fans and the media for running Favre out of town. So they've lied, manipulated and haven't been forthcoming. Brett is now exposing their hand. He hasn't had many cards to play with, while they've been working with a stacked deck.

The Packers couldn't treat Favre like the Titans treated Steve McNair, by locking him out, because he was under contract for two more years. And if Thompson had been GM when negotiating Favre's contract, don't you think he would have gone for a much shorter deal.

Favre was a marked man. Someone who you shouldn't mess with. At the end of the day, football is just business like everything else. It's unfortunate that they could not resolve these matters behind closed doors. It has soured things for the fans, causing people to choose sides. And, the devisiveness over this will never end unless Thompson does an about face soon. This will leave a permanent mark on his legacy. I don't think anyone will ever be celebrating it either, unless he thinks he has enough aces in the hole to get his team to the Super Bowl, and that's not going to happen, especially without a veteran like Brett Favre.