Four More Years?

"Four more years!"

That's the chant in Lambeau Field for Brett Favre who, despite a bad year, can still play football.

The fans have the right idea. Ten years ago, Dolphins owner Wayne Huizinga sat legendary coach Don Shula down and said he wanted to rebuild the team, and that he wanted Shula to lead that effort by coaching 3-4 more years at least. Shula said he only wanted to coach one more year. That was not in the best interest of the franchise, Huizinga said, and so they parted ways.

I think the same is true for Favre today. When the pieces in the offensive line and running game are in place, he is still very effective, as he demonstrated last year.
Assuming his arm stregth doesn't deteriorate rapidly, he can still play not just one more year, but a few more years. So the Packers can and should rebuild with Favre at quarterback, so that they're back in the Super Bowl hunt by 2007.

But it's just not in the Packers' interest for Favre to play just one more year. They're not championship material in 2006, and shouldn't have to start over with a new quarterback in 2007. The Packers have to rebuild either way, and they should expect their quarterback to be around more than just one year.

The options for Favre are to retire now, or to commit to playing until he's 39 or 40. As a Packer fan, I'd like him back, but not if it's only going to be for one more year.